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.
File:Kwame Kwei-Armah.jpg Created: 9 March 2011
Kwame Kwei-Armah is British actor, playwright, director and broadcaster. In 2018 he was made Artistic Director of the Young Vic, where he has directed Twelfth Night and Tree.
He is an accomplished radio drama playwright and leading figure in mainstream British drama.
From 2011 to 2018 he was previously the Artistic Director of Baltimore Center Stage where he directed: Jazz, Marley, One Night in Miami, Amadeus, Dance of the Holy Ghosts, The Mountaintop; An Enemy of the People, The Whipping Man and Things of Dry Hours.
Other work as a director includes: Tree (Manchester International Festival), Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, Detroit’67 (Public Theatre, New York), The Liquid Plain (Signature Theatre, New York and Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Porgy and Bess (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) the Olivier Nominated One night in Miami for Best New Play 2016 (Donmar Warehouse) and One Love (Birmingham Repertory Theatre).
As a playwright his credits include Tree (Manchester International Festival, Young Vic), One Love(Birmingham Repertory Theatre), Beneatha’s Place (Baltimore Center Stage) Elmina’s Kitchen, Fix Up, Statement of Regret (National Theatre) Let There Be Love and Seize the Day (Tricycle Theatre).
Kwame was Artistic Director for the Festival of Black arts and Culture, Senegal, in 2010. He conceived and directed the opening ceremony at Senghor National stadium. He was an Associate Director of the Donmar Warehouse and has served on the boards of the National Theatre, Tricycle Theatre, and Theatre Communications Group. Kwame was the Chancellor of the University of the Arts London from 2010 to 2015, and in 2012 was awarded an OBE for Services to Drama.
In 2012, 2013 and 2014 Kwame was named Best Director in City Paper’s Best of Baltimore Awards and in 2015 was nominated for the prestigious Stage Directors and Choreographers Zelda Fichandler Award for Best Regional Artistic Director.
In 2016 he was awarded the Urban Visionary Award alongside House Representative Elijah Cummings by the Center for Urban Families for his work in the Baltimore community. In 2019 he was the Chair of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. Kwame is a patron of Ballet Black and a visiting fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University.
Brought up in Southall, he changed his name at the age of 19 after tracing his family history, through the slave trade back to his ancestral African roots in Ghana. His parents were born in Grenada. He has four children.
If your school, college, university or public library has a subscription to Learning on Screen (Box of Broadcasts) you will be able to access the resources linked below.
Wikipedia profile: Kwame Kwei-Armah: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Kwei-Armah
BBC Radio Dramas
Statement of Regret by Kwame Kwei-Armah
Saturday Drama, 17 Aug 2013, 14:30 90 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis
The Year of Obama should be an opportunity for Kwaku’s black policy think tank to flourish. But Kwaku is still grieving for his father and his latest misjudged proposal is about to explode. A second chance to hear this provocative play first produced by the National Theatre in 2007 and first broadcast in 2009.
Director……………………Alison Hindell.
Saturday Drama, Statement of Regret, 14:30 17/08/2013, BBC Radio 4, 90 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0106BC5C?bcast=100195363 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
The National Theatre at 50 Radio Production of Elmina’s Kitchen, by Kwame Kwei-Armah: 4 Extra Debut.
Sunday, 20 Oct 2013, 20:00 90 mins BBC Radio 4 Extra
Synopsis
Life is tough for ex-boxer Deli, in his café on Hackney’s Murder Mile. National Theatre award-winning play. Stars Paterson Joseph.
The National Theatre at 50, 20:00 20/10/2013, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 90 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0078BA09?bcast=102687813 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, by Kwame Kwei-Armah:
The Wire Saturday, 10 Mar 2012, 21:30 60 mins BBC Radio 3
Synopsis
Drama about a young, radical pastor whose rising church career is under threat. David Harewood leads a cast including Mona Hammond, Joseph Marcell, Colin McFarlane and Ben Onwukwe
The Wire, 21:30 10/03/2012, BBC Radio 3, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/025E5335?bcast=80776181 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Drama – God’s President: Mugabe of Zimbabwe
Saturday, 2 Dec 2017, 14:30 60 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis
By Kwame Kwei-Armah. Lucian Msamati as Robert Mugabe and Richard Cordery as Lord Carrington in the story of the negotiations to achieve Zimbabwean Independence in 1980.
Drama – God’s President: Mugabe of Zimbabwe, 14:30 02/12/2017, BBC Radio 4, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01823102?bcast=125656979 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
BBC Radio Documentaries
Monday, 18 Apr 2011, 10:30 30 mins BBC Radio 4 Extra
Synopsis
Kwame Kwei-Armah: The actor and award-winning playwright recalls his London childhood growing up in Southall in the 1970s
The House I Grew up In, 10:30 18/04/2011, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 30 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0120C03C?bcast=63281714 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Tuesday, 4 Aug 2009, 22:30 60 mins BBC Radio 2
Synopsis
Kwame Kwei-Armah tells the story of playwright Thomas ‘Tennessee’ Williams, exploring the creative influence of his childhood home. Born in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1911, Tennessee Williams spent a great deal of his childhood in Clarksdale, living in the church rectory with his grandparents, mother and sister, while his travelling salesman father was largely absent. The rich influences of his religious upbringing in the Deep South have all influenced his plays. Many refer to actual places in Coahoma County and some of his most famous characters – Blanche, Brick, Baby Doll, Stella and Amanda Wingfield – are named after real Clarksdale residents. The Annual Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival was established in 1993 to celebrate both his talent and the cultural heritage immortalized in dramas like The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Streetcar Named Desire and Orpheus Descending. The Clarksdale festival is held in mid-October and plays are performed on porches and in venues, offering an authentic backdrop to the action. Contributors to the programme include residents of Clarksdale, aficionados of Tennessee Williams’ work, the American musician Charlie Musselwhite and some of the actors who have taken on his characters, including Brenda Blethyn
Cat on A Hot Tin Roof, 22:30 04/08/2009, BBC Radio 2, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/010B2B59?bcast=33050284 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Friday, 22 Jun 2018, 01:30 30 minsBBC Radio 4 Extra
Synopsis
Kwame Kwei-Armah tells the story of Ira Aldridge, a 19th-century actor who defied racial prejudice to become one of Britain’s finest Shakespearean actors. With Lenny Henry
The Negro Tragedian, 01:30 22/06/2018, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 30 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/011A8B07?bcast=126950644 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Friday, 13 Apr 2018, 00:30 30 mins BBC Radio 4 Extra
Synopsis
Playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah chooses Marcus Garvey, the inspirational black leader of the early 20th century. With biographer Colin Grant and presenter Matthew Parris. From February 2011. Episode 9 of 9.
Great Lives, 00:30 13/04/2018, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 30 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0199C064?bcast=126502419 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Tuesday, 4 Sep 2007, 21:45 45 minsBBC Radio 3
Synopsis
Kwame Kwei Armah makes an emotional journey through Freetown, in Sierra Leone, to discover how the slave trade has influenced a generation of writers and if the memory of it is still alive in a country that has passed through colonial independence and bloody civil war. A descendent of the slave trade himself, Kwame explores how art is being used to emancipate the modern Sierra Leonean of a history written by a ‘white hand’, in an effort to reclaim an African identity denied to many by the very creation of Freetown itself.
Riches from Freetown, 21:45 04/09/2007, BBC Radio 3, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0062FFC6?bcast=27266331 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Saturday, 14 Mar 2015, 02:30 30 mins BBC 7
Synopsis
4 Extra Debut. Kwame Kwei-Armah unravels the myths behind the man and soubriquet bestowed on tap dancer Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson. From August 2008.
The Man Who Was Bojangles, 02:30 14/03/2015, BBC 7, 30 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/00A9FBE8?bcast=115249186 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Archive on 4 This Train Rides Again
Saturday, 24 Aug 2013, 20:00 60 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis
In 1963, the legendary American broadcaster, Studs Terkel, presented a radio programme, ‘This Train,’ in which he followed African Americans travelling on a train from Chicago to Washington. They were part of the March on Washington, which culminated in Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The thousands who took part wanted to achieve jobs and freedom for black Americans. One woman on the train spoke of her hopes for a better future for her relatives, “after I am gone.”
Afro Caribbean dramatist Kwame Kwei-Armah revisits the original broadcast speaking to some of those who made that journey including the 95 year old organiser of the march, himself a descendant of a slave and the civil rights activist the Reverend Jess Jackson. He hears about the hopes with which they set out fifty years ago, and whether they feel that King’s Dream has been realised in today’s United States. He recreates Studs’ journey riding a modern day train from Chicago to Washington meeting passengers and staff including the colourful character Lou, a sleeping car porter, to discover how present day dreams and aspirations compare with 50 years ago.
He discovers many people have not only forgotten the March on Washington but those who do tend wrongly to assume it was only about racial integration. He hears how the job aspect of the march has been overlooked and how economic opportunities are still unequal.
On arrival in Washington he meets the only surviving March on Washington speaker John Lewis and others involved in the organisation of the actual day. The programme combines these contemporary interviews with extracts from Studs Terkel’s programme. In this rich soundscape of modern America and its railroad we tell the story of the legacy of Martin Luther King and his words.
Producer: Kati Whitaker- A Kati Whitaker production for BBC Radio 4.
Archive on 4, This Train Rides Again, 20:00 24/08/2013, BBC Radio 4, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/059C05B9?bcast=100486966 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Sunday, 12 Feb 2017, 18:45 45 mins BBC Radio 3
Synopsis
British playwright and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah explores the artistic and educational experiments at Black Mountain College, whose students and teachers included John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Merce Cunningham, Josef Albers, Willem de Kooning and Buckminster Fuller. As Kwame guides a group of production interns at his Baltimore theatre, he shares his discoveries about this remote experimental college in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The interns consider what learning at Black Mountain would have been like and, with some Baltimore actors, they re-imagine the first-ever happening that John Cage devised, one hot June night in the dining room in 1952. With contributions from curators, archivists and Black Mountain College alumni.
The Experimenters, The Experimenters, 18:45 12/02/2017, BBC Radio 3, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0E5933E7?bcast=123509834 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Behind the Scenes Kwame Kwei-Armah
Wednesday, 10 Oct 2018, 21:30 30 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis
Backstage access to director Kwame Kwei-Armah’s debut at the Young Vic – his version of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night with music and lyrics by Shaina Taub. Kwame Kwei-Armah is facing high expectations as the new Artistic Director of the Young Vic Theatre in London. He has been away, directing in the USA for five years. While there, he took the cast of his Bob Marley musical One Love onto the streets and transformed the bullet-proof glass and bricked-up windows of Center Stage Theatre in Baltimore into a powerhouse for both the creative community and local residents. He returns to an artistic scene that is much more diverse and representive than when he left the UK – yet society is in political and social turmoil. What will he bring to the Young Vic? The programme follows every aspect of production – from the women building sets for his debut to the actors singing Shakespeare into soul music and show tunes for his version of Twelfth Night.
Behind the Scenes, Kwame Kwei-Armah, 21:30 10/10/2018, BBC Radio 4, 30 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/11FE91C1?bcast=127663551 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Stories from Notting Hill Part One.
Monday, 22 Aug 2011, 15:45 15 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis
Writer and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah explores the complex history of the Notting Hill Carnival. 1. Origins: Kwame looks at the difficult social conditions from which the carnival emerged.
Stories from Notting Hill, 15:45 22/08/2011, BBC Radio 4, 15 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01E50D03?bcast=69281792 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Stories from Notting Hill Part Two
Tuesday, 23 Aug 2011, 15:45 15 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis
Writer and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah explores the complex history of the Notting Hill Carnival. 2. Innovation: Kwame discovers how the construction of a new motorway flyover altered the course of the carnival’s history.
Stories from Notting Hill, 15:45 23/08/2011, BBC Radio 4, 15 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01E5BBCB?bcast=69337572 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Stories from Notting Hill Part Three
Wednesday, 24 Aug 2011, 15:45 15 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis
Writer and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah explores the complex history of the Notting Hill Carnival. 3. Carnival Clash: Kwame examines the tensions over policing of the carnival.
Stories from Notting Hill, 15:45 24/08/2011, BBC Radio 4, 15 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01E5BBD5?bcast=69393407 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Stories from Notting Hill Part Four
Thursday, 25 Aug 2011, 15:45 15 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis
Writer and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah explores the complex history of the Notting Hill Carnival. 4. Enterprise: Kwame looks back at the highs and lows of the Notting Hill Carnival as it moved into a new era of sponsorship and expansion in the 1980s.
Stories from Notting Hill, 15:45 25/08/2011, BBC Radio 4, 15 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01E5BBDB?bcast=69449184 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Stories from Notting Hill Part Five
Friday, 26 Aug 2011, 15:45 15 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis
Writer and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah explores the complex history of the Notting Hill Carnival. 5. Legacy: Kwame discovers how the carnival is positioning itself in a new era of regulations, reviews and diverse stakeholders.
Stories from Notting Hill, 15:45 26/08/2011, BBC Radio 4, 15 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01E5BC2B?bcast=69504935 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Tuesday, 6 Jul 2010, 21:30 28 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis
In the first of two programmes, playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah explores how, over the last 30 years, London became a diverse, creatively rich world city and how its brash, dynamic and uncompromising population has shaped its politics and culture since the 1970s.
The London Story, 21:30 06/07/2010, BBC Radio 4, 28 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/015F0B98?bcast=49411614 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
News; The London Story Part Two.
Tuesday, 13 Jul 2010, 09:00 45 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis
In the second of two programmes, playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah discovers how London’s cultural resurgence over the last thirty years has become the talk of the town…
News; The London Story, 09:00 13/07/2010, BBC Radio 4, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01604413?bcast=49735712 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
With Great Pleasure Kwame Kwei-Armah
Thursday, 3 Oct 2013, 23:30 30 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis: Kwame Kwei-Armah, playwright and theatre director, chooses the pieces of writing that he loves and that have inspired him in his own writing life. He presents them to the audience at the BBC Radio Theatre, with the help of readers Don Warrington and Jaye Griffiths.
As the writer of plays such as Elmina’s Kitchen, Kwame’s own passions range from novels by Toni Morrison and Ben Okri to Redemption Song by Bob Marley – which the audience joins him in singing. Producer Beth O’Dea.
Producer
Beth O’Dea
Reader
Don Warrington Jaye Griffiths
Cast
Kwame Kwei-Armah
Programme ID 0590E8DE
With Great Pleasure, Kwame Kwei-Armah, 23:30 03/10/2013, BBC Radio 4, 30 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0590E8DE?bcast=102007025 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Johnnie Walker’s Sounds of the 70s Kwame Kwei-Armah
Tuesday, 28 Mar 2017, 00:00 123 mins BBC Radio 2
Synopsis: The writer and director of the new Bob Marley musical Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE joins Johnnie to discuss Marley’s legacy.
Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE is a British actor, playwright and director who many may remember as Dr Finlay in Casualty, and for his 2003 album Kwame. He is also an acclaimed writer and director, and has been a life-long Bob Marley fan, describing ‘Redemption Song’ as his personal anthem.
Also on the show, Johnnie digs out some of the best of the BBC archive, and another listener helps to add a classic seven-inch single into Johnnie’s Jukebox.
Johnnie Walker’s Sounds of the 70s, Kwame Kwei-Armah, 00:00 28/03/2017, BBC Radio 2, 123 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0E96E7C1?bcast=123815659 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Litter from America Series 1 Kwame Kwei Armah
Wednesday, 19 Apr 2017, 23:15 15 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis: Taking the songs of Bob Marley into riot-damaged parts of Baltimore and removing the bullet-proof glass barrier from the box-office of his Center Stage theatre are just two of the tasks undertaken by Artistic Director, Kwame Kwei Armah. He muses on the laughs and confusion caused by looking like an African-American but speaking with the cultivated tones and accent of a British actor.
Kwame grew up in London and found fame in the medical drama Holby City before he won the Evening Standard’s Most Promising New Playwright award for Elmina’s Kitchen, which was a success at the National Theatre. Set in a West Indian restaurant, Elmina’s Kitchen tells a tale of family conflict and crime in Hackney, East London. He’s also the writer and director of the Bob Marley musical, One Love.
In Litter From America, he reflects on how his character has changed over the years and the qualities he has, and has not, managed to pass onto his children. We also get a portrait of attitudes to President Trump, including those of Charlene Taylor, a hostess in one of the city’s downtown diners.
A Foghorn Company production for BBC Radio 4.
Programme ID: 0EB74F42
Litter from America, Kwame Kwei Armah, 23:15 19/04/2017, BBC Radio 4, 15 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0EB74F42?bcast=123969331 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Desert Island Discs Revisited Kwame Kwei-Arma
Monday, 27 Feb 2012, 01:00 50 mins BBC 7
Synopsis: Kwame Kwei-Armah: Kirsty Young explores the choices of the actor and dramatist in the third of a series featuring playwrights
Programme ID: 025727DC
Desert Island Discs Revisited, 01:00 27/02/2012, BBC 7, 50 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/025727DC?bcast=79959039 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
News; Says Who? The Rise of the Community Leader
Sunday, 30 Aug 2009, 17:00 40 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis: Playwright and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah investigates the changing role of the community leader. The media turns to them to respond to the latest crisis and they are happy to oblige, but on whose authority do community leaders speak? Kwame visits Birmingham to meet leaders from the Muslim and Afro-Caribbean communities. He discovers how these individuals are selected to voice the concerns of others, finds out how their agendas have responded to our increasingly diverse society and questions whether the idea of ‘community’ is still realistic in a world of multiplying lifestyles and opinions
Programme ID: 010EA0DB
News; Says Who? The Rise of the Community Leader, 17:00 30/08/2009, BBC Radio 4, 40 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/010EA0DB?bcast=33233782 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
From Fact to Fiction
Sunday, 9 Nov 2008, 17:40 14 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis: The writer Kwame Kwei-Armah creates a fictional response to the week’s news (3/8)
Programme ID: 00BB486A
From Fact to Fiction, 17:40 09/11/2008, BBC Radio 4, 14 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/00BB486A?bcast=30855566 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
This Cultural Life (2021)
Saturday, 4 Dec 2021, 19:15 45 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis: Kwame Kwei-Armah, playwright and artistic director of London’s Young Vic Theatre reveals his cultural turning points
Genre: Music & Arts
Programme ID 3BE94705
This Cultural Life, 19:15 04/12/2021, BBC Radio 4, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/3BE94705?bcast=135782092 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Kwame Kwei-Armah: ‘people of colour, the main stage is for you’
Financial Times feature article behind a paywall at https://www.ft.com/content/bc90863c-4313-11e8-803a-295c97e6fd0b
Television programmes
My Name Is Kwame – imagine… (2020)
Sunday, 6 Feb 2022, 23:00 60 mins BBC4
Synopsis: As the Young Vic celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, Alan Yentob meets its current artistic director, playwright and actor, Kwame Kwei-Armah, to discuss his life and career.
Director
Charlie Sever
Cast
Kwame Kwei-Armah
Genre Music & Arts Programme ID 3BEE6EF5
My Name Is Kwame – imagine…, 23:00 06/02/2022, BBC4, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/3BEE6EF5?bcast=136164036 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Kwame Kwei-Armah: This Cultural Life (2022)
Monday, 7 Feb 2022, 02:30 30 mins BBC4
Synopsis: Playwright and artistic director of London’s Young Vic theatre Kwame Kwei-Armah shares some of the influences that have had a significant impact on his work.
Director
Mark Ward
Cast
Kwame Kwei-Armah
Genre Music & Arts Programme ID 3BEE6EF3
Kwame Kwei-Armah: This Cultural Life, 02:30 07/02/2022, BBC4, 30 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/3BEE6EF3?bcast=136164110 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
HARDtalk (2023) Kwame Kwei-Armah – Artistic Director, Young Vic Theatre
Sunday, 6 Aug 2023, 23:30 30 mins BBC News 24
Synopsis: Stephen Sackur speaks to Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the Young Vic theatre in London. Are audiences prepared to engage with the questions his work poses?
Cast
Stephen Sackur
Genre Documentary Programme ID 3C13C69AX
HARDtalk, Kwame Kwei-Armah – Artistic Director, Young Vic Theatre, 23:30 06/08/2023, BBC News 24, 30 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/3C13C69AX?bcast=139510322 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Walter’s War written by Kwame Kwei-Armah. Wednesday, 11 Nov 2020, 22:55 55 mins BBC4
Synopsis: Drama inspired by the life of Walter Tull who, after years in an orphanage, went on to become a professional footballer and then the first black commissioned officer to lead British troops during WW1. The action concerns Tull’s turbulent passage from ordinary soldier to extraordinary officer at officer training camp, where he had to face his own demons as well as fight the prejudice that surrounded him
Cast
Ewan Stewart, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Michael Wildman, OT Fagbenle, Paul Westwood, Samara MacLaren
Genre Drama Programme ID 00BE09B9
Walter’s War, 22:55 11/11/2020, BBC4, 55 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/00BE09B9?bcast=133205529 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
On Tour with the Queen Part One.
Monday, 17 Aug 2009, 21:00 60 mins Channel 4
Synopsis: On the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth, actor, playwright and second generation immigrant Kwame Kwei-Armah retraces the Queen’s 1953 journey around the Colonies. Lasting six months and taking in five continents, the newly-crowned Queen Elizabeth’s 45,000-mile tour was the most ambitious royal excursion ever undertaken. The next stops on Kwame’s round-the-world tour are Australia and New Zealand
Genre Documentary History Programme ID: 01103361
On Tour with the Queen, 21:00 17/08/2009, Channel 4, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01103361?bcast=33127576 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
On Tour with the Queen Part Two
Monday, 24 Aug 2009, 21:00 60 mins Channel 4
Synopsis: On the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth, actor, playwright and second generation immigrant Kwame Kwei-Armah retraces the Queen’s 1953 journey around the Colonies. In this episode, Kwame visits Fiji, Sri Lanka and Uganda. Fiji, which once showed unconditional devotion to the Queen, has now dispensed with her as head of state and, after numerous military coups, was suspended from the Commonwealth in 2006
Genre Documentary History
Programme ID 0111E8BF
On Tour with the Queen, 21:00 24/08/2009, Channel 4, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0111E8BF?bcast=33182337 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
On Tour with the Queen Part Three
Monday, 31 Aug 2009, 21:00 60 mins Channel 4
Synopsis: Kwame Kwei-Armah visits Libya, Malta and Gibraltar as he retraces the final leg of the Queen’s 1953 Commonwealth Tour. On his return to London Kwame attends the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Commonwealth at Westminster Abbey. While there he gets the chance to meet and speak in front of the Queen
Genre Documentary History
Programme ID 01135ACC
On Tour with the Queen, 21:00 31/08/2009, Channel 4, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01135ACC?bcast=33236515 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
Elmina’s Kitchen (2004) by Kwame Kwei-Armah
Sunday, 6 Feb 2022, 21:30 90 mins BBC4
Synopsis: Drama that chronicles the trials of a Hackney cafe owner trying to prevent his son from getting involved in London’s gun culture.
Director
Angus Jackson
Cast
Dona Croll Emmanuel Idowu George Harris Oscar James Paterson Joseph Shaun Parkes
Genre Drama Crime
Programme ID 3BEE6EF4
Elmina’s Kitchen, 21:30 06/02/2022, BBC4, 90 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/3BEE6EF4?bcast=136163998 (Accessed 06 Feb 2024)
2 comments