Four of Thornton Wilder's most acclaimed works, adapted for BBC Radio - plus bonus material exploring his life and career

Thornton Wilder is one of America's most important literary figures. He won the Pulitzer Prize three times - for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and the plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth - and is the only person to be awarded the Pulitzer for both fiction and drama. Included here are four of his key works, set in different times and places, but sharing the same fundamental motifs - the universality of human experience and our search for life's meaning.

Our Town, his timeless tale of love, marriage, birth and death in a small American community, stars Ed Bishop, William Roberts and Liza Ross. It is preceded by a 10-minute introductory extract from Free Thinking, in which presenter Anne McElvoy and actor/director David Cromer discuss the play's themes and techniques.

Wilder's masterpiece, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, tells the story of the five victims of a bridge collapse, and the eyewitness who sets out to understand why they were fated to die. A poignant philosophical fable, it features a stellar cast including Annette Badland, Robert Glenister, Tom Goodman-Hill and Helen McCrory.

Adapted from the play by Jerome Kilty, The Ides of March is based on Wilder's epistolary novel centred around the last days of the Roman republic, and stars Robert Hardy as Julius Caesar. Next, Ed Bishop reads from Heaven's My Destination, the comic tale of an amateur philosopher who leaves a trail of chaos wherever he goes.

Finally, in a fascinating episode of Front Row, Mark Lawson, theatre director David Lan and New York Times theatre critic Mel Gussow discuss how Wilder became a literary icon, and launched a quiet revolution in American theatre.

Cast and credits

Written by Thornton Wilder

Copyright © by The Wilder Family LLC 1927 (The Bridge of San Luis Rey), 1935 (Heaven's My Destination), 1938 (Our Town), 1948 (The Ides of March)

Free Thinking

Presented by Anne McElvoy

With David Cromer

Produced by Zahid Warley

First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 16 October 2014

Our Town

Stage Manager - Ed Bishop

Dr Gibbs - William Roberts

Mrs Gibbs - Liza Ross

George Gibbs - Ben Fairman

Rebecca Gibbs - Teresa Gallagher

Mr Webb - Garrick Hagon

Mrs Webb/Dead Woman - Shelley Thompson

Emily Webb - Barbara Barnes

Joe Crowell/Si Crowell - Tom Bevan

With Vincent Marzello, Peter Whitman, John Evitts and Frances Jeater

Directed by David Hitchinson

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 1 July 1995

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Madre Maria del Pilar - Annette Badland

Uncle Pio - Michael Feast

Jaime/Boy - Frederick Forge

Brother Juniper/Captain Alvarado - Robert Glenister

Esteban/Manuel - Tom Goodman-Hill

Pepita/Dona Clara - Jasmine Hyde

Camila, la Perichole - Helen McCrory

Marquesa de Montemayor - Sian Phillips

Dramatised by Judith Adams

Directed by Gaynor MacFarlane

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 12 May 2002

The Ides of March

Narrator - Patrick Tull

Caesar - Robert Hardy

Brutus - Sean Barrett

Clodia - Margaret Robertson

Cleopatra - Elizabeth Proud

Pompeia, Caesar's wife - Patricia Gallimore

Julia, Caesar's aunt - Betty Hardy

Clodius - Nigel Lambert

Catullus - David Spenser

Adapted for radio by Nesta Pain from the play by Jerome Kilty

Produced by Nesta Pain

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 17 August 1970

Heaven's My Destination

Read by Ed Bishop

First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 17 April 1997

Front Row

Presented by Mark Lawson

With David Lan and Mel Gussow

Produced by Nicki Paxman

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 4 March 2004