Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Toby Stephens, Hugh Bonneville, Josh Stamberg, Matthew Wolf, John Standing, Lloyd Owen, Darren Richardson, Anne Mathias, Andre Sogliuzzo, Moira Quirk, Henrie Lubatti, Alan Shearman, Martin Jarvis.

The cinematic release in 2006 of Casino Royale is arguably one of the most dramatic of adaptions from any of Ian Fleming’s considerable list of tales that focus on the life of the British spy, James Bond. To capture that intensity in a radio drama could be considered a tough ask for the writer, for the director, and the consummate cast at his disposal.

Returning to the role of Bond is the immaculate Toby Stephens in the adaptation of the 1953 thriller, the introduction of the spy in his formative outing, and it is through this captured suave elegance, and with a delightfully deceptive and treacherous villain of Le Chiffre being brought to the airwaves from the perspective of Hugh Bonneville, the sense of foreboding is well observed and the use of imagination playing a pivotal role in filling in the gaps that radio has no way of framing.

To compare the radio play to the film is an unwilling gesture of simplicity, one that does not adhere to the face value the listener or viewer will often subscribe, but in the hands of Martin Jarvis as both narrator and director, what comes across is the will of the main character, handled with precision by an actor who has now played the part more often than any other on screen; a huge compliment to both performer and the man to who MI6 both require his special skills and no nonsense approach and at times despair of as he goes further than possibly ordered.

The radio play is one of demand, the cornerstone of the book and its lethal game of cards fundamentally catching the ear, and whilst the film is able to play with the piece in a more spectacular fashion, there is still a vivid demonstration of the battle of wills at hand as the bets increase and the odds of survival increasingly look bleak. The interplay between Mr. Bonneville and Mr. Stephens is one of menacing elegance. One false move by other one and it could have descended into pastiche, but such is the depth of understanding of how radio and audio plays work, there is little to doubt to the extremes the characters will go in pursuit of their prize, or indeed in Bond’s case, his country.

An ever-lasting display of magnificent writing, adapted with a keenness of eye and sound; Casino Royale is a splendid, customised piece of audio art.

Ian D. Hall