Quarter 1 Reviews- 011 Contemporary Comedy - New

011 Contemporary Comedy – New

All the comedy is Christmas-y this time around.  

Sophie’s Lights was a charming and quite amusing comedy about Sophie, a Jewish girl who goes to a mixed school but attends special Jewish school on the weekend.  She annoys her Jewish teacher, Mrs Abrams (Christine Cox), because she believes in Santa Claus (she’s only six).  Her mother Rachel (Fariah Falade) is fairly secular but agreed with dad Alan (William Ashe) that she would be brought up Jewish.  Alan talks Sophie into “logically” discounting the ability of Santa Claus to exist, so Rachel throws him out in the rain and cold on Christmas Eve.  Will there be a Christmas miracle, a Hanukkah miracle, or a little of both?  Sophie’s Lights was written by Adam Usden and directed by Charlotte Riches.

The Dead Ringers Christmas Special 2017 Part 2 made me laugh out loud.  Donald Trump has hit the nuclear button, so the world has half an hour left.  Jeremy Corbyn wants to try to negotiate with the nuclear war-heads, while Penelope Wilton reads a primer on what will happen to everyone in the event of a nuclear holocaust.  Michael Gove gets the nuclear bunker all to himself, and it turns out David Davies is actually responsible for the impending nuclear annihilation.  The funniest part was The Archers parody.  Dead Ringers was written by Tom Jamieson, Nev Fountain, Tom Coles, Ed Amsden, Sarah Campbell, Laurence Howarth, James Bugg, Max Davis, and Jack Bernhardt.  It starred Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis MacLeod, Debra Stephenson, Duncan Wisbey and was directed by Bill Dane.  

Not actually Christmas-y but remaining true to the theme, Dead Ringers:  An Alien Has Landed was very, very amusing.  It served as an effective primer to everything in contemporary British life, from Theresa May to Jeremy Corbyn to Michael Gove to Big Brother to Jeremy Kyle.  It made me laugh a lot.  An alien lands on Earth and seems to be content to stay in the UK.  He is adored at first, then he reaches saturation point and the British public turns on him.  Dead Ringers was written by Tom Jamieson, Nev Fountain, Tom Coles, Ed Amsden, Sarah Campbell, and Laurence Howarth and was directed by Bill Dare.

Quarter 1 Reviews- 006 Contemporary Drama- Old

006 Contemporary Drama – Old 

In early 2018, I was catching up on all the drama I’d missed from the end of the previous year. I was feeling a bit disappointed that the seasonal offerings for 2017 were so paltry, then I heard Christmas Shopping, a sublime comedy/drama/romance from 1997.  Weaned as I had been on a diet of shop floor assistants from The Jack Benny Show in episodes titled “Christmas Shopping,” this was a very different kettle of fish.  It was beautifully written, beautifully performed, gorgeously romantic, and wonderfully seasonal.  James (Toby Jones) and Frances (Sarah Jane Holm) don’t know each other.  They both go Christmas shopping a few days before Christmas.  James’ list is typed by his PA Jackie (Carolyn Jones).  He attempts to find an anti-macassar for his aunt Kay, before Frances convinces him Kay would rather have a doll.  After James and Frances keep meeting throughout their shopping, they finally decide to have lunch together.  They are attracted to each other, but Frances is not over her ex, Michael (Adam Blakeney), who dumped her for another woman (in flashback we find out it’s because she “let herself go”).  James invites Frances to lunch on Christmas Eve, but she is essentially going to stalk Michael and see if he shows up at the usual place they used to have lunch.  Will Frances learn to forget Michael?  Will James be able to win his way to Frances’ heart?  How will they spend Christmas?  I won’t ruin it for you, but I will say I adored this drama.  It was written by Max Hillman and directed by Cathryn Horn.  

A series about coming back to different parts of the UK included Take Me to Redcar and Take Me to Haford Owen. Take Me to Redcar by Sarah McDonald Hughes had a really convincing voice as told by young people.  It was powerful and gave a great sense of place.  Fiona (Therese Meade) is taking her boyfriend Danny (John Cattral) to her hometown of Redcar to meet her parents.  They are both in their first year of university (in Manchester).  Danny is very cool and cynical, about to drop out of university due to problems at home (his father wants to move to Ireland to be with a girlfriend, leaving Danny to pay the rent on the flat while trying to study full-time).  When Fiona and Danny arrive in Redcar, they are astonished to find it deserted, all the shops boarded up.  Eventually they make their way to the beach, where a whale has been beached.  They fall in with the rescue efforts, led by Fiona’s dad Gary (Steven Hillman) who lost his job when the local foundry closed in the last year but has gotten very involved in lifeboat rescuing charities.  Fiona’s mom Michelle (Melissa Jane Syndan) works in an award-winning chip shop. Will Fiona and Danny’s relationship survive? This was sensitively and boldly written; a great drama for radio.  It was directed by Charlotte Riches in 2013.

Meic Povey wrote his version, Take Me to Hafod Owen, also in 2013.  It’s to his credit that I didn’t recognize Richard Elfyn in the lead role as Ellis, a middle-aged man returning under a cloud to his childhood house in Hafod Owen, in Welsh-speaking mountainous mid-Wales. His home now a pub, predictably run by an insensitive Englishwoman, Nikki (Sue Roderick).  In Hafod Owen, Ellis meets his old flame Gwyneth (Christine Bottomley) and old frenemy Davie (Iwan Hugh Dafyd).  Ellis wants to buy his house back and restore it.  He is also deeply embroiled in problems from his past, for example his unresolved relationship with Gwyneth, and the fact that Davie’s father sacked Ellis’ father which caused them to move away.  This is a nicely produced play with excellent music and some memorable scenes, including Ellis and Davie scrabbling around in a cave in the mountains in a thunderstorm.  It was directed by James Robinson.

Although we’d now consider it a period piece, Glasnost by consummate radio dramatist John Mortimer was contemporary when it was written, 1988.  It features one of my favorite radio performers, the late, great Anna Massey.  She plays Anthea Denham, one of a coterie of British writers invited to Soviet Russia.  Her very patronizing counterpart, Brian Worsford (Clive Merrison), was designed to set your teeth on edge—and he did.  More mellow was the senior member of the group, Charles Hathaway (Philip Voss).  As they explore what the Soviet state has to offer them—tours, queues, real booze at the foreigners’ hotel, disavowed prostitutes, the ballet—Brian displays his acidic wit at every turn.  Anthea falls for their guide, the delightful Vladimir Pinchevski (Boris Isarov), and it seems that their attraction is mutual.  However, is Vladimir what he seems?  Glasnost was directed by the legendary John Tydeman.

Quarter 1 Reviews- 005 Contemporary Drama- New

005 Contemporary Drama – New

Providing by James Anthony Pearson was a simple radio drama, mainly consisting of the dialogue between two men, Michael (Ryan Fletcher) and Damien (Sandy Grierson), partners who wanted to adopt a child.  Despite its simplicity, I found it extremely powerful.  Michael is the main breadwinner; Damien has a catering business that is struggling to get off the ground.  Michael is keen to adopt; Damien isn’t sure he’s going to be a good dad, or even if he wants to be a dad at all.  After difficulties with the adoption process, they also consider having an acquaintance carry a baby to term for them.  This doesn’t seem satisfactory, either.  In the end, they go back to the adoption idea.  If I had one criticism of this drama, it’s that it ended too soon:  we don’t actually get to see Michael and Damien being dads.  Directed by Kirsty Williams, it also starred Maryam Hamidi and Lesley Hart.  It was a BBC Radio Scotland production.