Our ongoing and close partnership with 大象传媒 Radio 3's "cabaret of the word" The Verb has resulted in several series of short audio dramas, commissioned from writers from our development groups, many of which have gone on to be nominated and shortlisted for 大象传媒 Audio Drama Awards. In many cases this offers those writers their first broadcast credit.
For the most recent series we put a call out to writers we were working with (including those from all our development groups) for short audio drama scripts based on the theme of "Experiments in Living". Over 50 scripts were received, which were read by the 大象传媒 Writersroom team, with a longlist of 18 going through to be read by the 大象传媒 Audio Drama North team. As always it proved extremely difficult to whittle them down, as the standard and range of ideas was so high, but ultimately three were chosen to be developed and produced.
The three dramas were broadcast in the The Verb episodes on 25th June, 2nd and 9th July with their writers (Emilie Robson, Paolo Chianta and Miles Sloman) appearing as guests on the show.
"These Verb dramas really explored and celebrated the possibilities of radio, the always abundant theatre of the mind. The writers created images that stayed in my memory long after the pieces had ended, hanging around in my ear like stories that felt timeless and modern at the same time." (Ian McMillan, presenter of The Verb)
鈥�I love the way the Verb dramas this year experimented with perspective, sometimes in surreal and surprising ways - whether we were listening to the thoughts of a philosopher cat, the words of a parrot 鈥� or the voices of ghosts, or near ghosts. 鈥極ther than human鈥� presences were at the heart of this series, and somehow this made the language feel especially luminous.鈥� Faith Lawrence (The Verb Producer)
Listen to all three below and find out more from their writers.
Sebastian (et moi) explores the fraught relationship between cat and owner in the midst of the lockdown, strained furthermore by the peculiar intellectual prowess of the four legged former. At a time when we were all experimenting in living differently, Sebastian the cat takes it to the extreme, bending language and quoting Sartre, while locked in the bathroom with his long suffering owner Elle.
1973. Troubled troubadour Nick Drake is a man of few words. Hazel is a woman of a few too many words. Johansson is a parrot of exactly nine words and he鈥檚 damned if he鈥檚 letting them clip his nails.
鈥淣othing stays the same鈥�. George has his father鈥檚 words ringing in his ears as he leaves the safety of the harbour and ventures out into Mount鈥檚 Bay at the southern tip of Cornwall - down where the weather-beaten moorland tumbles into the sea. He鈥檚 the last of a long line of fishermen who have weathered storms, industrial overhaul and the gentrification of the village that he calls home.
Fisherman鈥檚 Elegy explores the duality of living in a place of contrasts; often at odds with those that inhabit it and which seems to change with each turn of the tide. George must navigate the choppy waters of the Atlantic, his personal grief and wrestle with the legacy placed upon him - facing up to the burden of expectation and the responsibility of tradition.
Listen to 大象传媒 Radio 3's The Verb, Fridays at 10pm and on 大象传媒 Sounds
Find out more about 大象传媒 Writersroom's writer development groups
Listen to previous series of The Verb Short Dramas: