Baltasar and Blimunda

Written: 2001

First Performed: BBC Radio 3

I had loved this book by Saramago for years, and it was a delight to dramatise it.

It's about a mad Portuguese king determined to build a huge monastery at Mafra (and this part of the story is true).

Baltasar is a one armed soldier who works on the project after meeting Blimunda, a young woman who under certain circumstances has the power to see into people.

Their stories get intertwined with the composer Scarlatti; and with a brilliant yound priest who invents a flying machine.

I’m very proud of this dramatisation: its one of my best.