Nell Leyshon Radio Plays
Nell Leyshon has written several radio plays; she also writes novels and stage plays. Her BBC work is listed below:
2002 The Farm, 60 m
2003 The Home Field, drama documentary, Radio 3, 75 mins
2003 *Glass Eels, rpt. BBC7 2004
2004 Michael - scenes written for Wordsworth's poem
2004 *The House in the Trees, 45m
2005 Black Dirt, R3
2005 Soldier Boy
All plays directed by Susan Roberts.
NOTES
SOLDIER BOY....2005
31 Aug 05; Gillian Kearney/James Nickerson/Jack Ryder/Carter Dowland
BLACK DIRT....2005
8 Jan, R3. The actiion takes place in a dying man's room. Frank is attached to
a drip, on morphine. The landscape outside (Somerset Levels) is
flooded, and the sound of oars signifies flashbacks to Frank's
life in the same house when he was 12. He remembers his father
telling him of the bloody well near Glastonbury Tor; the rain is
relentless. But everyone seems so cold - even his son and
daughter both avoid dealing with the fact that he is dying. But in Frank himself, the
morphine releases his inhibitions and he starts to recall a terrible tragedy.
Bible stories and the legends of King Arthur intertwine with the story of
young Frank and his sister Iris. With Peter Hamilton Dyer,
Rosalind March, Jack Thompson Rylance, Carly Bawden. Directed by
Susan Roberts.
THE HOUSE IN THE TREES....2004
R4, 22 Dec 04. Mary lives alone with her father
in a house with an eccentric garden he has made, which
is open to the public. Teased at school for being
"the garden girl", Mary decides it's time to find out
more about her absent mother. With Carly Bawden as
Mary and Peter Hamilton Dyer as her father. Written
by Nell Leyshon; directed by Susan Roberts.
MICHAEL by William Wordsworth....2004
Additional scenes by Nell Leyshon. Tom Courtenay reads
Wordsworth's narrative poem Michael - the first in which he
poeticised the language of ordinary men, telling the story of the
Cumbrian sheep farmer Michael and his son Luke who has to leave
the farm .
Young Luke ........ Dean Petre
Old Luke ....... Billy Walker
Michael ....... Tom Coulthard
Isabel ....... Jackie Fielding
Music composed by Gary Yershon; directed by Susan Roberts.
GLASS EELS....2003
R4, 16 July 03.Lily, 16, lives on the Somerset levels.
Lonely, and harbouring a grudge against her father, she tries to
come to terms with the death of her mother. Escaping at night
to sit by the river, she meets Kenneth - an eel fisherman,
and begins to explore her feelings.
Lily ...... Carly Bawden
Kath ...... Patricia England
Mervyn ...... Nick Brimble
Kenneth ...... William Bateman
Nothing in RT about the director, but I assume it was
Susan Roberts.
THE FARM....2002
In a farmhouse kitchen, Rose is trying to hold things together in a changing uncertain world. Her father-in-law Edmond is in the early stages of Alzheimer's, her husband Vic is grimly carrying on despite the slaughter of his cattle and a box of unpaid bills and Gavin, their son has just got himself a job at the local supermarket which fuels his father's fury and resentment.
The Farm is dedicated to the lost farms of Somerset. Rpt. 12 Nov 2004, Friday play. A bit
grim - but the recent story of English farming is a sad tale.
Rose ...... Rosalind March
Vic ...... Nick Brimble
Edmond ...... Robert Vahey
Gavin ...... William Bateman
Sue ...... Julie Hobbs
Directed by Susan Roberts.
MILK....2002
Afternoon Play, 7 Mar 02: in the series "Double Acts" - plays
with two writers collaborating.
By Nell Leyshon and Stephen McAnena. Two parents have been forced
to leave their dairy farm, and in unfamiliar surroundings, they
face an even more demanding challenge. Dir (?)Susan Roberts.
Nigel Deacon / Diversity website
Asterisked plays known to exist in VRPCC collections
