Goldsmiths students fed up with the 'Goldsmiths way' as university senior management team risk Goldsmiths’ future
by Ashlea Abbs and Marianella Lopez
‘Goldsmiths: a close-knit community, a rich academic heritage, a creative powerhouse, a thought-provoking place’ – Goldsmiths University
Goldsmiths University and College Union (GUCU) set out on yet another strike as a result of a ‘Recovery Plan’ to be implemented by the College Senior Management Team (SMT) which will see 52 redundancies across the college.
The 3-week strike set to begin on the 23rd November and ending on the 13th December 2021, becomes the second strike of the year, following industrial action taken by the college union in early 2021. The GUCU were informed of senior management’s plan to cut ’52 jobs this year: 20 academics in English & Creative Writing and History, and 32 professional services staff’, in an attempt to improve the College’s finances in a ‘Recovery plan’ deal struck with Lloyds Bank and NatWest bank committing to £4million of staff cuts in 2021 followed by £2million In 2022.
Intended to be a “thought-provoking place”, the consequences of the ‘Recovery Plan’ run further than making staff redundant. With essential degrees and services on the line, the reputation of Goldsmith’s College and education for students’ face an uncertain future. Offering a future of higher education which prioritises the providers over quality of education, voting in favour of the bank's requests.
Despite Goldsmiths financially thriving with an overall net cash inflow of £24.8million between 2018-2020, a financial deficit of £9m was declared in 2020, with a sharp increase to £13m alongside projected post-covid deficits standing between £25m-£40m in 2021.
Following the projected deficits of the College the SMT not only agreed to £6m in staff cuts but also agreed to give ‘a bulk of the College’s buildings & estate (£60m) as collateral to the banks' setting the keys of the College and the future of education in the banks back pocket.
Goldsmiths ‘Recovery Plan’ costing over £3.5m, and counting, has seen years’ worth of strikes and outcry in the College’s community, with students now protesting for their money back.
Altogether, students graduating in 2022 will have missed out on a total of 5 months of classes in a degree that runs for a total of 21 months long. Having also endured a marking strike, which lasted 4 months during an all-online approach due to COVID-19, students are now protesting for a rate of 23.81% (£6600) back from their tuition fees as well as protesting alongside staff members surrounding the issues of the ‘Recovery Plan’.
“Out of the four years I have been studying at Goldsmiths, in total I haven't had 4 months of classes due to strike - that is almost half of an academic year... I'm not saying that this situation is fair on the professor's, it’s not... But most definitely isn't fair on us, the students, who have paid for something we did not get, and will not get.” – Veronica Tavares del Amo Year 3 BA Anthropology and Media
“I wholeheartedly support the strike… we need to understand that what the Goldsmiths SMT is proposing is not only morally wrong, but directly in line with what this current government wants to do with higher education” – Noah Enahoro, Year 2 BA History and Journalism
College professors and temporary staff, who have been fighting for their contracts for the last 6 years- a media professor has told us- will see themselves losing their salary once more and withdrawing their labour so that an institution that claims to “put students first” lives up to their promise.
“The strikes over the past few years don’t seem to be doing much which is irritating seeing as it impacts our education so much” – Poppy Dunn, year 2 BA Media Communications
With members of the SMT earning a hefty salary of over £120k a year, all attempts at negotiation between the GUCU and SMT have so far failed to meet demands for alternative ways to reduce the College’s deficit. As well as GUCU’s demand to #OpenTheBooks also being ignored by the SMT.
Senior Management have clearly destroyed the very foundations and deceived the very promise of the College which once had the best interest to promote the individual skill, general knowledge, health, and wellbeing of its community belonging to the industrial, working, and poorer classes. Hope for the SMT to agree to a better future for the College remain a distant hope.
by Ashlea Abbs and Marianella Lopez
Student links:
https://goldsmithsucu.org/2021/11/02/nojobcuts-resources-for-students/
https://goldsmithsucu.org/industrial-action/
Journey to Documentary
by Ugne Giraityte
The process of making a documentary; ‘The Teatime experience’ Part 1: finding inspiration
As a student, the prospect of creating a film can seem challenging or even impossible. Lola and Miquel are both first year BA Media and Communications students at Goldsmiths University. Their passion for the creative arts, film and documentary not only inspired them to pursue this subject, but to attempt creating their own documentary.
When I was E-Mailed by a couple of students about making this documentary, I knew I had to meet them and explore this as much as possible. Although they explained that this film is still a work in process, it was clear that they possessed the potential to create something amazing. We met on a lovely spring evening and this is what I learned from them:
Lola Panic, 25 – Sheffield, and Miquel Agell, 19 – Barcelona, are two passionate and creative students who met each other during their course. Their friendship soon inspired the brilliant idea of making a documentary series about various communities living in London.
As Miquel explained, their journey began on a cold December day exploring the Stratford area around Westfield shopping centre. Here, they decided to take some pictures and enjoy the winter season. Soon, a far smaller, less exciting, and even somewhat frightening shopping centre caught their eye. ‘It was full of little shops and multicultural food stores. It was very compressed and extremely hot’, Lola explained.
Chinese English Chippy Shop
At that moment, Miquel and Lola were not yet aware of the idea they were about to conjure and which would go on to inspire their brilliant documentary series. Lola continued: ‘We just wanted to take some pictures of the tiny shops that we came across, until a random man suddenly got into my shot and started to chat about it’. He soon explained that the shop we were so fascinated by, was a Chinese and English chippy shop’. They quickly learnt that this little shop had existed in the mall since the 1960’s and the owners were as dedicated as they were interesting due to their fascinating past.
Shortly after going to Stratford, they decided to visit Crystal Palace, where they met a woman similar to their previous acquaintance in Stratford. She began telling them Crystal Palace’s history and described the community which has developed here throughout the years. ‘It made us think about the cultural values and community building that influenced London’, reflected Lola. There and then, both Lola and Miquel realized: the idea had been born.
Crystal Palace
They quickly began to explore a multitude of brilliant and vibrant communities in London, which they could learn from. Surprisingly, even the rollerblading community which Lola herself is a part of, has a lot of interesting stories to share. Consequently, they managed to find some extraordinary people who enrich London’s diversity and culture.
Currently Lola and Miquel are building a crew, planning the filming schedule and are getting ready to develop the best documentary of their lives. They hope to present it in various film festivals around the world and share the unique stories of so many communities which exists in the heart of London. We cannot wait to see what comes next!
Lola’s ig https://www.instagram.com/lolapanic/
Miquel’s ig https://www.instagram.com/miquelagell/
Article by Ugne Giraityte
Creative Women’s Week Showcase
by Ugne Giraityte
International Women’s Day happens every year on March 8 when women around the world unite to celebrate themselves. It was first officially recognized by the UN in 1977 and has continued to be celebrated since then.
The Goldsmiths MCCS Community celebrated by presenting a showcase of creative work by women at Goldsmiths University on their Instagram page.
The idea was developed by second-year media students and community leaders Charlotte and Delia, who believed it would be a great opportunity to have creative students get involved. Charlotte explained that Goldsmiths University has a big population of women, and the celebration was a perfect opportunity to not only attract followers to the MCCS Community page but also to celebrate the female community at Goldsmiths. ‘I just wanted people to feel like they could get involved’, says Charlotte. ‘The whole idea was to have something with no right or wrong answers. Everything and anything fit.’ Delia added that being away from campus made her miss seeing creative projects at university. ‘The showcase created some space to celebrate both women as artists and as subjects of art. Most of the projects we shared mean a lot to me personally since they challenge patriarchal views and demand liberating women’, she says.
Most importantly, the creative showcase allowed people to see the work of talented students of Goldsmiths University. I spoke to a couple of them to learn more of what’s behind their work.
Day 1: Hannah’s short film ‘That’s my body and I’ve had to modify it to reflect who I am’
Hannah is a filmmaker drawn to character-led documentaries that speak to wider societal issues. As Hannah explains, many of her films are concerned with the intersection of body and social politics, exploring themes around gender and sexuality. ‘I started out working for the Teddy Award, the queer film prize at the Berlinale, before making my own films. My work has screened at the UK film festivals and this documentary was released by the Huffington Post at the start of the year’, she says.
Hannah deeply questions the celebration of women’s day: ‘I'm not sure one day a year is enough to celebrate the abundance of women's movements across the globe’, she says. But Hannah believes ‘it’s a designated time to amplify women's voices and issues that are going unheard - and now more than ever that must involve prioritising the voices of queer women, women of colour and women living with disabilities.’
For the creative showcase, Hannah submitted a short documentary telling the story of a young non-binary person called Isaac, going through the process of gender transition and top surgery. ‘I hope it shows in the film that the relationship I formed with Isaac and their partner Vi was both trusting and caring’, explains Hannah. The young filmmaker also claims that there is a lot of negative representation surrounding the topic of transgender identification. ‘I wanted to try and make a documentary that gave an insight into the experience of transitioning through the celebratory lens of drag’, she says. Hannah hopes that the documentary will reach the hearts of people who are going through similar experiences as Isaac did. ‘What had begun as a film about gender dysphoria and body positivity, increasingly became a film about being the importance of visibility and recognition as a non-binary person’, she explains.
Day 4: Anna Walker’s ‘Addicted to Glamour’
Anna is a first-year Media and Communications student and one of the student community leaders. To her, Women’s day signifies how much the world has progressed in terms of women’s rights and independence.
Anna’s source of inspiration was a Russian photographer’s Danil Golovkin’s work that shows the dark side of the fashion industry. The piece she presented was a collection of pictures portraying a woman having pieces of jewellery in her nose and her mouth to signify an addiction to glamour. Anna explains this kind of addiction can eventually lead to actual drug addiction, and she aims to teach people about it. She mentions that the artwork she presented on the showcase means a lot to her as it was the first piece of work that she was proud of. ‘I think the images highlight an issue of an addiction to glamour which is not talked about between women’, says Anna.
To see the other creative projects from International Women's Day and more, follow the MCCS page on Instagram!
Goldsmiths Audio Drama Festival 2019
This two day event is run by Goldsmiths Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies in association with Audible (the world’s largest seller and producer and audiobooks, audio dramas and podcasts).
SATURDAY 11th MAY: SF AND FANTASY AUDIO DRAMA
SUNDAY 12th MAY: A GOLDEN AGE FOR AUDIO DRAMA?
This two day event is run by Goldsmiths Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies in association with Audible (the world’s largest seller and producer and audiobooks, audio dramas and podcasts).
We are proud to welcome some of the UK’s most renowned audio dramatists, directors, producers and makers including Dirk Maggs, Jeremy Howe, Roy Williams OBE, Sarah Woods and Jessica Dromgoole.
Day 1 will be a Science Fiction and Fantasy themed day, with panels on writing and producing speculative and fantastical stories for audio audiences. The key note speech will be given by Professor Sean Street, an acclaimed audio theorist and practitioner. It will include an audio ‘listening’ of a a recent classic SF drama broadcast as part of the BBC’s DANGEROUS VISIONS season. And the day will culminate in a smaller event in the Marquis of Granby for an evening of networking and listening.
In Day 2 we explore the question, Is this a Golden Age for Audio Drama? The keynote speech will be given by Jeremy Howe, former Commissioning Editor for BBC Radio 4 where he oversaw over 300 titles a year. There will be a Live Pitching Panel in which recent students and alumni will pitch their audio drama projects to a panel of commissioners and practitioners; and we will also host live performances of short audio dramas written by Goldsmiths students. Guest speakers will include Jason Phipps, the BBC Head of Podcasts, and Steve Carsey, Director of Original Programming for Audible UK; and there will be a Q & A with our Guest of Honour, Roy Williams OBE, preceded by an audio ‘listening’ of one of his exceptional audio dramas from the series THE INTERROGATION.
We would love to see you at this event. Tickets are free but must be reserved on THIS EVENTBRITE SITE. There will be networking opportunities and for all our Goldsmiths students, this is a rare chance to have an insiders’ view of the rapidly expanding world of UK audio drama.
Adam Tindall: “Finding a Job is an Art” - Screening at Goldsmiths Curzon, March 17th
Interview by Olivia Mello
“I think it might be a little premature to call me a film director,” laughs Adam Tindall when asked what inspired him to become a film director. On the contrary, I must say I disagree and I am sure so do most who have viewed the award-winning film, Pre-Occupation. Directing a film comes with many challenges, but from Tindall’s perspective “perhaps the most difficult aspect of directing is getting people to be as enthused about things as I am.” Nonetheless, having won special mentions in London-Worldwide Comedy Short Film Festival, as well as Official Selection of 2018 for Exit 6 Film Festival and for Screentest, you can say Pre-Occupation has been and will continue to be a success. Furthermore, to achieve a piece relatable to such a large demographic and especially to Londoners is an incredible achievement.
Selected to screen at the Gold On Film Festival this weekend, March 17th, at Goldsmiths’ Curzon. Pre-Occupation, comical yet soul-stirring, encapsulates the issues surrounding unpaid internships and the exhaustive reality of job searching. Despite its accurate representation of many youth’s realities, “Pre-Occupation is no social realist Ken Loach imitator; it’s a comedy.” Twenty-one-year-old Angela, a recent Fine Art graduate, finds herself hiding unpaid bills, deep into her overdraft and in desperation for a job. Landing a trial run working under Sylvia, the dictatorial curator of a gallery; Angela hopes to successfully complete a month of unpaid work in order to secure a paid position. Unfortunately, to Angela’s distress, Sylvia proves to be extremely demanding and to make matters worse, orders Angela to arrange a meeting with Pippa Newman - an artist who had overheard Angela’s criticism on her work. Her anxiety only to intensify when an eviction letter arrives in the post as a result of the stash of unpaid bills she had been hiding from her flatmate. To prevent myself from spilling any spoilers, I will conclude the synopsis as it is and the rest is for you to find out.
A Little Bit About Adam Tindall
Born in Bedford, “a town little north of London,” Tindall has recently turned 24. He started his higher education journey studying Film & Literature at the University of Warwick; however, he describes “after graduating I soon realized that nobody cares about how many times I have read Anna Karenina (it’s twice, by the way). Lacking the kind of filmmaking experience a more practical degree would provide, I found it near-impossible to find film-related jobs I was qualified for.” As a result, Tindall studied MA Filmmaking at Goldsmiths and during the past year he claims; “was the best year of my life. Getting to spend a year making movies?! It was great.”
Tindall's interest in filmmaking first sparked at the age of ten, making of short films, “it was something my eldest brother also did; it was a cool way to pass the time.” It wasn’t until a couple of years later after having watched Kevin Smith’s Clerks that Adam decided he really wanted to make films. “Clerks was pretty much the first indie movie I saw, and before then I didn’t really know that films could be like that: small-scale, personal, intimate, about relatable people with relatable problems. It was only then that I saw in a film, a way for me to express myself.”
As previously mentioned, Tindall draws inspiration from Kevin Smith, but “Edgar Wright is a big one too - particularly Spaced”. Tindall continues, “for a long time, I tried to imitate Wright’s hyper-visual style, and maybe to some extent, I still do so.” Other writers/directors who affect his work, include Woody Allen (for his wit), Richard Linklater (for his naturalism, and Charlie Kaufman (for his introspective weirdness and stylistic experimentation. “But yeah, big question.”
The Creation of Pre-Occupation
“So I directed Pre-Occupation as my final project for my MA at Goldsmiths.” The process consisted of ideas pitched from all the writers, directors and producers of MA filmmaking which were then voted on by director and producers. “My friend Moira’s pitch - then titled The Working Life of Angela Atkinson - was one of the projects that was selected and I threw myself at the opportunity.” Having gone through a quite depressing year between his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, “and a lot of that typical kind of post-uni struggles underlines the story in Pre-Occupation - so it is something I really connected with.”
The process from developing the script until the film was finished, took about three to four months. These months carried certain challenges, but more than anything Tindall says, “the biggest challenge was working out some kinks in the script to get it into the best possible shape; it was only when Mora had an eleventh-hour stroke-of-genius that we came to an ending that I was really happy with.”
His inspiration behind the movie, in addition to his personal connection to the story, was his aspiration to make a good film. “I just wanted to make a good film- something well- constructed and funny that hits a bit of an emotional chord.” Which it sure did.
The Joy of Directing
When asked what is the best part of directing, Tindall can’t decide. “I love having ideas and bringing them to life; like, these things once existed solely inside my head, but now they’re there, on a screen, for everyone to see! It is the most exhilarating feeling! What surpasses this feeling,” he mentions, to being a contribution in making the film is, “things that I would never have thought in a million years, things that make the film better, some ideas can really elevate a piece beyond whatever ‘vision’ was cooked up in my tiny pea-brain.”
Future Plans
After Goldsmiths, Adam has found himself exiled back to his hometown due to struggles in finding paid work. Fortunately, Adam is now “gainfully employed and once again living in London;” able to focus more on his filmmaking. Which I am sure we are all looking forward to his next masterpiece. “I have been writing some super-short and small-scale scripts, but now Elena, my producer, has moved back to her home country. I need to find myself a new producer before I can shoot any of them. That’s a task for the near future, as I can’t bear going another six months without making a film.” After that, Adam says, “Who knows?”
Buy tickets here: https://ticketing.eu.veezi.com/purchase/1478?siteToken=dkqd7vzey2qm381gq1s733yvbc
Interview by Olivia Mello
Goldsmiths Student Winter Showcase 2018
by Olivia Mello
A collection of works by Goldsmiths students brought to you by the Media & Communications Department.
In celebration of this year’s end term, students of the Media & Communication Department showcased a screening of their latest work. Twenty three amazing films and video works were displayed, hosted by Daisy Asquith, Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths and convenor of MA in Filmmaking (Screen Documentary). The talent of these students was surreal and their hard work, recognized. Independent of how far they were into the degree, no screening failed to impress.
Highlights of the event include:
Gabriela Sibilska - Queen of the Forest
A BA year three student, Gabriela’s hand drawn animation depicts the raw emotions and process during the process of coming to terms with loss. Predominately working with traditional media, Gabriela displays a unique style of animation. Heavily influence by old Polish cartoons, most of her work comes from her personal experiences. Some of her earlier work can be found in the Animation section of this month’s issue. And if you want to catch a glimpse of the Queen of the Forest, be sure to sign up to the BFI Future Film Festival, where it will screening in February!
Vivian Bai – Disabled, But Able
An MA student in TV Journalism, Vivian piece shows how some people in China are working on helping disadvantaged individuals by focusing specifically on a car wash where all employees are mentally disabled. The documentary reveals the reality of mentally disabled people’s lives in China, and the disregard of their disability as a burden, further highlighting them as capable individuals, who are part of a society. Emotionally impacting and educational, Vivian Bai’s work is influential and eye opening. If you haven’t already, go to our Film section to watch the full film.
Holly Xue – My Misogyny
An MA student in Screen Fiction, Holly negotiates the gender struggle that arises from early age and continues onto adulthood. An outlook on what it means to be a girl and how one learns to hate being one. Personalized yet removed, Holly discusses lived experiences while playing with a monotonous voice over. Her film is short, experimental and to the point – we must battle societal restraints.
I can easily say that it is not often you come across a room replete with endless talent such as this one. Eyes glistened in wonder and admiration and roaring applauses at the end of each artwork. The night ended with a party in the PSH atrium from 6 to 8pm with free drinks, food and music. A wonderful event to celebrate a group of wonderful creatives!
If you, too, want to get your work on display, submit via submissions@golddust.org.uk to be featured in our next issue! Keep an eye out for our themes and stay up to date by following us on IG @golddustmag or twitter @golddust_mag.
Words by Olivia Mello
Goldsmiths Audio Drama Festival 2018
A one-day Goldsmiths Festival featuring creative talents from the world of audio drama brought to you by the Department of Media and Communications.
SCHEDULE AND GUESTS
SCHEDULE: 24TH MARCH 2018, PROFESSOR STUART HALL BUILDING
10.00am: Arrivals
10.15am: Welcome by Professor Tim Crook
10.30am: Producers panel - chaired by lecturer and playwright Richard Shannon.
Panellists: Sasha Yevtushenko, Jonquil Panting, Fiona McAlpine, Roger James Elsgood
11.30am: Coffee break
12:00pm: Professor Séan Street – Lecture
1:00pm: Lunch
2:00pm. Writers’ panel – Roy Williams, Joy Wilkinson, Claudine Toutoungi, Shelley Silas. Chaired by lecturer and radio dramatist Philip Palmer.
3:00pm: Play readings – extracts from two outstanding post-grad radio plays.
3.30pm: Podcasting panel – John Wakefield, Dave Pickering, Jen Adamthwaite and Sarah Golding. Chaired by MA Radio student Arlie Adlington.
4.30pm: Roy Williams, Guest of Honour – concluding remarks
4.45pm: Drinks
6:00pm: End
Guest of Honour: Roy Williams
Roy began writing plays in 1990 and is now arguably one of the country's leading dramatists. In 2000 he was the joint-winner of the George Devine Award and in 2001 he was awarded the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. He was awarded an OBE for Services to Drama in the 2008 Birthday Honours List. His theatre work includes LIFT OFF(Royal Court); and STARSTRUCK (Tricycle - Winner of John Whiting Award, Alfred Fagon Award and EMMA Award for Best Play).
His radio work includes adaptations of ER Braithwaite's A CHOICE OF STRAWS and TO SIR WITH LOVE as well as original plays TELL TALE and HOMEBOYS. He has also created and written seven series of THE INTERROGATION for BBC Radio 4.
Key Note Speaker: Professor Séan Street
Professor Street is a writer, poet and broadcaster and Britain’s first Professor of Poetry. He is now an Emeritus Professor at the University of Bournemouth and a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. His books on radio include CROSSING THE ETHER; THE POETRY OF RADIO, THE COLOUR OF SOUND; THE MEMORY OF SOUND: PRESERVING THE SONIC PAST and SOUND POETICS: INTERACTION AND PERSONAL IDENTITY.
On his website, he writes:
Radio I regard as one of the seminal cultural leaps of the 20th century, and it has now reached the point where historical study and research relating to its archives, its policies and its personalities, is of significant value to our understanding of our recent, turbulent past. My books on this subject have sought to preserve and illuminate some aspects of the receding succession of moments we call history.
It all comes down to sound: the first sense that activates at birth, and, so some say, the last to desert us when we die.
PRODUCER PANEL
Sasha Yevtushenko
Alexander "Sasha" Yevtushenko is a BBC Drama producer and director.
As a young man, Sasha threw himself into guerrilla film-making with egotistical abandon and plotted his route to the Hollywood big time. A chance encounter with BBC Radio Drama in 2003 led to an unexpected and now lengthy diversion. Fifteen years on, Sasha has directed and produced around 150 audio productions, and won awards for Best Sound, Best Adaptation and Best Series/Serial. Although the embers of the Hollywood dream still glow, up to this date audio drama has proved to be an addiction impossible to shake.
His directing work includes: THE PROBLEMS OF CELL 13; THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO; RED AND BLUE; DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?; THE HATTON GARDEN HEIST; Toni Morrison’s BELOVED: and THE FURIES.
Jonqil Panting
Jonquil writes:
‘I produce and direct for BBC Radio Drama. As well as original dramas, comedies and major dramatisations, I particularly enjoy making factual or verbatim drama, from histories like THE CLINTONS, TOMMIES and THE PRICE OF OIL to untold stories from unheard voices, like the TEST CASE series, WELCOME TO ZAATARI, THE ROAD TO BANI WALID, and MY SON THE DOCTOR.
Fiona McAlpine
Fiona McAlpine, theatre director, actress and radio producer, has been working in Radio Drama for the past twenty years. She has directed many afternoon dramas, classic serials and 15 minute dramas with her own company, Allegra Productions, and other independents.
Her radio work includes Philip Larkin’s early novels, Jilland A Girl in Winter, The Sea, The Sea with Jeremy Irons, Iris Murdoch: Dream Girl starring Helen McCrory, and Carmilla for Audible Originals, with David Tennant and Rose Leslie. Last October, she produced The Dark Tower by Louis MacNeice, recorded in front of a live audience at Orford Church, Suffolk, broadcast on Radio 3 the following evening.
Roger James Elsgood
For over thirty years Roger has produced content for film, audio, radio, corporate, educational and training video and live theatrical production.
He is a specialist in adaptation, script development and dramaturgy.
His work for radio includes: 'Mogadishu' BBC Radio 3; 'Beau Geste' BBC Radio 4; 'Inside the Taj' BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service; 'The Last Time I Saw Richard' BBC Radio 4; 'The Two Gentlemen of Valasna' BBC Radio 3; 'Occasional Offices' BBC Radio 3; King Trash' The Friday Play, BBC Radio 4; 'The Mrichhakatikaa' Drama on 3, BBC Radio 3; 'Shooting Stars' Drama on 3, BBC Radio 3; 'To The Wedding' Drama on 3, BBC Radio 3; 'Fugitive Pieces' Drama on 3, BBC Radio 3; 'Chowringhee' Drama on 3, BBC Radio 3; 'Will It Be a Likeness?' The Sunday Feature, BBC Radio 3’ 'Berlin Project' Between the Ears' BBC Radio 3; A Moment of Mishearing' Between the Ears' BBC Radio 3; 'A Shadow Into The Future' The Sunday Feature, BBC Radio 3; 'When Shura Met Hobey' 20 Minutes, BBC Radio 3; 'Before Your Very Ears!' 11.30 Feature, BBC Radio 4; 'Post-Conflict Stories' BBC World Service.
For more about Roger’s work, click HERE.
REVIEWS FOR MISS JULIE: The Saturday Drama, BBC Radio 4. With Sofie Grabol, Lars Mikkelsen and Marie Bach Hansen. August Strindberg’s stage play re-imagined and adapted for radio by Roger James Elsgood starring Sofie Gråbøl, Lars Mikkelsen and Marie Bach Hansen, recorded on location in Denmark. Directed by Willi Richards. Adapted and produced by Roger James Elsgood
“A shimmering, sexy reimagining of Strindberg’s classic play.” - Gillian Reynolds Sunday Telegraph.
“Roger James Elsgood’s sizzling re-imagining ramps up the sex whilst emphasising themes of gender politics against a backdrop of class warfare. A riveting production that plays with our sympathies as the tension mounts.” - Stephanie Billen. The Observer.
“Anyone who fell in love with Sofie Gråbøl, after her work in ‘The Killing’ or ‘Fortitude’ should have some tranquillisers or a cold bath before listening to this.” - Jane Anderson Radio Times
WRITER PANEL
Roy Williams - see above
Joy Wilkinson
Joy Wilkinson is an award-winning writer, working across radio, theatre, film and television. She has worked with BBC Radio Drama for more than 10 years, on original dramas and adaptations. Highlights include a dramatisation of Fay Weldon’s THE LIFE AND LOVES OF A SHE DEVIL for the Riot Girls strand, an original drama NO TWO DAYS as part of a season on the global oil industry, and a refresh of the Agatha Christie brand, including AND THEN THERE WERE NONE and MISS MARPLE’S FINAL CASES. She has just finished recording DON’T CRY, TAI LAKE, the latest in a series of Inspector Chen Mysteries. Joy’s theatre work has been widely produced and won prizes including the Verity Bargate Award, and she has several feature films and television dramas in development in the UK and US. More info at joywilkinson.net
Claudine Toutoungi
Claudine worked as a radio drama producer for several years and now writes for theatre and radio. Her adaptation of Slipping for radio 4 starred Andrew Scott and Charlotte Riley and was a finalist in the 2015 Audio Drama Awards. Other work as a radio dramatist for Radio 4 includes Deliverers, several seasons of the First World War drama series Home Front, the comedy drama series The Inheritors and a dramatization of Delphine de Vigan’s psychological thriller Based On A True Story. Claudine is developing work for TV and is a widely published poet whose debut poetry collection Smoothie (Carcanet) came out at the end of last year
Shelley Silas
Shelley has just written and recorded series 4 of Val McDermid’s DEAD series for R4 – Dead Weight. Dead Cert, series 5, is in development. She writes extensively for R4, originals and adaptations, including award winning play, I am Emma Humphreys and a 9 part co-adaptation of Paul Scott’s The Raj Quartet. Her stage plays have been produced at the Bush (writer-in-residence), Stratford East, Arcola, Southwark Playhouse for Clean Break (writer-in-residence) and at the Soho Theatre for the NYT.
A test piece written for BBC R&D had visuals created and became a VR short, winning awards and being premiered at numerous film festivals including Tribeca, Raindance and the Edinburgh Digital Film Festival.
PODCASTING PANEL
John Wakefield
Goldsmiths alumnus John Wakefield is an audio producer whose work has been nominated for the ARIAS, the APAs, the Prix Europa and won a BBC Audio Drama Award.
Credits include sound design on The Man on the Mountaintop (Audible Studios/ The Story Circle) and direction and production on Wooden Overcoats(Prix Europa Nominee 2016), Rathband (BBC ADA Winner 2018/Fifth Quarter) and Trimble (BBC ADA Finalist 2014).
He directs and produces audiobooks for a range of international publishers and for the RNIB’s Talking Books.
Dave Pickering
Storyteller and podcaster Dave Pickering writes and produces the drama podcast, The Family Tree in partnership with Jen Adamthwaite. He also performs in the show. He’s the host of the weekly conversation podcast Getting Better Acquainted, which won a British Podcast Award in 2017, was nominated for a Radio Production Award in 2012, and has been featured on BBC Radio 4’s In Pod We Trust and Radio 5 Live’sRequired Listening. GBA has also been recommended by The Guardian, Time Out and the Financial Times. In 2015, he made a show about being a man called Mansplaining Masculinity, which he’s adapting into a book that is being published with Unbound. In 2016, he wrote and performed an extension of the show called Liberating Men for BBC Radio 4's Four Thought, which was the Radio Times Pick of the Day. He produces a monthly podcast for the Restart Project, which goes out online and on Resonance FM. For five years, he ran a live night and podcast called Stand Up Tragedy, which aimed to create a safe space to talk about unsafe things. Since 2011, he’s been a member of the Spark London team and he hosts their monthly true storytelling open mic in Hackney. He co-wrote and produced the Cbeebies Radio Series, Ministry of Stories featuring Jenni Murray.
Listen to the Family Tree podcast – a magical realistic dramatic fiction – here, or go to:
http://thefamilytreepodcast.co.uk/
Jen Adamthwaite
Together with Dave Pickering, Jen Adamthwaite is writer and producer of drama podcast, The Family Tree. She is a fiction writer with a particular interest in exploring the world through magical realism. She has written monologues for Stand Up Tragedy and co-produced fiction podcasts for
Rethink Audio. Her short fiction can be found in various literary publications and on the GPS-triggered app experience, Hackney Hear. She is currently seeking representation for her first novel.
You can reach her online at www.jadamthwaite.co.uk and under the Twitter handle @jadamthwaite.
Sarah Golding
Sarah has been the host of The Audio Drama Production Podcast since Jan 2017, organising and enjoying informative interviews with exciting audio professionals who produce, direct, write, voice act, compose for, edit, or act in audio drama.
She has played a plethora of diverse characters in audio drama since 2014. Always keen to play with accents, Sarah can be found enjoying diverse roles as Lizzie in Wynabego Warrior, Drunk Helen in a Scottish Podcast, Sarah in Hostile Worlds, Pam in Subject Found Season 2, Marian in Edict Zero, Lily in The Amelia Project. and Alia in Ancestry.
She organised and produced the first live ADPP Show utilising the community wide ADPP skillbase, culminating in many new original Audio Drama scripts being created specifically for the competition. and produced and performed three of these at Vault Festival 2018 (in collaboration She has written a series of Diary of a Madman and continues to develop several plays for production. She loves auditions way too much...
For more about Sarah, go to:
21ST CENTURY RADIO
Five of the best audio dramas of the 21st century
As part of the Festival, we have chosen five dramas which exemplify the range and quality of audio drama broadcast this century. We chose these pieces not because they are the only great audio plays of this century - but as a way of shining a light on what audio drama has become: highbrow but also popular, hard-hitting, political, challenging, imaginative, and innovative.
Here are the five works chosen, with brief explanations for their inclusion:
DECAMERON NIGHTS (2014), the BBC Radio 3 serialisation of Boccaccio’s Decameron, produced by Jonquil Panting, adapted by Robin Brooks, and introduced by ex-Python Terry Jones. Written in 10 episodes of 15 minutes each and ‘streamed’ across 10 days, this is a unabashedly highbrow and utterly enjoyable classic adaptation of one of the most influential books in world literature, in a version that captivates, intrigues and delights.
The devised drama documentary A FIRE IN THE WEST (2003), created by Michael Butt, and directed by Toby Swift. This tells the true story of a tragic death in a dazzlingly original format. It is a heartrending symphony of grief which deserves to be recognised as a modern classic.
Roy Williams’ crime drama THE INTERROGATION (2012 - present) which for 7 series has stunned and gripped audiences with crime dramas focused around two idiosyncratic detectives, played by Kenneth Cranham and Alex Lanipekun. Roy is undeniably one of the most brilliant writers in contemporary theatre, speaking truth and challenging prejudice in scripts rich in the magnificent eloquence of the street and pub. In THE INTERROGATION he brings all his talents to bear in a uniquely radiophonic approach to the police procedural genre, written in a narrative structure as tightly controlled as a sonnet.
BORDERLAND (2017), a BBC Cymru Wales production which offers a chilling dystopic vision of a ‘Greater Britain,’ consisting of just England and Wales in which desperate refugees attempt to escape a land which has forgotten its humanity, to find some kind of haven in Ireland. Written by Sarah Woods and directed by James Robinson, this stunning drama shows the BBC’s commitment to the making of cutting edge genre thrillers that provoke and challenge yet also offer a rollercoaster emotional experience.
LOST PROPERTY (2011), a trilogy of plays by Katie Hims, which tells the story of a family over three generations, from the evacuation of the children in World War II to the 100th birthday of Alice - who has spent a lifetime lamenting the loss of her daughter - lost through clerical error during evacuation. Winner of Best Drama in the 2011 Audio Awards, this is one of the most moving and emotionally resonant dramas ever broadcast.
PODCASTS
The World of Podcasts
"As audio drama meets podcasting new kinds of stories are being told, stories that are created from different traditions to radio dramas, stories using, developing and challenging the language and conventions of this new medium, taking advantage of its innovations and the unique experiences and opportunities it gives to listeners and creators."
- David Pickering, podcaster
Dave and his collaborator Jen Adamthwaite are part of a wave of new talent that is generating bold new work in one of the most exciting digital media - audio. To listen to the Family Tree podcast – a magical realistic dramatic fiction go HERE.
In addition, podcast panellist Sarah Golding has curated this list of must-hear podcast dramas:
PICK OF THE PODCASTS
BLOOD CULTURAL produced by Lance Dann - a biomedical thriller series.
To listen, click HERE.
WOODEN OVERCOATS Created by David K. Barnes. It’s comedy not drama but we love this wonderful take on the world of funeral directors. Our panellist and Goldsmiths alumnus John Wakefield has directed and produced for this show.
To listen, CLICK HERE.
DEAD LONDON, an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ WAR OF THE WORLDS - a Wireless Theatre Production. Written by Jack Bowman and Robert Valentine and directed by George Maddocks.
To listen CLICK HERE.
THE AUTOPSY. A Wireless Theatre Production written by Gareth Parker and directed by Mariele Runacre Temple. A binaural radio thriller.
To listen, CLICK HERE.
VICTORIOCITY written by Chris Sugden and Jen Sugden and directed by Nathan Peter Grassi. A detective drama set in Victorian London which features ‘an unsolvable murder in an unending city.’
To listen, CLICK HERE.
For more insights on podcasting dramas and comedies from Sarah, check out:
Wells Blog
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