Writing Audio Drama by Tim Crook published by Routledge 31st March 2023
Book Description
Writing Audio Drama offers a comprehensive and intelligent guide to writing sound drama for broadcasting and online. This book uses original research on the history of writing radio plays in the UK and USA to explore how this has informed and developed the art form for more than 100 years.
Audio drama in the context of podcasting is now experiencing a global and exponential expansion. Through analysis of examples of past and present writing, the author explains how to create drama which can explore deeply psychological and intimate themes and achieve emotional, truthful, entertaining and thought-provoking impact. Practical analysis of the key factors required to write successful audio drama is covered in chapters focusing on audio play beginnings and openings, sound story dialogue, sustaining the sound story, plotting for sound drama, and the best ways of ending audio plays. Chapters are supported by online resources which expand visually on subjects discussed and point to exemplary sound dramas referenced in the chapters.
This textbook will be an important resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses such as Podcasting, Radio, Audio Drama, Scriptwriting, and Media Writing.
The content of all the companion web-pages for this project is in the process of development, and completion is expected 31st December 2024 following the publication of the printed book 31st March 2023. Many thanks for your patience and consideration.
David Pownall is regarded as one of Britain’s foremost and very highly regarded sound/radio playwrights. He passed away 21st November 2022.
Guardian Obituary 22nd December 2022: ‘British playwright best known for Master Class, as well as for comic novels inspired by his time in Zambia.’
‘Pownall himself – a large, bear-like, always affable and big-hearted man – went on to write 60 stage plays, 15 novels, and many short stories. He also wrote more than 100 radio plays for the BBC.’
Stage Obituary 10th January 2022: ‘Playwright and Paines Plough co-founder, best known for plays such as Master Class and Motocar with the National.’
UK Daily News Florence Adams 22nd December 2022: ‘David Pownall, who has died aged 84, was a playwright and novelist who, although never in vogue, was still acclaimed by critics or Britain’s major companies – although some of his plays were acclaimed by both the National Theatre and the UK Royal Shakespeare Company – was a highly intelligent, imaginative and idiosyncratic writer and a great encourager to others.
See the list of his radio drama work profiled by Nigel Deacon’s Radio Plays Diversity/suttonelms.org.uk resource:-
Oberon books have published a volume of six of his award-winning radio plays (1998) as well as a memoir ‘Sound Theatre: Thoughts on the Radio Play.’ His plays are sometimes rebroadcast by BBC Radio 4 Extra.
The 1998 Oberon volume includes the scripts for An Epiphanous use of the Microphone, Beef, Ploughboy Monday, Flos, Kitty Wilkinson, and Under The Table. It would appear the first publication of Beef took place in 1982 when Methuen and the BBC published Best Radio Plays of 1981: The BBC Giles Cooper Award Winners.
The publication profiled Pownall generously and had indicated that by the time he won his first Giles Cooper award he had already written seventeen radio plays for the BBC:
‘David Pownall was born in Liverpool in 1938. He was educated at Lord Wandsworth College and the University of Keele. After graduating, worked in personnel management at Ford Motor Company, then emigrated to Northern Rhodesia a year before Independence where he styed for six years, employed in the copper mining industry. In 1969 he returned to England and, after two years with Century Theatre on tour in the north-west, he became a full-time novelist and playwright. In 1975 he founded the new-play touring company, Paines Plough with John Adams. Between 1972-76 he was resident playwright at the Duke’s Playhouse, Lancaster. His novels are The Raining Tree War, Africa House, God Perkins, Light On A Honeycomb and, most recently, Beloved Latitudes, published in 1981 by Gollancz. His theatre plays include Music to Murder By, Motocar, Richard the Third Part Two ( National Theatre, Cottesloe), An Audience Called Edouard (Greenwich) and Livingstone and Sechele (Traverse, Edinburgh, Lyric Studio, Hammersmith). He has written seventeen radio plays for the BBC, the most recent being The Mist People, produced by Alfred Bradley.’
An intriguing feature of Beef is that the play is framed at the beginning and end with abattoir sounds and ‘humming’ and a monologue by the character Cusack. The opening and closing speeches resonate interest without disclosing what follows and has happened before:
Opening:
‘An Abattoir yard. Fade in the buzzing of an elecric razor. The buzzing stops. There is a click and the sound of the cuttings being blown out of the razor. Face out.
CUSACK. Good people, good morning! If I used a cut-throat razor on meself this morning it would live up to its name. It was a wild old time in Dublin last night. Missed the last bus home and slept here at the abbttoir, my place of work, having my own key as a trusted man. A question for you: would someone who made his bed in a slaughterhouse be haunted by the ghosts of cattle?’
Certainly enough questions here to keep the listeners listening even when they might include vegetarians.
End:
‘Fade back Celtic twilight atmosphere. Maintain humming.
CUSACK. Good people, while they start at the beginning we’ll have to make do with the end. One thought gives me comfort – you’ve got more sense than to be taken in by heroes of any kind. But I am actually eight hundred years old, so that when the police approached me to be their man on the inside and asked if I had any ideas as to how we might catch Con and Janet I was able to make a few sugestions which I thought might be appropriate to their transgressions. I can see from your ears that you believe every word I’ve said. With such a genial approval upon me, I’ll take my leave. Good night.’
Fade out the humming of the heroes.
Only the character in a radio play could be said to convincingly say in a radio play ‘I can see from your ears…’ The play takes place in Ireland during the visit of Pope John Paul II. Cusack is a clerk in an abattoir and has been responsible for hiring a group of casuals to take on the slaughtering of some large old bulls for a British food company.
David Pownall won his second Giles Cooper award for the play Ploughboy Monday as one of the best radio plays for 1985. This was published in Methuen’s 1986 edition of Giles Cooper award-winning plays for the previous year. Ploughboy Monday is a magnficent play dramatising the pain and emotional turmoil of a teenage miner’s son going to make his own way in the world in agriculture in early 1930s Britain.
Harold’s father stops him going down the mine in an action motivated by love and caring but achieved through communal and family humiliation. Harold leaves home in outrage and finds work in a farm where he becomes a champion ploughboy.
All the time he is trying to win the love and respect of his parents who have separated and left the home he knew in the mining village. Harold has to find his parents and then come to terms with the fact they are indifferent about finding him.
Pownall’s strength as a writer is in exploring the dysfunctionality and hurt generated within families across generations and characterising great nobility in working class people.
He is also a master at conjuring powerful and resonant twists and surprises at the end of his more memorable radio plays such as Under The Table and Ploughboy Monday.
His Giles Cooper award winning scripts were directed by the legendary director and dramaturg Alfred Bradley who in casting and producing Jason Littler in the part of Harold in the 1985 production elicited a very fine and impactful performance.
Here is a selection of David Pownall’s radio plays available at the time of writing (as of March 2023) via BBC Sounds and the Learning On Screen Archive subscription service. If your university, college or school has a subscription to Learning On Screen ‘Box of Broadcasts’ these plays can be listened to for non-commercial educational purposes.
Bed For The Night by David Pownall BBC Radio 4 (and BBC iPlayer/Sounds as of 30th March 2023) first broadcast 5th March 2022 57 minutes
This contemporary play tackles something of the aftermath of Britain’s colonial past and the contentious issue of illegal immigration. The action takes place in a house located in Brighton in 2022. One evening, Daniel, now in his 80s, answers his front door and is confronted by Amos who asks him for a bed for the night. When Amos tells him that he is the grandson of someone Daniel employed when he worked in Rhodesia, Daniel invites him in. He feels deeply obligated to Amos and to the promises he made all those years ago to his grandfather.
Amos explains he is in the country illegally which presents problems for Daniel – especially when he is visited by the police. The two men form a close bond and memories flood back forcing Daniel to confront the years he spent in Rhodesia. Amos also helps with Daniel’s wife, Flora, and the two clearly enjoy each other’s company. Before long it is clear that Amos has’ in effect, become the family servant just like his grandfather had been Daniel’s servant many years before. The play follows Amos’ attempts to stay in the country, to be reunited with his family and to escape political problems in Zimbabwe. Together, the two men find a remarkable way to right former wrongs and form an even closer bond.
Nigel Anthony, Stefan Adegbola and Sarah Badel star in this powerful new play by David Pownall, one of radio’s most-distinquished writers. Martin Jenkins has directed over 30 plays by David Pownall.
Cast:
Daniel ………. Nigel Anthony
Amos ………. Stefan Adegbola
Flora ………. Sarah Badel
Other roles played by: Jenny Funnell, Alan Leith and Jane Whittenshaw
Written by David Pownall
Directed by Martin Jenkins
Sound Design by David Thomas
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
Available to listen to on open access at this link https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001540h
80 Not Out Wednesday, 6 Jan 2021, 19:45 15 mins
BBC Radio 4 Synopsis
A powerful story by award-winning playwright, David Pownall specially written for Timothy West who, together with his wife Prunella Scales, has made many vivid television programmes about Britain’s canals. Pownall’s story takes us back to the days when many boats were towed by horses. But what happened to these proud beasts when they were approaching the end of their working lives? George, who has worked all his life on the canals, is about to retire. He becomes evermore concerned about his horse. He is determined that the horse will survive – but the odds seem stacked against him. This evocative story reunites Timothy West and David Pownal,l who scored a tremendous stage hit with the play Master Class, and Martin Jenkins, who directed the play for BBC Radio 4. Director: Martin Jenkins Sound Designer: David Thomas A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
80 Not Out, 19:45 06/01/2021, BBC Radio 4, 15 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/178E6699?bcast=133586557
Under the Table Saturday, 27 Apr 2019, 16:00 90 mins
BBC Radio 4 Extra Synopsis
Spring 1945: A boy overcomes his terror of a world at war to demand of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin – who are meeting in his grandfather’s greenhouse – a reason why his mother is now widowed and inconsolable. Starring David Calder as the storyteller, Kenneth Cranham as Seph Hammer, Robert Lang as Churchill, Andrew Sachs as Stalin, David Healy as Roosevelt, Jonathan Keeble as Hitler, Oliver Senton as Jack, Becky Hindley as Rusty, Maureen O’Brien as May Hammer, Peter Yapp as Mr Hunt, Natasha Pyne as Rouille, Andrew Branch as Bags and David Antrobus as Trevor. Music composed by Neil Brand and performed by Sarah Homer. Director: Eoin O’Callaghan First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.
David Pownall, Under the Table, 16:00 27/04/2019, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 90 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/030E2A12?bcast=128999591
A recorded off transmission copy of this production has been available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/9_PQqzrKPW4
Torch No 1 Thursday, 17 Jan 2019, 14:15 45 mins
BBC Radio 4 Synopsis
Monologue exploring the mind and motives of the young Czech student, Jan Palach, who set fire to himself in the centre of Prague 50 years ago. Cast: Jan Palach …… Karl Davies Written by David Pownall Directed by Martin Jenkins. A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
Drama, Torch No 1, 14:15 17/01/2019, BBC Radio 4, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/129EFE0A?bcast=128307495
Sic Semper Tyrannis Wednesday, 28 Nov 2018, 21:15 45 mins
BBC Radio 4 Extra Synopsis
April 14th 1865: Thirty minutes into the performance of ‘Our American Cousin’, at the Ford Theatre, Washington, John Wilkes Booth entered President Abraham Lincoln’s State Box, and shot him dead. What set of remarkable circumstances led up to an event that in its time was as momentous as the assassination of JF Kennedy? The last of three plays by David Pownall exploring the hearts and minds of three of history’s most celebrated killers. Nathan Osgood stars as John Wilkes Booth and Carlos Antonio as Davey Herold. Director: Eoin O’Callaghan First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
David Pownall, Sic Semper Tyrannis, 21:15 28/11/2018, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/000BE5F2?bcast=127995595
A Mere Five Thousand Pounds Tuesday, 27 Nov 2018, 21:15 45 mins
BBC Radio 4 Extra Synopsis
On a sunny day in May 1812, as Napoleon’s armies massed on the Russian borders, Liverpudlian timber merchant, John Bellingham was feeling aggrieved. He entered the House of Commons and shot dead the prime minister, Spencer Perceval. Second of three plays by David Pownall exploring the hearts and minds of three of history’s most celebrated killers. David Horovitch stars as John Bellingham. Director: Eoin O’Callaghan First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
David Pownall, A Mere Five Thousand Pounds, 21:15 27/11/2018, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0A01519D?bcast=127987036
The Virgin Knife Monday, 26 Nov 2018, 21:15 45 mins
BBC Radio 4 Extra Synopsis
On July 13 1793, Charlotte Corday, a young girl from Caen in Normandy, journeyed to Paris. Her sole aim was to kill Jean Paul Marat, while he sat in his bath. But what drove her to such extremes? The first of three plays by David Pownall exploring the hearts and minds of three of history’s most celebrated killers. Samantha Bond stars Charlotte Corday and Gerard Murphy as Jean Paul Marat. Director: Eoin O’Callaghan First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
David Pownall, The Virgin Knife, 21:15 26/11/2018, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/000BD4D0?bcast=127980046
In Praise of Evil Saturday, 17 Nov 2018, 14:30 90 mins
BBC Radio 4 Synopsis
A gripping new drama by David Pownall imagining what may have happened if the composer Monteverdi had been summoned to Rome to appear before the all-powerful Inquisition on charges of allowing blasphemy and immorality to go unpunished at the end of his magnificent new opera The Coronation of Poppea. The Emperor Nero, persecutor of the early Christian church, is the leading character and concludes the opera by singing a sublime love duet – something the church authorities cannot comprehend or sanction. Weak and frightened, the elderly Monteverdi is even brought face to face with the highly unpredictable Pope. How will Monteverdi escape the suffocating clutches of the Church? Will the Inquisition succeed in stifling his creative impulses? Why is the Pope so involved? This is novelist and dramatist David Pownall’s 89th play for radio – a remarkable achievement. He revisits some of the long-standing areas of artistic interest that have always intrigued him. What motivates composers?
Drama, In Praise of Evil, 14:30 17/11/2018, BBC Radio 4, 90 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/123A2ABB?bcast=127919850
David Pownall – Nyama Monday, 3 Apr 2017, 21:15 45 mins
BBC Radio 4 Extra Synopsis
David Pownall’s cautionary tale about a money-crazed entrepreneur who transports a pickled whale from the Cape of Good Hope round Southern Africa and makes a fortune. Other parts played by Alison Pettitt, John Biggins, David Seddon, Michael Shelford and Keeley Beresford Music composed and performed by Russell Taylor and Steve Cooke. Directed by Peter Kavanagh.
David Pownall – Nyama, 21:15 03/04/2017, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01529B66?bcast=123856188
David Pownall – Barbara Allen Monday, 27 Mar 2017, 21:15 45 mins
BBC Radio 4 Extra Synopsis
The mystery of love’s compelling power, explored in a drama based on one of the best-loved folk songs of all time. The story of high-born Jemmy Grove’s unrequited obsession with beautiful artisan girl, Barbara Allen.
Stars Keith Barron as John, Benedict Sandiford as Jemmy, Honeysuckle Weeks as Barbara Allen, Adam Godley as Silas and Natasha Pyne as Mrs Allen. Written by David Pownall. Director: Peter Kavanagh First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
David Pownall – Barbara Allen, 21:15 27/03/2017, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/00DD08C7?bcast=123808597
Finding Freud Monday, 20 Mar 2017, 14:15 45 mins
BBC Radio 4 Synopsis
The 1960’s. John Huston launched a movie project that seemed foolproof. He hired the great existentialist philosopher Jean Paul Sartre to write a film script about Sigmund Freud. Sartre was world-famous. And his known dislike of Freud would ensure publicity. But all did not go to plan.
Kenneth Cranham and Dervla Kirwan star in David Pownall’s imagining of the comedy mayhem that ensued.
Drama, Finding Freud, 14:15 20/03/2017, BBC Radio 4, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0E8CC568?bcast=123759725
The American Grandmother Sunday, 5 Mar 2017, 21:00 90 mins
BBC Radio 3 Synopsis
David Pownall’s powerful new play The American Grandmother is a compelling family drama set in his home city of Liverpool and spans a period of some 30 years. When attending a friend’s wedding in 1916, Leone (21) meets and instantly marries a young soldier destined for the front. Estranged from her family she goes to live with her husband’s relatives together with her young son, John. However, after her husband Richard is killed, she leaves the boy with them and ‘escapes’ to America. Many years later she decides to return after she hears from his widow that John has been killed. Overcoming opposition, distrust and outright hostility she finds herself evermore involved with her estranged Liverpool family as she struggles to make them face reality and accept change so that her two young grandsons can have a different life away from the grief and guilt which engulfs them. Above all, she recognises that she must find a way for her eldest grandson to escape from the stifling clutches of his hard-living grandfather – a man with whom she finds she has a certain rapport.
Having written many times about Liverpool, David has a rich grasp and understanding of character, period, language and humour. He also uses his skill as radio dramatist to bring extra, unexpected dimensions to this poignant and moving story.
Also coming from Merseyside, Martin Jenkins has directed some 25 of David’s radio plays over a 30 year period. He is especially pleased on this occasion to have cast Noah London who is a pupil at Oldershaw Academy in Wallasey, the same school that he attended during the 1950s.
The play does contain some strong language. A Pier Production.
Drama on 3, The American Grandmother, 21:00 05/03/2017, BBC Radio 3, 90 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0E7A4FEE?bcast=123656423
David Pownall – Blitzma Monday, 14 Mar 2016, 04:00 60 mins
BBC 7 Synopsis
Goebbels tries to create a Nazi version of Tommy Handley’s popular wartime radio show ITMA. Stars Sam Kelly and Gerard Murphy
David Pownall – Blitzma, 04:00 14/03/2016, BBC 7, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/030CD778?bcast=121241578
(This is another sophisticated dramatisation by David Pownall of an interpretation of a significant radio programme/phenomenon from history. It is a burlesque fantasy imagining something that never happened and exploring the boundaries of satire, humour and propaganda. The cast and performances are brilliant including that of the late Gerard Murphy as Adolf Hitler. Equally impressive performances by Sam Kelly who played Goebels and Stella Gonet who played Magda.
David Pownall – A Terrible Beauty Friday, 19 Jun 2015, 21:15 45 mins
BBC 7 Synopsis
4 Extra Debut. Poet WB Yeats proposes to beautiful Maud Gonne soon after her husband’s execution by the British in 1916. Stars John Kavanagh
David Pownall – A Terrible Beauty, 21:15 19/06/2015, BBC 7, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01D0DD32?bcast=115868561
Afternoon Drama: Tongues of Fire Thursday, 4 Dec 2014, 14:15 45 mins
BBC Radio 4 Synopsis
David Pownall imagines fireworks between WB Yeats and Sean O’Casey. A Nobel laureate visits Dublin’s Abbey Theatre in 1913 and each Irish dramatist suspects the other has an agenda. With Dermot Crowley, Sam Dastor, Stephen Hogan, Jane Slavin. Directed by Peter Kavanagh,]\
Afternoon Drama: Tongues of Fire, Tongues of Fire, 14:15 04/12/2014, BBC Radio 4, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0832C292?bcast=114641631
Drama on 3 Babbage Sunday, 22 Jun 2014, 22:00 120 mins
BBC Radio 3 Synopsis
The truly extraordinary story of Charles Babbage, a forgotten genius. One of the great scientific brains of the nineteenth century, he first conceived the computer but died a despised failure. A new play by David Pownall.
This is a play with strong contemporary overtones as Babbage is forced to constantly struggle against financial cuts and restraints imposed by successive governments and a lack of investment in scientific projects.
Although failure and injustice have dogged the lives of many inventors, Babbage really took terrible revenge upon himself. At the beginning of the play, he is building his analytical engine, the prototype of the modern computer, at his house in Dorset Street, W1. When he learns his project will no longer be funded by Government, he cracks and loses the will to fight on. He is flat broke, exhausted, bitter and disillusioned. If no one wants his computer, so be it. Let the thing be scrapped. Only one friend is able to imagine the future of the computer – Ada Lovelace, Byron’s daughter, poet, prophet, gambler and mathematician. Following the early death of Babbage’s wife, Ada is the most important woman in his life, despite the fact that she was married to an aristocrat. Through thick and thin, illness and despair, Babbage and Ada are a team in numbers, imagination and dreams. First broadcast in June 2013.
Drama on 3, Babbage, 22:00 22/06/2014, BBC Radio 3, 120 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/04F866F5?bcast=111710348
David Pownall – Dreams and Censorship Sunday, 2 Feb 2014, 04:00 90 mins
BBC 7 Synopsis
Shakespeare fears revolution over James I’s new translated Bible, including the Dream of St John. Stars Robert Stephens.
David Pownall – Dreams and Censorship, 04:00 02/02/2014, BBC 7, 90 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/017483C4?bcast=106458067
In May 2013, BBC Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra celebrated David Pownall’s 75th birthday by scheduling a full season of his plays. His publisher said this proved ‘he is not only one of the most prolific writer of radio plays in the 20th and 21st century, but also one of the most talented.’ The broadcasts made were listed by BBC Radio 4 Extra.
David Pownall at 75 Friday, 24 May 2013, 15:45 15 mins
BBC Radio 4 Synopsis
Three specially-commissioned stories marking the 75th birthday of the playwright, novelist and poet. 3: The Known Facts. During a visit to Ireland, a chance encounter with a local museum curator has a profound effect on three elderly academics and their different attitudes towards mortality. Read by Hannah Gordon
David Pownall at 75, 15:45 24/05/2013, BBC Radio 4, 15 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/030E9CB2?bcast=96795663
David Pownall at 75 Friday, 17 May 2013, 15:45 15 mins
BBC Radio 4 Synopsis
Three specially-commissioned stories marking the 75th birthday of the playwright, novelist and poet. 2: No Two Rooms Alike. An unusual journey taken by a father and son, both of whom are writers. Read by Robert Glenister
David Pownall at 75, 15:45 17/05/2013, BBC Radio 4, 15 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/030CE519?bcast=96581422 (Accessed 30 Mar 2023)
David Pownall at 75 Friday, 10 May 2013, 15:45 15 mins
BBC Radio 4 Synopsis
Three specially-commissioned stories marking the 75th birthday of the playwright, novelist and poet. 1: Concorde. A determination to win weighs heavily on an elderly sailor. A story of obsession and close attention to detail. Read by Bernard Cribbins
David Pownall at 75, 15:45 10/05/2013, BBC Radio 4, 15 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/030B130A?bcast=96365355
David Pownall – Flos Sunday, 12 May 2013, 13:30 90 mins
BBC 7 Synopsis
4 Extra Debut. It’s 1216, and King John is dying. In Carlisle, a row between a mason and a prior epitomizes power struggles within church and state. Stars Michael Williams and Peter Vaughan
David Pownall – Flos, 13:30 12/05/2013, BBC 7, 90 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/030C896E?bcast=96435619
David Pownall – Hard Frosts in Florence Friday, 17 May 2013, 04:15 45 mins
BBC Radio 4 Extra Synopsis
4 Extra Debut. A deeply troubled Michelangelo returns to Florence to view his statue of the boy David – ’flesh caught in stone’ – for the last time. A monologue specially written for the late Paul Scofield
David Pownall – Hard Frosts in Florence, 04:15 17/05/2013, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/030CF383?bcast=96580961
David Pownall – Ploughboy Monday Sunday, 12 May 2013, 04:45 75 mins
BBC 7 Synopsis
4 Extra Debut. Harold leaves home after falling out with his parents. He decides to become a ploughboy, and his single-minded approach brings him success in everything but his personal relationships. Award-winning radio play stars Jason Littler, Judith Barker
David Pownall – Ploughboy Monday, 04:45 12/05/2013, BBC 7, 75 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/030C7CF1?bcast=96435223
A recorded transmission copy of this production has been available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/_-W6v5R-s9c
David Pownall – Flos Sunday, 12 May 2013, 13:30 90 mins
BBC 7 Synopsis
4 Extra Debut. It’s 1216, and King John is dying. In Carlisle, a row between a mason and a prior epitomizes power struggles within church and state. Stars Michael Williams and Peter Vaughan
David Pownall – Flos, 13:30 12/05/2013, BBC 7, 90 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/030C896E?bcast=96435619
Drama on 3 Elgar’s Rondo Sunday, 9 Jun 2013, 20:15 105 mins
BBC Radio 3 Synopsis
Elgar’s Rondo, by David Pownall. The reaction to his Second Symphony, and the Rondo in particular, only heightened the doubts and fears which plagued Elgar for much of his creative life. Later, while struggling to express in music the horror of World War I, his family and admirers endeavour to help him re-ignite his creative spark. Featuring performances by David Horovitch, Sarah Badel and Robert Glenister.
Drama on 3, 20:15 09/06/2013, BBC Radio 3, 105 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/006B7267?bcast=97276731
David Pownall – Hard Frosts in Florence Friday, 17 May 2013, 04:15 45 mins
BBC Radio 4 Extra Synopsis
4 Extra Debut. A deeply troubled Michelangelo returns to Florence to view his statue of the boy David – ’flesh caught in stone’ – for the last time. A monologue specially written for the late Paul Scofield
David Pownall – Hard Frosts in Florence, 04:15 17/05/2013, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/030CF383?bcast=96580961
Afternoon Play: Prayer Mask Friday, 21 Oct 2011, 14:15 45 mins
BBC Radio 4 Synopsis
By David Pownall. Adventure based on the writings of 19th-century explorer Richard Burton. In a quest for knowledge, Burton sets out from Alexandria on an expedition to Mecca, disguised as an Afghani pilgrim. He and his two young guides encounter many dangers, all the while keeping his true identity secret. With Joseph Fiennes, Akbar Kurtha, Rasmus Hardiker, Paul Rider. Directed by Peter Kavanagh
Afternoon Play: Prayer Mask, 14:15 21/10/2011, BBC Radio 4, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/00C121DD?bcast=72551054
The Saturday Play: Slow Boat to Leningrad Saturday, 22 Aug 2009, 14:30 60 mins
BBC Radio 4 Synopsis
Black comedy by David Pownall following events of August 1939, when the British and French were seriously out-manoeuvred by Stalin and Hitler when they unexpectedly agreed to sign a non-aggression pact. With Keith Drinkel, Geoffrey Whitehead, Ian Masters, Nicholas Boulton. Directed by Martin Jenkins
The Saturday Play: Slow Boat to Leningrad, 14:30 22/08/2009, BBC Radio 4, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/010E11E5?bcast=33175558
Saturday Play: Master Class Saturday, 31 Jan 2009, 14:30 90 mins
BBC Radio 4 Synopsis
Comedy by David Pownall, set in Moscow in 1948. Stalin and his sidekick Zhdanov invite Prokofiev and Shostakovich to the Kremlin for a music lesson. With Kenneth Cranham, Trevor Cooper, Bruce Alexander, John Light
Saturday Play: Master Class, 14:30 31/01/2009, BBC Radio 4, 90 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/00D525BD?bcast=31520663
Afternoon Play: Torch No. 1 Thursday, 15 Jan 2009, 14:15 47 mins
BBC Radio 4 Synopsis
By David Pownall. Monologue exploring the mind and motives of the young Czech student, Jan Palach, who set fire to himself in the centre of Prague 40 years ago. With Karl Davis. Directed by Martin Jenkins
Afternoon Play: Torch No. 1, 14:15 15/01/2009, BBC Radio 4, 47 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/00CDF5C7?bcast=31400979
Dora’s Women Hide Sunday, 29 Jun 2008, 00:30 18 mins
BBC Radio 4 Synopsis
Five readings specially written for Dora Bryan. 5: Hide, by David Pownall. A dark secret has remained undiscovered for a very long time
Dora’s Women, Hide, 00:30 29/06/2008, BBC Radio 4, 18 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/005A3E63?bcast=29725233
Richard III -Part Two Sunday, 2 Jul 1978, 19:10 110 mins
BBC Radio 3 Synopsis
By David Pownall with music by Stephen Boxer with members of the Paines Plough Company Stephen Boxer as George Orwell/Richard III (guitar, crumhorn, electric piano)
Diana Kyle as Louise/Richard, Duke of York (guitar, electric piano, glockenspiel, sopranino recorder, crumhorn, percussion) Robert Mclntosh as George McMasters/Warwick/ King Edward/Henry Tudor (nordic lyre, percussion) Eric Richard as Francis Lovell/King Louis (penny whistle, dulcimer, percussion)
Harriet Walter as Cecily Neville/Edward
(flute, psaltery, glockenspiel, percussion)
Fiona Victory as Elizabeth Woodville
(rebec, nordic lyre, percussion) Joe Marcell as Chrysostom (percussion)
John Adams as Announcer
The action of the play moves in and out of the years 1948, 1984. 1484 and 1485. Richard III – Part Two has been presented at the National Theatre and the Edinburgh Festival.
Directed for radio by Ian COTTERELL
Stereo & Quad
Richard III -Part Two, 19:10 02/07/1978, BBC Radio 3, 110 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/RT3CD3F1?bcast=119449061
David Pownall Radio Playwright. BBC Radio Times credits. From 1972 to the present.
Four Morning Plays 1: Free Ferry by DAVID POWNALL BBC Radio 4 Tue 5th Dec 1972, 11:30 on BBC Radio 4 FM
Although rival suitors for the affection of Marguerite, the pretty French au-pair girl, may have a lot in their favour, Will has a trump card – he drives the only ferry across the lake.
Producer ALFRED BRADLEY (from Leeds)
Afternoon Theatre Free House by David Pownall BBC Radio 4 Wed 21st Feb 1973, 15:00 on BBC Radio 4 FM
‘ The days of us small family breweries are over. They’re going to buy us out and close us down. When they do, something will go from the life round here. And it won’be just beer…. ‘
Producer TONY CLIFF (from Leeds)
‘Warden, everybody has a right to celebrate the New Year and I won’t take your refusal lying down. I’ve spent most of my life fighting petty dictators like you – I haven’t stopped the campaign yet! Producer ALFRED BRADLEY (Leeds)
‘Now he’s been killed, I can’t go on living here as though nothing had ever happened. I’ve got to get out of this house, out of this street, out of bloody Liverpool. I must get away from here and be on my own. Free. (Leeds) (Rptd: Monday, 3.5 pm)
A recorded off transmission of this production has been available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/DmcytjOw0wA
‘That was a corrupt thing to do. People bet on you because they thought you were trying to win. All over the country they trusted you. You throw all that away in your first race and you’re hardly bothered. You’re not even embarrassed.’
Produced and directed by ALFRED BRADLEY BBC Manchester (Repeated: Sunday 2.30 pm)
Harry: They’re offering me a lot of money, just for the right to prospect the area for three months. A lot of money.
Jane: We don’t need the money. Not that money.
Harry: We could extend the house, build the two new bedrooms, your studio … remember? You want to paint again, don’t you?
Jane: There’ll be nothing left to paint if you let an oil company into this valley. They’ll ruin it. (BBC Manchester)
With music by Gesualdo, Peter Warlock and Stephen Boxer
The Paines Plough Production of a musical reworking of the lives of two composers, Carlo Gesualdo , an Italian prince, contemporary of Shakespeare, who composed motets and madrigals from the death of his first wife in 1590 to his own death in 1613. and Philip Heseltine , alias Peter Warlock , born 1894 and who committed suicide in 1930 after a career as music critic and composer. Helen Euterpe , MARY ELLEN RAY Federigo/Carafa…edward ADAMS Philip Heseltine. Stephen BOXER Carlo Gesualdo ….. ERIC RICHARD Maria D’Avalas …. FIONA VICTORY Additional singing by DIANA KYLE Produced and directed by GUY VAESEN
‘I know Jack is in a mess but I won’t tell Mother. It’s the protection racket. She keeps everything that might hurt us from us, and we keep everything that might hurt her from her. It’s an emotional co-op with fantastic dividends. Pain does not exist. Everything in the garden is always lovely. Directed by Alfred Bradley BBC Manchester (Rptd: next Sunday 2.30 pm)
The life and times of the Lancaster lino millionaire Li’le Jimmy Williamson You won’t let me down. You’re the only reason I can live in this town.
If it wasn’t for your factory I’d be out on the road, Dying with the flowe
When the summer grass is mowed…
Music composed and arranged by STEPHEN BOXER Directed by ALFRED BRADLEY BBC Manchester followed by an interlude
Morning Story BBC Radio 4 First Words by DAVID POWNALL First broadcast: Thu 10th Nov 1977, 10:45 on BBC Radio 4 FM medium only
Dandelion Clocks
New stories about childhood 4: Read by Meg Johnson BBC Manchester
With members of the Paines Plough Company. Olu Jacobs and Rod Beacham
It is two weeks before Rhodesian Independence. In a mental hospital the remaining staff are asked to examine a prisoner – a very unusual prisoner. Directed by DAVID SPENSER
With music by Stephen Boxer with members of the Paines Plough Company:
Stephen Boxer as George Orwell/Richard III (guitar, crumhorn, electric piano), Diana Kyle as Louise/Richard, Duke of York (guitar, electric piano, glockenspiel, sopranino recorder, crumhorn, percussion), Robert Mclntosh as George McMasters/Warwick/King Edward/Henry Tudor (nordic lyre, percussion), Eric Richard as Francis Lovell/King Louis (penny whistle, dulcimer, percussion), Harriet Walter as Cecily Neville/Edward (flute, psaltery, glockenspiel, percussion), Fiona Victory as Elizabeth Woodville (rebec, nordic lyre, percussion), Joe Marcell as Chrysostom (percussion)
John Adams as Announcer
The action of the play moves in and out of the years 1948, 1984. 1484 and 1485. Richard III – Part Two has been presented at the National Theatre and the Edinburgh Festival.
Directed for radio by IAN COTTERELL
Livingstone only made one convert in Africa, Sechele, Chief of the Crocodile People. Turning a pagan into a shaky sort of Christian forces the missionary to re-examine his own beliefs and prejudices. Directed by ALFRED BRADLEY BBC Manchester (Repeated: Sun 2.30)
Barricade by DAVID POWNALL BBC Radio 3 First broadcast: Sun 27th Jul 1980, 21:30 on BBC Radio 3
Set in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Four anarchists have been manning a barricade for a year. Their growing disillusion with the Republican cause, particularly with the Communist involvement in that cause. makes them decide to leave their barricade and Spain, and start life again in South America. Before they can do so, however, two gypsics and a young Englishman appear. Directed by CAROLINE SMITH BBC Manchester (Christopher Ravenscroft is a member of the RSC) followed by an interlude.
Read by Kathleen Helme Producer GILLIAN HUSH BBC Manchester long wave only
The play is inspired by one of the legends of ancient Ireland – The Cattle Raid of Cooley which was recorded in the 12th century by a monk at the monastery of Clonmacnoise. The characters of the legend, Queen Maeve, her husband Ailill, her lover Fergus, and the Mad Cuckoo – an extraordinary interpretation of the hero Cuchulain – invade Ulster during the Pope’s visit to Ireland in 1979. Directed for radio by Ian Cotterell (Beef, presented by The Poines Plough Company directed by John Adams , was first perfomed at The Arts Centre, University of Warwick, on 28 January)
Solo by Davd Pownall BBC Radio 3 First broadcast: Sat 6th Jun 1981, 22:30 on BBC Radio 3
A new series of dramatic works for solo performance Later by DAVID POWNALL with ‘ Sit down again, back round the table! You know the little rules which govern this. Yes, a seance in Soviet Russia in 1937 must be controlled by tradition. No new regulations have been issued have they? ‘ The spirit of Sonia returns to talk to her family 16 years after she walked out of their lives. Directed by ALFRED BRADLEY BBC, Manchester, Sonia: Elizabeth Bell
Government cuts in the Health Service are taking place. How are they to be brought about? A certain large mental hospital decides on a wonderfully novel way of achieving these cuts.
BBC Manchester
Music composed and directed by STEPHEN BOXER with Michael Williams Robert Eddison Mike Gwilym and Peter Vaugban
In Carlisle in 1216, the confrontation between a Master Mason and a wily prior epitomises power struggles within church and state.
MICHAEL CHANCI ASHLEY STAFFORD (counter-tenors) PHILIP SALMON (tenor) JOHN POTTER (tenor) RICHARD WISTREICH (baSS) SIMON GRANT (bass) Boy soloists PIERS MCLEISH and STEVEN HARROLD ALASTAIR MCLACHLAN (medieval fiddle) DAVID CORKHILL (percussion and bells) JEREMY BARLOW (recorder, whistle, portative organ) BOB WHITE (bagpipes, shawm) FIONA HIBBERT (Celtic harp) Technical presentation by DAVID IIITCHINSON and DIANA BARKHAM. Directed by RONALD MASON (Robert Eddison and Mike Gwilym are members of the RSC)
Read by David Mahlowe Producer GILLIAN HUSH BBC Manchester long wave only
The Mist People by David Pownall BBC Radio 3 First broadcast: Thu 3rd Mar 1983, 19:30 on BBC Radio 3
Three down-and-outs who lean on one another for support are shaken when the youngest begins to hear voices telling him to start a new life. (BBC Manchester)
Harold leaves home after falling out with his parents. He decides to become a ploughboy, and his single-minded approach brings him success in everything but his personal relationships.
Directed by ALFRED BRADLEY BBC Manchester (Re-broadcast on Monday at 3 Opm) Stereo
At the time of writing a recorded off transmission copy of this play is available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/_-W6v5R-s9c
Master Class by DAVID POWNALL BBC Radio 3 First broadcast: Wed 22nd Jan 1986, 19:30 on BBC Radio 3 Music arranged by JOHN WHITE
After the Second World War music played a vital part in the regeneration of the Soviet Uni
Prokofiev and Shostakovich are summoned to a private meeting with Stalin to discuss the kind of music he wants. Directed by MARTIN JENKINS
Male Sebusia, Africa’s youngest-ever dictator, has been condemned to death following a popular uprising. The new President, anxious to understand Sebusia’s power and charisma, persuades him to embark on his autobiography. Dictating it in his cell to his right-hand man – an English businessman who has also been sentenced to death – Sebusia weaves an extraordinary tissue of lies, half-truths and truths. Directed by Martin Jenkins.
Orbigo in northern Spain is on the ancient route to the shrine at Santiago de Compostela. The old bridge there has been the centre of many historic events and of course a challenge, too, to the modern pilgrim. Pilgrims, soldiers, footballers, workmen and others encountered on the way, played by members of the cast. Music by PETER HOWELL of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Directed by RICHARD IMISON.
A season of six plays broadcast both on Radio 4 and on the BBC World Service.
Reg, a reformed hooligan, is up in the Cumbrian mountains doing research with his passionate girlfriend Gloria. They encounter Arthur, a retired oil executive, and together they revolutionise the British leisure industry. Directed by IAN COTTERELL. Stereo (A Radio 41 World Service production)
A Yugoslav student nearly causes a revolution when he stays with a Liverpool family.
Director Martin Jenkins Stereo
Four Glossomaniacs attend a party organised by their psychiatrist. The outcome is startling. Written by David Pownall Director Martin Jenkins. Cast: Anna Massey, Robert Glenister & David King.
David Pownall ‘s drama intertwines the lives of two composers from different periods,
Carlo Gesualdo and Philip Heseltine.
Gesualdo was an Italian prince and contemporary of Shakespeare while Heseltine, alias Peter Warlock , committed suicide in 1930. Using his supernatural powers Heseltine materialises in Gesualdo’s ruined palace and summons the prince. Then, there’s music to murder by…. The production includes music by Gesualdo, Peter Warlock and Stephen Boxer.
Additional singing Diana Kyle Director Guy Vaesen
With Alec McCowen as Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In 1765 Rousseau was an exile in England.
Playwright David Pownall imagines what he might have spoken about if invited to address the Royal Society on the subject of his inner, emotional life. Little would his hosts have guessed what explosions were in store! Director Peter Kavanagh.
Kitty Wilkinson- David Pownall ‘s play is set in Liverpool at the time of the great cholera epidemic of 1832. It examines the life and work of a woman who was driven by a compulsion to help her fellow men, and who was hailed by many as a “saint” – Kitty Wilkinson. Songs composed and sung by Maddy Prior. Director Martin Jenkins. Stereo.
Dreams and Censorship by David Pownall. With Robert Stephens and Edward Petherbridge. It is 1610, and the translation of James I’s new Bible is at last complete However, assured by Shakespeare that to allow the inclusion of The Dream of St John will lead to bloody revolution,
James travels to Oxford, determined to excise it from the sacred text. Director Eoin O’Callaghan
Elgar’s unfinished Third Symphony has always aroused considerable curiosity. This is the story of that work, from its commission by the BBC at the instigation of George Bernard Shaw , to the struggle by Elgar to overcome his increasing doubts and concerns.
Specially written by David Pownall to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the composer’s death, the play also includes some of the surviving musical fragments, played on violia, violin or piano. Music performed by Michael Schofield and Tony Sellors Director Martin Jenkins
The panel of a literary prize suspect something fishy when they discover that a major political figure has entered the competition. Peter Vaughan stars as the Salmon Trout. Director Eoin O’Callaghan.
In the spring of 1945, a boy overcomes his terror of a world at war to demand of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, who are meeting in his grandfather’s greenhouse, a reason why his mother is now widowed and inconsolable. With David Calder as the storyteller. Music composed by Neil Brand and performed by Sarah Homer. Director Eoin O’Callaghan. At the time of writing a recorded off transmission copy of this play is available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/9_PQqzrKPW4
History, like everything else these days, has become a commodity – and so it is that a statue of Jeremy, a 17th-century archbishop, is commissioned to adorn a Surrey town square. With Roger Allam as Dyson and David Ryall as Jeremy. Director Eoin O’Callaghan.
Winner of the 1995 Sony Gold Award for his play Elgar’s Third – returns to the theme of composers with a fascinating look at the complex relationship between the “young eagle” Johannes Brahms and his devoted mentors Robert and Clara Schumann. Pianist Terence Allbright Director Martin Jenkins.
By David Pownall. It is World War I and Gerald is a portrait photographer in a small northern town. He takes discreet nude pictures of soldiers’ wives for the men to take to the front. with Steve Hodson , Tessa Worsley , Derek Waring. Kristin Milward , Becky Hindley , Michael Tudor Barnes, Peter Yapp , Jonathan Keeble and Annabel Mullion. Director Peter Kavanagh.
Paul Winfield plays the jazz musician and entertainer Louis Armstrong in David Pownall ‘s play written to mark Satchmo’s death 25 years ago. with Jackie Richardson. Herbert Johnson , Brian Warren , Richard Chevolleau , Karen Leblanc , David Collins , George Buza , Dennis O’Connor , Robert Pasons , Ian D Clarke , Aron Tager, Rachel Luttrell and John McLeod. Director Martin Jenkins.
By David Pownall. With Barry Foster as Carlsen and Brian Glover as Greg. 1896. When a Lancashire fisherman catches a sturgeon he is told it is the property of Queen Victoria. But how can he get the huge fish to the ageing – and indifferent – monarch? with loan Meredith, Christopher Scott ,Sean Baker , Keith Drinkel. Janet Maw , Mark Bonnar and Chris Pavlo. Director Peter Kavanagh.
By David Pownall.
In the last years of his life, one of the largest literary figures of the 20th century, Ezra Pound , fell silent. The man who had been branded a traitor and judged insane by American authorities abandoned poetry and chose instead to communicate with that other prodigious talent, Claudio Monteverdi. Director Eoin O’Callaghan.
Why does the great wartime leader’s proboscis excite the imagination of Salvador Dali?
What really happened on that memorable night in 1994 when Boris Yeltsin landed at Shannon airport? Director Martin Jenkins
When Hitler sends Eva Braun to visit Albert Schweitzer in West Africa, he inadvertently introduces her to Einstein, Epstein and Eisenstein. Director Eoin O’Callaghan.
Sick of life in England, the king escapes to the revolting colonies, marries Betty en route, meets George Washington, and is finally persuaded to return home. Director Martin Jenkins
By David Pownall. As Leo Tolstoy and his wife Sofya embark on perhaps the greatest novel ever written, there rages between them a tumultuous and, at times, tyrannical, love affair – their own personal war and peace. Director Eoin O’Callaghan.
By David Pownall. In 1752, pressure to Europeanise forces a move from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, consigning a superstitious population to an 11-day limbo of non-time. It is during this period that poet Thomas Gray meets a ghost from his past. Director Eoin O’Callaghan.
Specially written by David Pownall , this play celebrates 75 years of drama on radio, which began on 28 May 1923 with a production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. (A new production of Twelfth Night is on R3, Sunday 17 May.) with John Rowe. Jane Whittenshaw.
Christopher Wright , Gerard McDermott , Iwan Thomas. Alison Pettitt , Rory Campbell and Peter Donaldson. Director Martin Jenkins.
By David Pownall , with Michael Maloney , Joss Ackland , Eleanor Bron and Richard Griffiths. Alessandro Stradella, though a musical genius, is banished by Pope Innocent XI for his notorious philandering. But when he crosses the Doge of Venice he finds his music may be the only thing between him and a bloody end. with Carolyn Jones , Iwan Thomas , Sarah Rice and Alison Pettitt. Director Peter Kavanagh.
Mrs Mooney is a butcher’s daughter who takes in lodgers out of necessity. Her daughter Polly’s pregnancy by one of the better-class lodgers provides a golden opportunity for a woman who knows the price of a pork chop. with Jim Norton , Mark Lambert , Stephen Hogan , Hillary Reynolds and TP McKenna Director Eoin O’Callaghan.
By David Pownall. Two men meet on a train. One lies about his whereabouts over a mobile phone and is then drawn into a conversation about his lover with the second man.
Contributors. Director: Peter Kavanagh.
By David Pownall. Why was Alejandro Garcia Caturla – the renowned Cuban composer – brutally murdered in 1940 on the way to the post office in his home town of Remsdios? Cuban Solo looks at the price of genius, corruption and love. Director Martin Jenkins.
The first in a series of plays exploring the hearts and minds of three of history’s most celebrated killers. On 13 July 1793, Charlotte Corday, a young woman from Caen in Normandy, travelled to Paris with the sole intention of killing Jean Paul Marat while he sat in his bath. What drove her to such an extreme? Director Eoin O’Callaghan.
The second in a series of plays exploring the hearts and minds of three of history’s most celebrated killers. In May 1812, as Napoleon’s armies massed on the Russian borders, the aggrieved John Bellingham, a Liverpool timber merchant, entered the House of Commons and shot dead the then prime minister Spencer Perceval. With David Horovitch as John Bellingham.
The last in a series of plays exploring the minds of three of history’s most celebrated killers.
David Pownall recreates the events of 14 April 1865, when 30 minutes into the performance of Our American Cousin, in the Ford Theatre, Washington, John Wilkes Booth entered President Abraham Lincoln’s state box, and shot him dead. With Nathan Osgood as John Wilkes Booth and Carlos Antonion as Davey Herold. Directed by Eoin O’Callaghan.
By David Pownall. Cambridge, 1807. Lord Byron is 19 years of age, an undergraduate, an already published poet and an established dissolute. During an intrigue he is badly beaten up and so goes into training at Gentleman. John Jackson ‘s Boxing Academy. For payment, the bankrupt poet will teach the champion wrestler to write verse. with David Allister , Alison Pettitt and Ben Crowe. Director Marina Caldarone.
By David Pownall. Tommy Handley was the man who made the nation laugh in his surreal wartime radio extravaganza ITMA (It’s That Man Again). with Stella Gonet , John Forgeham, Carolyn Backhouse , Tom Bevan , David Jarvis and Keith Drinkel. Director Martin Jenkins.
By David Pownall. And on the eighth day God created language. Little did he expect the confusion that would ensue. Director Peter Kavanagh.
Grandad has decided that his son’s family must give up smoking even though it is too late for him to do so. As the family hits deep withdrawal and tears itself apart, he lies in bed puffing merrily away.
By David Pownall. Mass starvation and terror occupy the minds of scientists during the siege of Leningrad in the Second World War. Yet in the city is a vast laboratory where they are working on a new strain of genetically-modified wheat that could feed the whole of the USSR. Director Martin Jenkins.
By David Pownall. The year is 1213 and an interdict from Pope Innocent proscribing any form of music in the churches of England makes a beleaguered and isolated King John realise that he has to find some kind of a sound to feed the soul of his people. What he commissions is a sound so strange that it is heard as music without music. It is An Insular Motet.
The mystery of love’s compelling power is explored in a drama by David Pownall , based on one of the best-loved of all folksongs, which tells the story of high-born Gemmy Grove’s obsession with the beautiful young artisan Barbara Allen. Director Peter Kavanagh. Continues tomorrow 2.15pm.
By David Pownall. Edith Sitwell ‘s poems and William Walton ‘s music weave through this humorous and turbulenttale of the alternative “Bloomsbury Set”.Young William,with a grand piano in his very small bedroom, is under the patronage of the Sitwells and caught up in a vortex of vitriol as Fagade is conceived and executed. Starring David Tennant as William Walton, with Celia Imrie (Edith Sitwell), John Webb (Osbert Sitwell), Richard Derrington (Sacheverell Sitwell),
Chris Emmett (Noel Coward, Constant Lambert and George Sitwell), Ian Brooker (Herr Senger and Walton’s Father) and Gillian Goodman (Mrs Powell and Hernia Whittlebot). Pianist Christian MacKay Ensemble music by Chicago Pro Musica Producer and director Sue Wilson.
The turbulent political times after Christ’s crucifixion are explored in a new play by award-winning writer David Pownall. Four Jerusalem street children are recruited by the Jewish authorities to spy on the disciples to see how they react to their leader’s death.
Malcolm Sinclair with Gerard McDermott and Hannah Dee Director Gemma Jenkins.
By David Pownall. A creature presents itself to immigration at Swansea. Customs cannot determine for sure its origins, its identity, or even its gender. But one thing is clear. It is a human being. Director Peter Kavanagh
By David Pownall. In the early 1960s, inbred suspicion hampers an idealistic young graduate sent to recruit workers for a new Liverpool car plant. Director: Martin Jenkins.
When the father of Existentialism, Soren Kierkegaard, falls in love with the unlikely Regina Olsen, he is too busy deconstructing the nature of the emotion he is experiencing to notice that he is breaking the poor girl’s heart…. with calamitous results. Director: Eoin O’Callaghan.
By David Pownall. To cure his much loved sister’s s depression, the young Disraeli strives to weave his spell and finds time forseductions, writing novels, confronting anti-Semitism and standing as an MP. confronting anti-Semitism. Director Martin Jenkins.
A play specially written for Paul Scofield , who plays a deeply troubled Michelangelo returning to Florence to view his statue of the boy David – “flesh caught in stone” – for the last time. By David Pownall. Director Martin Jenkins.
A tense drama set around the Suez crisis of 1956. A Liverpool family is already haunted and riven by the loss of too many young men in war – and the British action in Suez deepens these wounds. By David Pownall. Director Martin Jenkins. At the time of writing a recorded off transmission copy of this radio play is available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/mwHjbhMqpF0
Having endlessly endured his father’s refusal to give up the throne, an _ exasperated Prince of Wales turns to a playwright for some revolutionary advice. Some things never change. By David Pownall. Producer/Director Eoin O’Callaghan.
1/10. The date is July 1303 and Edward I is on a campaign to subdue Scotland. But the Scots are not the only thorn in Edward’s side. His son Ned has little appetite for kingship, preferring instead the knight Piers Gaveston – an obsession many consider to be a threat to the crown. Written by David Pownall , abridged by Neville Teller and read by David Horovitch. Producer Eoin O’Callaghan.
2/10. July 1303: Edward I’s campaign against the Scots is going badly – almost as badly as his efforts to persuade his son to give up Piers Gaveston. By David Pownall.
3/10. July 1303: Edward I’s campaign is in tatters. So when his son, Ned, begs to be allowed to give the County of Ponthieu to Piers Gaveston , Edward is incandescent. By David Pownall.
4/10. Edward I has returned to England to forge a peace with his most powerful barons. But on entering York Cathedral, a holy man who is quite clearly his illegitimate son, causes Edward unexpected distress. By David Pownall.
5/10. Exhausted by his campaigns against the Scots and his failed attempt at reforming his son, Edward I dies. Prince Edward wastes no time in ennobling his lover, Piers Gaveston. By David Pownall.
6/10. David Horovitch reads David Pownall ‘s story of Edward, Prince of Wales in the early 1300s. Edward I is dead and his son is crowned Edward II. The new King’s relationship with Piers Gaveston arouses fury in both the Church and the nobility. Abridged by Neville Teller. Director Eoin O’Callaghan.
7/10. By David Pownall , abridged by Neville Teller. Since the death of King Edward I, Ned and Piers Gaveston have provoked the Church and state beyond endurance, and some are plotting to bring the new monarch to heel. Read by David Horovitch.
8/10. David Horovitch reads David Pownall ‘s story of Edward II in the early 1300s. Ned and Piers Gaveston glory in the power placed in their hands by the death of King Edward, and Gaveston takes it upon himself to settle some old scores. Abridged by Neville Teller.
9/10. David Horovitch reads David Pownall ‘s story of Edward II in the early 1300s. Ned and Piers Gaveston flaunt all convention and contravene a pact drawn up with the kingdom’s most powerful families.
10/10. David Horovitch reads David Pownall ‘s story of Edward II. Having provoked the nobility, Piers Gaveston is exiled to Bruges – but Ned cannot do without him and Piers just cannot stay away. Abridged by Neville Teller.
Joseph Fiennes stars as the young Lt Richard Burton who, in 1853, disguised himself as an Afghani pilgrim and undertook an expedition to Mecca. His aim was to explore the Holy of Holies. He chronicles this journey, fraught with dangers and misadventure. But can he hide his identity from his two young guides? By David Pownall. Producer/Director Peter Kavanagh.
A poignant story of the relationship between a father and his decidely independent daughter, as he tries to fulfill his wife’s wishes and bring the family together. By David Pownall, read by Alec McCowen.
Although he was neither a terrorist nor a fanatic, Jan Palach set fire to himself in the centre of Prague 40 years ago. In this thought-provoking play, starring Karl Davies David Pownall explores Palach’s state of mind and asks why he should opt to take such a step. Director Martin Jenkins.
Set in an obscure corner of the Kremlin in 1948 David Pownall ‘s comedy supposes that Stalin and his sidekick Zhdanov arranged to give Prokofiev and Shostakovich, the two greatest Russian composers alive at the time, a music lesson. The play charts, in real time, the progress of the evening as the four men drink vodka, play the piano and exert their status, politically, culturally and physically. Producer Jessica Dromgoole.
David Pownall’s black comedy follows events when, in August 1939, the British and French were seriously outmanoeuvred by Stalin and Hitler who unexpectedly agreed to sign a Non-Aggression Pact. Director: Martin Jenkins.
Clare Higgins and Carl Prekopp star in this brutally honest, passionate true story of the compelling, disturbing and tempestuous love affair between the greatest actress of her time, the legendary Sarah Siddons and the renowned artist, Tom Lawrence. A young teenager when he first paints Siddons, Lawrence falls hopelessly in love with her. Plagued by self-doubts, she resists his advances. To ‘escape’ her clutches but also to be nearer to her, Tom woos her daughters. When they die, Sarah accuses him of killing them by the demonic force of his adoration. Knowing they should stay apart, over the years they continue to meet and draw strength from each other. Every time she visits, she also sits for Tom enabling him to trace her decline in his art. Theirs is a relationship rich in nuance and subtlety in which two people share intimacies, aspirations, confidences, fears and doubts.
Sarah ….. Clare Higgins
Tom ….. Carl Prekopp
Writen by David Pownall. The director is Martin Jenkins, and this is a Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
15 Minute Drama Sarah Siddons: Life in Five Sittings by David Pownall. Episode 2 BBC Radio 4. First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM
David Pownall’s cautionary tale about a money-crazed entrepreneur who transports a pickled whale from the Cape of Good Hope round Southern Africa and makes a fortune.
Other parts played by Alison Pettitt, John Biggins, David Seddon, Michael Shelford and Keeley Beresford. Music composed and performed by Russell Taylor and Steve Cooke. Directed by Peter Kavanagh.
The poet WB Yeats travels to propose to legendary beauty Maud Gonne soon after her husband was executed by the British in the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin.
by David Pownall with original music composed and performed by Max Pownall
YEATS……………JOHN KAVANAGH
MAUD…………. .FIONA VICTORY
YSEULT…………….LYDIA WILSON
ELSIE……………JANE WHITTENSHAW
Directed by Peter Kavanagh
Irish patriot John MacBride was shot by the British after the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. His estranged English wife, Maud Gonne, actress, fanatical Irish republican and famous beauty, was in Paris helping nurse war casualties at the time. Forbidden by the British from returning to Ireland to fight for the cause, she went to the coast of Normandy for the summer with her children and there she was visited by Yeats who had been in love with her for many years.
With him he brought the draft of a poem in which MacBride is attacked for his private behaviour but praised for what his sacrifice will achieve in sanctifying the struggle. Over many weeks Yeats pleads with Maud to marry him now she is free, reading his poem to her as he works on improving it. Why, she asks, is Ireland’s greatest poet doing the job of the British press in vilifying John MacBride, a national hero? But will Yeats change his poem, realising doing so will greatly increase the chances of his proposal?
Alfred Lord Tennyson (RICHARD JOHNSON) spent half a century mourning his college pal Arthur Hallam. He laboured for decades on an epic poetic tribute to him. So, in Pownall’s wry comedy, when inventor and businessman Thomas Edison (TOBY STEPHENS) – a very different kind of genius – asks Tennyson for a short poem to promote his new phonograph, there can only be one choice.
Lord Alfred Tennyson ….. Richard Johnson
Thomas Edison ….. Toby Stephens
Emily and Queen Victoria ….. Sian Thomas
Steigler ….. Sam Alexander
Arthur ….. Carl Prekopp
Hallam ….. Patrick Brennan
Sheela Na Gig ….. Tracy Wiles
Verger ….. Robert Blythe
Directed by Peter Kavanagh
Episode 1 (of 3): Concorde by David Pownall Read by Bernard Cribbins
The first of three specially commissioned stories marking the 75th birthday of David Pownall, the distinguished playwright, novelist and poet. Determined to win a race in his catamaran, an elderly sailor weighs up a newly arrived visitor.
Director: Martin Jenkins A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
To mark his 75th birthday, the British playwright David Pownall discusses his work with Mike Greenwood.
Episode 2 (of 3): No Two Rooms Alike by David Pownall Read by Robert Glenister
The second of three specially commissioned stories marking the 75th birthday of David Pownall, the distinguished playwright, novelist and poet.
Director: Martin Jenkins A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
Episode 3 (of 3): The Known Facts by David Pownall Read by Hannah Gordon
The last of three specially commissioned stories marking the 75th birthday of David Pownall, the distinguished playwright, novelist and poet.
During a visit to Ireland, a chance encounter with a local museum curator has a profound effect on three elderly academics and their different attitudes towards mortality.
Director: Martin Jenkins A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
The truly extraordinary story of Charles Babbage, a forgotten genius. One of the great scientific brains of the nineteenth century, he first conceived the computer but died a despised failure. A new play by David Pownall.
This is a play with strong contemporary overtones as Babbage is forced to constantly struggle against financial cuts and restraints imposed by successive governments and a lack of investment in scientific projects.
Although failure and injustice have dogged the lives of many inventors, Babbage really took terrible revenge upon himself. At the beginning of the play, he is building his analytical engine, the prototype of the modern computer, at his house in Dorset Street, W1. When he learns his project will no longer be funded by Government, he cracks and loses the will to fight on. He is flat broke, exhausted, bitter and disillusioned. If no one wants his computer, so be it. Let the thing be scrapped. Only one friend is able to imagine the future of the computer – Ada Lovelace, Byron’s daughter, poet, prophet, gambler and mathematician. Following the early death of Babbage’s wife, Ada is the most important woman in his life, despite the fact that she was married to an aristocrat. Through thick and thin, illness and despair, Babbage and Ada are a team in numbers, imagination and dreams.
Cast:
Charles Babbage: Sam Kelly
Ada Lovelace: Monica Dolan
Lord Lovelace: Michael Maloney
Disraeli: Nicholas Boulton
Wellington and Lord Aberdeen: Geoffrey Whitehead
Lady Byron: Frances Jeater
Marsden: Robert Glenister
Jeppes: Carl Prekopp
Italian Organ Grinder: Andrew Branch
Composer: Max Pownall
Director: Martin Jenkins
Dublin’s Abbey Theatre in 1913. W.B. Yeats plans to stage a play by the mystical Bengali poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. But he doesn’t reckon on the disruptive antics of the young, ambitious playwright-to-be Sean O’Casey. David Pownall imagines the fireworks between the two legendary Irishmen.
Director ….. Peter Kavanagh.
Cast:
Yeats: Dermot Crowley
Tagore: Sam Dastor
O’Casey: Stephen Hogan
Mother: Elaine Claxton
Lord Lieutenant: Sam Dale
Priest: David Acton
Director: Peter Kavanagh
David Pownall’s powerful new play The American Grandmother is a compelling family drama set in his home city of Liverpool and spans a period of some 30 years. When attending a friend’s wedding in 1916, Leone (21) meets and instantly marries a young soldier destined for the front. Estranged from her family she goes to live with her husband’s relatives together with her young son, John. However, after her husband Richard is killed, she leaves the boy with them and ‘escapes’ to America. Many years later she decides to return after she hears from his widow that John has been killed. Overcoming opposition, distrust and outright hostility she finds herself evermore involved with her estranged Liverpool family as she struggles to make them face reality and accept change so that her two young grandsons can have a different life away from the grief and guilt which engulfs them. Above all, she recognises that she must find a way for her eldest grandson to escape from the stifling clutches of his hard-living grandfather – a man with whom she finds she has a certain rapport.
Having written many times about Liverpool, David has a rich grasp and understanding of character, period, language and humour. He also uses his skill as radio dramatist to bring extra, unexpected dimensions to this poignant and moving story.
Also coming from Merseyside, Martin Jenkins has directed some 25 of David’s radio plays over a 30 year period. He is especially pleased on this occasion to have cast Noah London who is a pupil at Oldershaw Academy in Wallasey, the same school that he attended during the 1950s.
The play does contain some strong language.
Writer: David Pownall
Leone: Emma Fielding
Chaz: Joe McGann
Maureen: Sue Jenkins
Ellie: Jodie McNee
Richard: Karl Davies
Fan: Elizabeth Berrington
Leone’s Father: Sam Dale
Hector: Carl Prekopp
John and Raymond: Robbie O’Neill
The Chaplain: Richard Tate
The Headmistress: Jenny Funnell
The Boy: Noah London
Director: Martin Jenkins A Pier Production.
The 1960’s. John Huston launched a movie project that seemed foolproof. He hired the great existentialist philosopher Jean Paul Sartre to write a film script about Sigmund Freud. Sartre was world-famous. And his known dislike of Freud would ensure publicity. But all did not go to plan.
Kenneth Cranham and Dervla Kirwan star in David Pownall’s imagining of the comedy mayhem that ensued.
Writer ….. David Pownall
Director ….. Peter Kavanagh.
Freud: Nicholas Murchie
Jean-Paul Sartre: Kenneth Cranham
John Houston: David Sterne
Grace: Dervla Kirwan
A gripping new drama by David Pownall imagining what may have happened if the composer Monteverdi had been summoned to Rome to appear before the all-powerful Inquisition on charges of allowing blasphemy and immorality to go unpunished at the end of his magnificent new opera The Coronation of Poppea.
The Emperor Nero, persecutor of the early Christian church, is the leading character and concludes the opera by singing a sublime love duet – something the church authorities cannot comprehend or sanction.
Weak and frightened, the elderly Monteverdi is even brought face to face with the highly unpredictable Pope. How will Monteverdi escape the suffocating clutches of the Church? Will the Inquisition succeed in stifling his creative impulses? Why is the Pope so involved?
This is novelist and dramatist David Pownall’s 89th play for radio – a remarkable achievement. He revisits some of the long-standing areas of artistic interest that have always intrigued him. What motivates composers? What emotions inspire great music? How can a composer reconcile himself to the unbending demands of the Church or the State when under intense mental and physical pressure. Can a composer ever truly express himself under such strictures? This debate lies at the heart of his great stage play, the black comedy Master Class, in which Stalin tries to ‘persuade’ Prokofiev and Shostakovitch to work together to produce the perfect piece of Soviet music.
Cast:
Claudio Monteverdi Jim Norton
Maffeo Barberini David Horovitch
Claudia Monica Dolan
Busenello Anton Lesser
Domingo Michael Maloney
Adriano and Bernini Carl Prekopp
Sister John James Joyce
The Pope’s Secretary /Coachman Andrew Branch
and Giovanna and Martha Jane Whittenshaw
Written by David Pownall Directed by Martin Jenkins A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
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This contemporary play tackles something of the aftermath of Britain’s colonial past and the contentious issue of illegal immigration. The action takes place in a house located in Brighton in 2022.
One evening, Daniel, now in his 80s, answers his front door and is confronted by Amos who asks him for a bed for the night. When Amos tells him that he is the grandson of someone Daniel employed when he worked in Rhodesia, Daniel invites him in. He feels deeply obligated to Amos and to the promises he made all those years ago to his grandfather.
Amos explains he is in the country illegally which presents problems for Daniel – especially when he is visited by the police. The two men form a close bond and memories flood back forcing Daniel to confront the years he spent in Rhodesia. Amos also helps with Daniel’s wife, Flora, and the two clearly enjoy each other’s company. Before long it is clear that Amos has’ in effect, become the family servant just like his grandfather had been Daniel’s servant many years before.
The play follows Amos’ attempts to stay in the country, to be reunited with his family and to escape political problems in Zimbabwe. Together, the two men find a remarkable way to right former wrongs and form an even closer bond.
Nigel Anthony, Stefan Adegbola and Sarah Badel star in this powerful new play by David Pownall, one of radio’s most-distinquished writers. Martin Jenkins has directed over 30 plays by David Pownall.
Cast:
Daniel ………. Nigel Anthony
Amos ………. Stefan Adegbola
Flora ………. Sarah Badel
Other roles played by:
Jenny Funnell, Alan Leith and Jane Whittenshaw
Written by David Pownall Directed by Martin Jenkins Sound Design by David Thomas Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 Show less
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David Pownall on his latest play, Black Star, just opened in Bolton, UK. He wrote it for actor Joseph Marcell, who introduced him to its real-life central character, the 19th-century African American actor Ira Aldridge. The son of a slave, Aldridge was acclaimed for his great Shakespearean roles in Britain and Europe. Reviews of the films The Killing Floor, about race and labour relations in 1919 Chicago, and Stand by Me, based on a novella by Stephen King. Russia’s most popular artist, Ilya Glazunov, attracts millions to his exhibitions of paintings depicting a mythical, mystical past. Presenter: Mark Steyn. Show less
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Programme includes: a new novel set in Northern Ireland, Cal, by Bernard MacLaverty: a retrospective exhibition of British pop artist Peter Blake at London’s Tate gallery: two new plays about the role of the artist under Stalinism, Master Class by David Pownall at the Haymarket Theatre in London, and Hope Against Hope, Caspar Wrede’s adaptation of writer Nadezhda Mandelstam’s memoirs at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. Presented by Michael Billington.
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