Jonathan Holloway Radio Plays
Jonathan Holloway is a British theatre director and writer, co-founder of the Red Shift Theatre Company (1982–2008), and known for his extensive work with BBC Radio Drama. His radio drama career spans over 40 years and includes over 100 hours of broadcast time.
Jonathan has tackled a number of substantial literary works and turned them into compelling radio drama. In 2013, his adaptation of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four for BBC Radio 4 won a First Prize at the Prix Italia. This was part of a George Orwell season, for which he also wrote original biographical dramas like 'Loving' and 'Jura'. He created a 10-hour serialisation of C.P.Snow’s 11-novel sequence, Strangers and Brothers, which explored 20th-century British academic and political life.
Jonathan has also adapted science fiction and dystopian novels; he has produced audio versions of Philip K. Dick’s 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' (2014) and Aldous Huxley’s 'Brave New World' (2016).
His writing includes a wide array of historical and literary reimaginings: He has adapted 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens (starring James Purefoy, 2022) and Patrick Hamilton’s Gaslight (2023). Other notable adaptations include Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and Samuel Johnson’s The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, which was recorded on location at Dr Johnson's House.
He wrote original dramas for the Arthur Miller centenary (starring Ed Harris) and for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. His 2024 work, 'Casting Shadows', celebrated the Brighton and Hove film pioneers. Other credits include dramatisations of Olivia Manning’s Levant Trilogy, Evelyn Waugh’s The Loved One, and Bernardine Evaristo’s verse novel The Emperor's Babe.
BBC BROADCASTS
01.05.94 The Hammer
23.11.96 Seaton's Aunt (de la Mare), dram
05.10.97 The Lifted Veil (George Eliot), dram
27.12.97 The Affair at Grover Station
20.04.98 Spring Tide
27.07.98 The Fall
14.05.99 Now you see it, now you don't
??.08.99 The Surprise Summer
25.01.00 Mr. Loveday's Little Outing (Waugh), dram
04.09.00 Murke's Collected Silences (Boll), dram
27.10.00 Naples 44 (Norman Lewis), dram
03.09.01 The Flanders Panel (Reverte), dram
19.01.03 Strangers & Brothers (C.P.Snow), dram, 4 x 60m
01.06.03 Strangers & Brothers (C.P.Snow), series 2, dram, 4 x 60m
25.12.03 No Conferring, 30m
30.03.04 Heart Transplant (2 x 45m), 2nd half 31.03.04; rpt. 2006.
24.07.04 Old-World (Ariadne Nicolaeff), dram, 60m.
26.12.08 The Loved One (Waugh), dram, 60m
17.08.09 Rep, 45m
24.08.09 The Quest, 5 x 12m
12.11.09 The Railway Siding, 45m
02.10.10 The Kane Conspiracy, 55m
17.04.15 The Carter Mysteries: Incident of the Russian Visitors
19.01.18 The Double, dram
18.02.23 Gaslight, dram
27.06.24 Casting Shadows
NOTES
THE HAMMER....1994
Rather frightening thriller; excellent sound effects. Cast: Joseph
Bennett as Gregory Linton, Deborah Finlay as Elizabeth Chinworth,
Martin Jarvis as Frederick, Crawford Logan as Lord Chinworth &
William Cecil, Tim McInnerney as Matthew Carter, Trevor Nicholls
as Colin Stockbridge, Bill Nighy as Simon Skinner, Sarah Todd as
Michelle Robinson and Melinda Walker as Sarah Carter. Music by Adrian
Johnston; produced by Nick Russell Pavir and David Chilton; written and
directed for Radio 3 by Jonathan Holloway.
SEATON'S AUNT....1996
Based on a short story by Walter de la Mare.
Cast: Samuel West as Rupert Withers, Margaret Robertson as Seaton's
Aunt, Andrew Wincott as Arthur Seaton, Tereas Gallagher as young Seaton,
young Withers by Melinda Walker, Patience Tomlinson as de Witt.
Music composed & played by Adrian Johnston; directed by David Hunter.
THE AFFAIR AT GROVER STATION....1997
A ghost story based on a short story by Willa Cather. Terrapin
Rodgers recounts to Will Carter the riddle of his friend's
death. Carter becomes involved, and terrified. Stars Kerry Shale,
Nancy Crane, Stuart Milligan. Dir. David Hunter.
SPRING TIDE....1998
5 x 12m. Set in Cornwall. Cast: Elaine Pyke, Tim McInnerney,
Iwan Thomas, Becky Hindley. Dir. David Hunter.
THE LIFTED VEIL....1997
Broadcast as the Classic Serial, 2 x 60m. Latimer can read
thoughts and can see into the future. But it doesn't do him
much good. Stars Toby Stephens, Tim Pigott-Smith, Edward
Michie. Dir. Jane Morgan.
THE FALL....1998
5 x 12m. Social story set in Cornwall. With Charlotte Coleman,
Elaine Pyke. Dir. David Hunter.
NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON'T....1999
Missed this, so no information apart from the cast: Tristan Sturrock,
Alison Pettitt; dir. David Hunter.
THE SURPRISE SUMMER....1999
Set on the Edinburgh Fringe...John, an ex-teacher, takes
his one-man show there; he has a treacherous
manager and less than ideal love affair. Stars Stephen
Critchlow, Tracy Wiles. Dir. David Hunter. 5 x 12m.
MR. LOVEDAY'S LITTLE OUTING....2000
Angela Moping visits her father in the asylum. His loyal
secretary is Mr. Loveday. Stars Charlotte Attenborough, Barbara
Leigh-Hunt, Stephen Throne. Dir. David Hunter.
MURKE'S COLLECTED SILENCES....2000
Translated by Leila Vennewitz, and adapted by J.H. Murke is a radio
producer obsessed with silences. Stars Dominic Letts, Jeremy
Wilkin, Roger Walker; dir. David Hunter. This story has also
been adapted for radio by Alison Leonard (q.v.).
NAPLES 44....2000
This is an adaptation for radio of material taken from the diary
of Norman Lewis, a travel writer who was in Naples just after it was
liberated from the Nazis. His job was that of Army Intelligence officer.
With Jamie Glover, Dominic Frisby, Robert Rietty, Tayana Colomnbo.
Dir. Jeremy Howe.
THE FLANDERS PANEL....2001
A hidden inscription in an old oil painting depicts a chess game. But the
clues to a long-forgotten murder are hidden in the picture. There
are also uncanny parallels with events in the present. Stars Lizzie
McInnerney, James Greene, Philip Joseph,
Geraldine Fitzgerald. Dir. David Hunter.
...............A steady stream of good drama has been put out since Christmas, a lot of it involving Evelyn Waugh to mark his centenary. But to begin with we had STRANGERS AND BROTHERS, by C.P.Snow (R4 beginning 19.01.03, broadcast as the Classic Serial. This is the story of Lewis Eliot; his humble beginnings in Leicester, early legal work, getting a Fellowship at a Cambridge college, the election of a Master, and the many gifted, unusual and odd people he met on the peripheraries of academia and Whitehall. For those familiar with the novels, the titles of the episodes were: 1)Time of Hope, 2)The Conscience of the Rich, 3)The Masters, 4)The Masters (sic), 5)The Light and the Dark. Particularly well-done was the election of the new college Master; clever academics jockeying for position throwing poison darts at each other whilst the old Master lies dying. The plays starred Adam Godley, David Haig, Clive Merrison, Andy Taylor, David Calder and Jeremy Child, and the dramatisation was by Jonathan Holloway; Sally Avens & Jeremy Howe directed. (N.D., VRPCC newsletter, Apr 03)
...........A second series of adaptations of C.P.
Snow's epic novel sequence Strangers and Brotherswent out
during June 03. (R4, Classic Serial, 4 instalments beginning
1st June). Episode 1 was about the development of the first
atomic pile in England, in the race to beat Germany to the atomic bomb.
(see also Neil Brand page - Manhattan Project). Episode 2 covered the
aftermath of the Bomb and the first years of the Cold War.
Next we had an academic
scandal and cover-up based in a Cambridge college, with a physicist
accused of faking evidence,
and finally "The Corridors of Power",
about a Tory politician who enlists Lewis Eliot's help to formulate
a nuclear policy which will advance his own career.
These stories are truly outstanding, as are the
dramatisations. The cast included David Haig, Tim McInnerney, Jeremy
Child, Hugh Quarshie, Geoffrey Whitehead, Jonathan Coy, Sean Barrett,
Clive Merrison, Peter Blythe, David Acton, David Tennant, Iain Glen,
Juliet Aubrey, David Leonard, John Carlisle, Christopher Rozycki,
Julia Watson...this list is getting too long .......Ronald Pickup,
Jeremy Swift, Rolf Saxon, Avril Clark, Richard Firth. The directors
were Sally Avens & Jeremy Howe, as in the previous series.
.....Further notes on the 'Strangers and Brothers' series, and about C.P.Snow.....
NO CONFERRING....2003
R4,11 pm, 25 Dec 03. A chiller for Christmas...a "bonding" week in
an isolated moorland cottage for participants in "University
Challange", 1983. It goes horribly wrong. With Damian Lynch, Lydia
Leonard, Kenny Blyth, Peter Darney, Jaimi Barbakoff; Bamber Gascoigne
and Jeremy Paxman star as themselves. Directed by David Hunter.
......the first Sting in the Tale play, Jonathan Holloway’s No Conferring, a gripping late-night listen....at the end, it actually raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Its title refers not just to its University Challenge theme (Jeremy Paxman and Bamber Gascoigne play themselves) but also to its plot, which echoes I Know What You Did Last Summer. A Sting in the Tale sounds reminiscent of television’s Tales of the Unexpected, celebrated for its denouements. In fact, it owes more to a fondly remembered Radio 4 series, Fear on Four.....(from an article by Paul Donovan, Times, Dec 04)
HEART TRANSPLANT....2004
Broadcast on successive days, 30-31 Mar 04. The story of the world's
first heart transplant operation. Christiaan Barnard, with his
team of surgeons, transplants the heart of young Denise Darvall into
50-year-old ex-boxer Louis Washansky in Cape Town, South Africa, in
December 1967. Written by Jonathan Holloway and narrated by Rosie
Goldsmith. This is an outstanding dramatisation of a key event
in medical history. With Miles Anderson as Barnard and Ian McNeice as Louis.
Also stars Stephen Critchlow, Carl Oatley, Chris Porter, Robert Portal,
Eva Haddon, Charlie Simpson. Producer: Jeremy Howe. Repeated 2006.
............extract from Leicester Mercury, 6 Jan 1968:
WHY WASHANSKY DIED AND WHY BLAIBERG MAY LIVE
When he died on the verge of a Christmas he was looking forward to so much,
Louis Washansky's heart was still beating strongly. His new heart had
not failed him. The surgery had been a complete success. It was not
rejection of the heart which killed him; it was pneumonia which developed
because his body was open to attack by disease. Professor Barnard believes
the treatment given to ensure that Washansky's body did not reject the
transplant could have been too enthusiastic. In other words, he could
have been given an overdose of the anti-rejection drugs. These left no
defence mechanism and allowed the pneumonia infection in.
When "spare part" surgery was first tried doctors tried to beat this rejection - by first subjecting the patient to a massive dose of X- rays. This "cooked" the patient's blood so that it had a completely neutral reaction both to tissues and to any organism that might enter it. This method made possible the first kidney transplants but it exposed the patient to the dire peril of picking up every infection going the rounds and necessitated the strict ritual of barrier nursing.
............extract from Daily Telegraph, 6 July
1968:
Dr. Philip Blaiberg, 59,
the longest surviving heart-transplant patient, has developed lung complications
"which are giving rise for concern", the Groote Schuur Hospital in
Cape Town announced today.
The former dentist has lived for more than six months with another man's
heart. A month ago he was readmitted to hospital with hepatitis, a liver
complaint.
The bulletin today said that although his liver condition was improving steadily, there were now "pulmonary complications". Medical observers said this could mean pneumonia. It was pneumonia that killed Mr. Louis Washansky, 55, the world's first heart-transplant patient. He died 18 days after the operation.
............extract from Daily Telegraph,
24 May, 1969:
Hundreds of birthday messages poured into the home of Dr.
Philip Blaiberg, the world's longest-surviving heart transplant
patient, who is 60 today, says Reuter from Cape Town. The former
dentist, who has been living with another man's heart for 16
months, went home yesterday after a week's hospital treatment. His
wife, Eileen, said today he was feeling fine but a little tired.
..................................................
THE LOVED ONE....2008
26 Dec 08; Friday Play. By Evelyn Waugh; adapted by Jonathan Holloway. BBC publicity: California; just after the Second World War: An elderly Englishman; who once made a living as a Hollywood scriptwriter; has taken in a younger version of the same species who is also struggling to make his way in the new world. He thought he was a poet once; but now earns a living in a pet cemetery. Preoccupied with dead things; he meets a young female embalmer and suddenly everything begins to go right. Evelyn Waugh's novel has been called 'one of the funniest and most significant books of the 20th century'. Dennis Barlow ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt, Mr Joyboy ...... Mark Gatiss, Aimee ...... Jennifer Lee, Jellicorse Sir Francis Hinsley ...... Clive Swift, Sir Ambrose Abercrombie ...... David Troughton, Mrs Heinkel/Mrs Joyboy/Telephonist ...... Barbara Barnes, Mr Heinkel/Schultz/Slump ...... Peter Marinker. Can't remember who directed this, but I guess it was either Tim Dee or David Hunter.
REP....2009
Jonathan Holloway had two drama items broadcast over the summer, and one of them was REP (R4, 1415, 17 Aug 09). An actor has a brief spell in what is, for him, an unfamiliar situation; one of Britain's last surviving repertory theatres. He has some scrapes and romantic encounters, and the play evokes the spirit of 'rep' very effectively. The leads were taken by Jay Villiers, Lucy Liemann and Michael Fenton Stevens, and direction was by Tim Dee. (....ND, VRPCC newsletter, Sep 09
THE QUEST....2009
24 Aug 09. Woman's Hour Drama: 5 episodes. A modern take on the works of Sir Thomas Malory and Alfred Tennyson. In the first episode, King Arthur has been mortally wounded; and talks to Merlin as death approaches. Arthur ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt, Merlin ...... Mark Gatiss, Percival ...... Mark Meadows, Morgan Le Fay ...... Jasmine Hyde, Lancelot ...... Stephen Noonan, Leodegrance ...... Paul Mundell, Guinevere ...... Eleanor Tremain, Lot ...... David Collins. Directed by Tim Dee. Imaginative use of radio; this is not an ordinary re-telling of some of the best-known episodes in Arthur's life, but a radically different version, re-composed, if that is the right word, for the 21st century.
THE RAILWAY SIDING....2009
BBC blurb: When struggling architect Jack is forced to take the overnight train from Haverfordwest to Paddington; he encounters a garrulous guard and a spookily familiar young woman. All is not quite what it seems. Jack ...... Sam Dale, Train Guard ...... Ewan Hooper, Hope ...... Lydia Leonard, Stationmaster/Tom ...... Mark Lewis. Directed by David Hunter. ....Note from ND - I always like plays set on old stations and trains. This one is excellent.
THE KANE CONSPIRACY, by Jonathan Holloway (Saturday Play, 2 Oct 2010, R4) was set in the run-up to the 1941 Oscars.The young Orson Welles is pushing his film 'Citizen Kane', in spite of vigorous negative lobbying by FBI chief J Edgar Hoover and the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Hearst was very unhappy with the way his thinly disguised 'alter ego' was portrayed in the film, and Hoover and Hearst were determined to strangle the production; they almost succeeded.
The writer based the play on documentary evidence, and it was an interesting listen for anyone who has seen 'Citizen Kane'. This was Welles' first and most famous venture as a Hollywood director but seems to have done little for his future career.
Jeff Harding was Orson Welles, Toby Jones was Hoover, and John Guerrasio was Herman Mankiewicz; the producer was Sara Davies. .....ND, Diversity website review, Dec 2010
2011-03-03, The Old Spies
y Jonathan Holloway; play about three former spies in an old peoples' home. They talk and remember their old missions and rage against the dying of their lights. They now have nowhere to go but hold on to the stories of their adventurous lives as they feel their own minds, memories and personalities shifting.
2013-02-10, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1
By Orwell, dram. Jonathan Holloway.
Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth. Sick and separated from his wife, he lives alone in a one-room flat in Victory Mansions in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster; the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities.
Winston Smith ..... Christopher Eccleston,
Julia ..... Pippa Nixon,
O'Brien ..... Tim Pigott-Smith,
Parsons ..... Kim Wall,
Syme ..... Sam Alexander,
Prostitute ..... Susie Riddell,
with....... Christine Absalom,
Don Gilet, Joe Sims, Joshua Swinney.
Producer: Jeremy Mortimer
2013-02-11 The Real George Orwell - Loving
By Jonathan Holloway. The third of four dramas featuring episodes in the life of Eric Blair.
His relationship with the opposite sex could be a bit odd; he made awkward marriage proposals to several women. But his relationship with Eileen O'Shaugnessy, whom he married in 1935, had a huge influence on him. This drama explores the nine years of their relationship.
Eric Blair ..... Joseph Millson,
Eileen O'Shaugnessy/Blair ..... Lyndsey Marshal,
Dorothy ..... Isabella Marshall,
Lydia Jackson ..... Vera Filatova,
Inspector Summerfield ..... Dick Bradnum,
Len ..... Alun Raglan,
with... Lyndsey Marshal;
Producer ..... Kate McAll.
BBC Wales.
2013-02-17, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Episode 2
Dram. Jonathan Holloway.
Winston Smith has found love and comfort with Julia, and now they are determined to join the Brotherhood, a secret, counter-revolutionary organisation pledged to destroy The Party. But for The Party's enemies, deep in the Ministry of Love, there is the threat of Room 101.
Winston Smith ..... Christopher Eccleston,
Julia ..... Pippa Nixon,
O'Brien ..... Tim Pigott-Smith,
Parsons ..... Kim Wall,
Charrington ..... Robert Blythe,
with Christine Absalom,
Sam Alexander,
Don Gilet
Susie Riddell
Joe Sims
Joshua Swinney.
Producer: ..... Jeremy Mortimer.
2013-02-18, George Orwell: Jura
By Jonathan Holloway. Final play (of 4) featuring episodes in the life of Eric Blair. In 1947, the year after Eileen's death, Eric leaves London and moves to Jura, with his sister Avril, and his three year old son. He is suffering from TB but is determined to try living off the land. But most of all he is determined to finish Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Eric Blair ..... Joseph Millson,
Avril Blair ..... Liza Sadovy,
David Holbrook ..... Adam Nagaitis,
Sonia Orwell ..... Stephanie Racine,
Ricky Blair ..... James Foster,
Henry ..... Will Howard,
Lucy ..... Alexandra Guelff,
Jane ..... Lizzy Watts,
Producer..... Jeremy Mortimer
2013-05-23, The Emperor's Babe
By Bernardine Evaristo, ad. Jonathan Holloway. Play set in Roman London.
Zuleika, a beautiful girl of Sudanese heritage, is neglected by her parents and left to run wild in the city's streets. In 2013, Zuleika would be scouted to model for Prada or Burberry. In AD 211, her prospects are much less promising.
Zuleika ..... Michelle Asante,
Felix ..... Paul Chahidi,
Alba ..... Alex Tregear,
Valeria ..... Hannah Wood,
Tranio ..... Rick Warden,
Severus ..... Terence Anderson,
Producer:..... Mary Ward-Lowery.
'London Calling' arranged and performed by Cousin Dim, featuring vocals by Holly Hockaday.
2014-06-15, CS slot: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1 of 2
By Philip Dick, dram. Jonathan Holloway. Sci-fi story which inspired Blade Runner. In a world devastated by nuclear war, a San Francisco bounty hunter is on a mission to retire a group of rogue androids. Androids are now becoming indistinguishable from human beingse, and Rick Deckard is tasked with locating and destroying a group of escaped androids who have fled a life of slavery and returned to Earth.
Rick Deckard ..... James Purefoy,
Rachael Rosen ..... Jessica Raine,
Harry Bryant ..... Nicky Henson,
Eldon Rosen ..... Anton Lesser,
Luba Luft ..... Heather Craney,
JR Isadore ..... Stuart McLoughlin,
Polokov ..... Clive Hayward,
Roy Baty ..... Danny Sapani,
Jenny Bell ..... Jaimi Barbakoff,
Caruso ..... Wilf Scolding,
Producer ..... Sasha Yevtushenko.
17 Apr 15: The Carter Mysteries: Incident of the Russian Visitors
By Jonathan Holloway. The Carter warehouse is crammed with history. When an unscrupulous pair arrives looking for a long-lost Russian table it's the beginning of a far-reaching and dangerous tale. Lisa: Jeany Spark, Phil: Stephen Greif, Gul: Sharif Dorani, Steven: Harry McEntire, Dmitri: Stephen Critchlow, Viktor: David Hounslow, Dan: Sam Dale. Produced by David Hunter.
2015-05-24, Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia
by Samuel Johnson, ad. Jonathan Holloway. An African prince in search of happiness.
Recorded on location at Dr Johnson's House, 17 Gough Square, London, where 260 years ago, Johnson compiled his famous dictionary and then in January 1759, wrote 'Rasselas' in a week to pay for his mother's funeral. Jonathan's drama also includes a glimpse of Johnson; a lonely 50-year-old celebrity and writer; in debt and poor health; missing his young Jamaican manservant, Francis Barber, who had run away to sea. Born a slave, Barber was freed at Johnson's insistence and treated kindly by him.
Samuel Johnson .... Jeff Rawle,
Arthur Murphy .... Kevin Trainor,
Princess Nekayah .... Cynthia Erivo,
Prince Rasselas .... Ashley Zhangazha,
Imlac .... Lucian Msamati,
Aeronaut .... Richard Cordery,
Pekuah .... Adjoa Andoh,
AJ .... Gabriel Mokake,
Ahmed .... Amir El-Masry,
Mohammed .... Zubin Varla,
Intelligence Man .... Zubin Varla,
Producer .... Amber Barnfather.
Sound design: David Chilton.
Indie (Goldhawk).
2015-10-12, 14-15 The Life and Times of Arthur Miller, 1:Beginnings
Arthur Miller would have been 100 years old on October 17th this year. To mark the centenary BBC Radio 4, LA Theatre Works, and an American cast have come together to produce four new dramas by Mike Walker and Jonathan Holloway. These plays recreate some of the experiences that shaped Miller. First episode written by Mike Walker. Arthur Miller is born in New York on the 17th of October 1915 to a prosperous family in the clothing business. A poor school student, he loves making things with wood and dreams of becoming a crooner. But when the stock market crashes and the Millers face ruin, Arthur contemplates a different future. .
Narrator .... Ed Harris,
Arthur Miller .... Ben Feldman,
Isidore Miller .... Gregory Itzin,
Augusta Miller .... Kate Burton,
Maid .... Anna Lyse Erikson,
Kermit Miller .... Matthew Wolf,
Ed .... Matthew Wolf,
William Fox, Dozick and Harry .... Andre Sogliuzzo,
Young Marxist .... Michael Kirby,
Aunt Betty .... Jane Kaczmarek,
Mary Slattery .... Devon Sorvari,
Producer.... Kate McAll.
2015-10-14, Arthur Miller, 3: Sin
By Jonathan Holloway. Arthur Miller's play 'The Crucible' opened in New York City in January 1953. The reviews were mixed. The parallels with Senator McCarthy's witch hunt for Communists with the House Un-American Activities Committee were obvious. Few realised, however, that it also portrayed Miller's dying marriage to his first wife and college sweetheart, Mary Slattery. One of Marilyn Monroe's New Year resolutions of 1955 was to improve her acting by taking lessons. She moved to New York later that year to study with Lee Strasberg. Four years after she and Arthur had first met on the West Coast, they began to see each other.
Narrator .... Ed Harris,
Arthur Miller .... Geoffrey Arend,
Morton Miller .... Andre Sogliuzzo,
Marilyn Monroe .... Heidi Dippold,
HUAC Congressman .... Edward Asner,
Slade .... Nick Toren,
Reporter .... Alan Shearer,
Producer .... Kate McAll.
Producer for LA Theatre Works: Susan Loewenberg.
Associate Producers: Anna Lyse Erikson and Myke D Wysekopf.
Sound by Mark Holden, Wes Dewberry, and Catherine Robinson.
A BBC/Cymru Wales and LA Theatre Works Co-Production, directed by Kate McAll.
THE DOUBLE .... 2018
Jonathan Holloway's play THE DOUBLE (R4, 19 Jan 18, Saturday Play) was an adaptation of a novella by Dostoyevsky. It's about the torments of a government clerk, Golyadkin, who finds that an exact double of himself has appeared in St Petersburg and has set out to destroy his reputation. The doppelganger has all the social ease that the real Golyadkin lacks. The scene is changed in this adaptation; we're in a historical sci-fi version of St. Petersburg, and there are intrusions from the 21st century along with a cyber-weapon. Golyakin and his doppelganger were played by Joseph Millson, Andrei by Sean Murray and Dr. Rutenspitz by Elizabeth Counsell, along with Kerry Gooderson and Lauren Cornelius. The producer was Gemma Jenkins. (.....ND, 'Diversity' website review, Sep 2018)
An interesting new production of GASLIGHT, by Jonathan Holloway (R4, 1415, 18 Feb 23) seemed apposite, what with the term 'gaslighting' (being made to doubt one's own sanity) being in use so much recently. Jonathan's was a modern adaptation set in the present, with original music by Imelda May. The action takes place in London; Jack Manningham has used his wife’s inheritance to buy a big property which they will renovate. Jack is a movie producer down on his luck, but in the house is something which may restore his fortunes. He and his wife Bella occupy part of the ground floor and the basement and it's lit by gas. The lights flicker alarmingly when he's out and Bella is alone; it scares her, and some of the things her husband says to comfort her are tactless and unhelpful; she thinks she's going mad. James Purefoy played Jack, with Rebecca Night as Bella and Cathy Tyson as DCI Nina Rawe. Production was by Johnny Vegas, for indie company Woolyback. (.....ND, 'Diversity' website review, Apr 2023)
CASTING SHADOWS (R4, 1415, 27 Jun 24), by Jonathan Holloway shone a light on the early film industry. Few people are aware of the importance of the pioneer film-makers in Brighton and Hove, 1985-1905; their work transformed film-making and invented a number of the techniques used today in cinema. This happened a decade before Hollywood was launched. The main characters in this light-hearted drama-documentary are: the showman-filmmaker George Albert Smith; his actor-comedienne wife, Laura Bayley, Smith’s (unsung) co-director; his colleague James Williamson, and Charles Urban from America, the world’s first 'movie mogul'.
Smith was multi-talented; he was actually a stage hypnotist, psychic, magic lantern lecturer and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was a key member of the group of early film-makers known as the Brighton School. His short films pioneered film-editing and close-ups and he developed the first successful colour-film process, Kinemacolour. Smith was played by Karl Davies, Laura by Jenny Funnell and Williamson by Tom Kotcher; the play was narrated by the film historian Frank Gray and produced by Andy Jordan for Pier Productions. (.....ND, 'Diversity' website review, Sep 2024)
The play listing above is incomplete; please email if you have information
about additional plays / adaptations by this author.
Nigel Deacon, Diversity Website
