The Well of Loneliness & The Trial that Gripped a Nation

The pioneering novel of lesbian love and attraction brought to life by a full cast. Includes exclusive content.

A baby girl named Stephen Gordon, is born to well-to-do parents. She grows from a young tomboy into a thoughtful woman who feels 'different'. Stephen is understood by her father but alienated from her mother. Bucking against the conventions of society she turns down an offer of marriage and forms a passionate attachment to an American woman. Gradually, Stephen realises she will never fall in love with a man – but will she be an outcast? In pursuit of love and experience, Stephen takes herself to bohemian Paris, a far cry from the strict confines of British society. She joins the ambulance corps in the First World War. It’s here she meets Mary and, when they become lovers, she takes a fatal step in deciding their future. First published in 1928, Hall’s novel has become a classic, telling the story of one woman’s desperate attempt to be loved and to love against all odds.

To complement this stunning adaptation, writer Shelley Silas, in The Trial of the Well of Loneliness, tells the gripping story of how Hall’s pioneering novel, though not sexually explicit, became the centre of a 1928 obscenity trial. This original drama explores how the novel remains an iconic portrayal of lesbian relationships and contains the passionate plea: "Give us also the right to our existence."

This download edition also features an exclusive edition of The Essay: Journeys to the Grave. A reflective, restorative and often playful journey in search of the final resting place of a literary hero.

Diana Souhami steps into Radclyffe Hall’s tomb in London’s Highgate Cemetery, where the author resides with her lover, her lover’s husband and their dog Tulip – an aptly unconventional set-up in death as in life.

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Cast and credits

The Well of Loneliness

Dramatised by Sarah Woods

Written by Radclyffe Hall

Directed by Melanie Harris

Music composed and played by Odaline de la Martinez

Violinist - Janet Foust

Cellist - Andy Wardale

Stephen - Valerie Edmond

Young Stephen - Alexandra Bateman

Mary/Collins/Angela - Amanda Root

Anna/Valerie - Roberta Kerr

Puddle - Sarah Park

Martin - Paul Warriner

Jamie/Violet - Katy Cavanagh

Brockett - Malcolm Hebden

Philip - Rob Pickvance
Colonel Antrim - Russell Dixon
Young Violet - Sara Kaplan
Young Roger - Thomas Hudson
Ralph - Martin Reeve

First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 9 May 1999

The Trial of the Well of Loneliness

Written by Shelley Silas

Directed by Emma Harding

Radclyffe Hall - Kate Fleetwood
Una, Lady Troubridge - Anastasia Hille
Stephen Gordon - Laura Christy
Gilchrist Thompson - Will Kirk
Sir Chartres Biron - Neil McCaul
Eustace Fulton - Clive Hayward
Norman Birkett - Rick Warden
James Melville - Tony Turner
Desmond McCarthy - Greg Jones
Court Clerk - Adam Courting
Court Actress - Scarlett Courtenay
Puddle - Jessica Turner

Additional research documents courtesy of Morris Ernst Papers, Harry Ransom Center and the University of Texas at Austin

First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, January 2020

The Essay: Journeys to the Grave

Written and presented by Diana Souhami

First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 15 June 2022