STRANGERS ON A FILM

Another chance to hear -

STRANGERS ON A FILM

By Stephen Wyatt

With PATRICK STEWART as Raymond Chandler and CLIVE SWIFT as Alfred Hitchcock

Directed by Claire Grove

BBC Radio 4 Friday 9^th May at 2.15 pm

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BLUE PLAQUE FOR FABIAN WARE

September 25th 2014 has been chosen as the date for the unveiling of the Blue Plaque for Fabian Ware, founder of the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) and the central figure in my play MEMORIALS TO THE MISSING. Final details have yet to be settled but I'm delighted that my initial proposal for a Plaque has come to fruition. Fabian's grandaughter, Gillian, will be attending along with members of her family and representatives of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

KRAZY KAT: DREAM

Just spent the day in rehearsal with Kinny and the Krazy Kat team working on their new version of Midsummer Night's Dream. Wonderful to see the puppets coming to life in the actors' hands. Imaginative design as always from Chris de Wilde.It's going to be good.

Details of performances can be found on the March 21st post.

Update. 3rd May. The show is up and running and I've just seen it at the studio of Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford. It's terrific!

THE DIVINE COMEDY: STAGE

Moira Petty praises our "Glorious adaptation" in The Stage.

THE DIVINE COMEDY: THE SPECTATOR

Another nice review from Kate Chisholm in The Spectator. The review is in the second part of the article.

THE DIVINE COMEDY: FINANCIAL TIMES

Another very favourable review in The Financial Times from somebody who clearly knows his Dante. Here's a slightly abridged version of what he had to say.

Pick of the Weekend: Martin Hoyle

Stephen Wyatt’s dramatisation of Dante’s Inferno grabs us by the hand in Radio 4’s ebullient production by Emma Harding and Marc Beeby as confidently as Virgil steering Dante through the underworld.

Characterised by vigour, energy and an atmospheric sound-plan (inventive variations on wailing, groaning, crunching ice and diabolical farts) the first part of The Divine Comedy makes a riveting introduction on air as in print... The cast is flawless, young actors and old masters alike.

There are no unintentional laughs in this hell... Quotations are read in perfectly pronounced Italian (a BBC first?). A beautifully incorporated line of T.S.Eliot’s typifies the production’s imaginative approach. Weary and frightened, Dante and his guide make it back for Easter Sunday and the sight of the stars. It has been quite a journey.

****

THE DIVINE COMEDY

Very nice review in The Radio Times:

THE DIVINE COMEDY

Review by:

Jane Anderson

It’s a brave writer who dares to take on Dante’s epic three-part poem The Divine Comedy. Playwright Stephen Wyatt, who has steered a radical course with this version, follows in the footsteps of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dorothy L Sayers and, most recently, Clive James, who have all written of the difficulties they faced in achieving a decent, scholarly translation.

So, if literary heavyweights like Longfellow, Sayers and James have struggled, how has Wyatt fared in turning it into a listener-friendly piece of radio?

He’s done a remarkable job. Out go the cantos and rigid rhyming structures. In comes a flowing narrative that loses none of the evocative imagery of the original. And it does Wyatt’s case no harm that the three central characters — Dante the younger, Dante the elder and Virgil, his ghostly omnipresent guide through hell, purgatory and paradise — are played by Blake Ritson, John Hurt and David Warner.

THE DREAM

Krazy Kat's version of Midsummer Night's Dream goes into rehearsal in early April.

As always, very much looking forward to working with the company.

Details of performances are on the Krazy Kat website. Here's a link to the performances at Emporium in Brighton.

Update: Krazy Kat has been granted Arts Council of England funding for a new programme of work for 2014/15. Well done, KK!

THE DIVINE COMEDY

THE DIVINE COMEDY by DANTE ALIGHIERI

Dramatised by STEPHEN WYATT

With BLAKE RITSON, JOHN HURT, DAVID WARNER and HATTIE MORAHAN

Directed by MARC BEEBY and EMMA HARDING

Episode One: INFERNO

Sunday 30^th March 3 pm BBC Radio 4

Episode Two: PURGATORIO

Sunday 6^th April 3 pm BBC Radio 4

Episode Three: PARADISO

Sunday 13^th April 3 pm BBC Radio 4

Each episode will be repeated the following Saturday at 9pm and the series will also be available on iPlayer.