Dramatisations of two classic novels from one of Japan’s literary geniuses, plus bonus material



Award-winning author Shusaku Endo was a Japanese Catholic whose works touched on themes of morality, faith, religious discrimination and the culture clash between East and West. He is best known for his 1966 masterpiece Silence, which inspired Martin Scorsese’s 2016 film of the same name. Many of the characters from that novel appear in our opening drama, The Golden Country, while in the short story A Forty-Year-Old Man, the middle-aged protagonist faces up to his own inevitable mortality. Also included is a fascinating documentary examining Endo’s life and work.



The Golden Country – Nagasaki, 1633. Christianity has been proscribed, and most practitioners of this new, foreign religion have been captured and tortured. But there are still those who hold out, determined to put their faith above all else: even the fear of death. Portugese missionary Christopher Ferreira is one of these – so why, then does he recant his beliefs? Hugh Burden stars in John Tydeman’s compelling adaptation, exploring the same themes as Silence and based on real events in 17th-century Japan.



A 40-Year-Old Man – Mr Suguro lies in a hospital bed, about to undergo an operation that may kill him. He has been there three years now, and time has crept up on him: he is tired, terrified and has no strength left. He yearns for a mynah bird to tell his secrets to – but will confessing his sins mean they will be forgiven? Denis Lill stars in this haunting Radio 4 drama, dramatised by Penny Leicester.



Seeds of Faith – Carmelite friar Father Wilfrid McGreal probes the darker side of our nature, looking at Shusaku Endo’s writing through a lens of Christian belief. In this illuminating 15-minute discourse, he delves into the themes of one of Endo’s lesser-known novels, Scandal, probing beneath the surface of the conventional to examine the secrets of the human heart.



Production credits

Written by Shusaku Endo



The Golden Country

Fr Christopher Ferreira – Hugh Burden

Inoue Chikugo-no-kami – Robert Lang

Hirata Shuzen – Nigel Graham

Kano Gen-nosuke – Anthony Daniels

Tomonaga Sakuemon – Timothy Bateson

Yuki, his daughter – Julie Hallam

Hatsu – Hilda Kriseman

Farmers – Sam Dastor, Fraser Kerr, William Sleigh and Stephen Thorne



Translated from the Japanese by Francis Mathy

Adapted for radio and produced by John Tydeman



A 40-Year-Old Man

Suguro – Denis Lill

Yoshiko – Auriol Smith

Young nurse – Susie Brann

Yasuko – Janet Spencer-Turner

Michio: Bern Adette Windsor

Young doctor – Stephen Rashbrook

Yasuko’s husband/Doctor – George Parsons

Priest/Anaesthetist – Garard Green

Old nurse – Pauline Letts



Dramatised by Penny Leicester

Translation by Van C. Gessel

Directed by Matthew Walters



Seeds of Faith

Presented by Father Wilfrid McGreal



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