The Overwhelming
by J.T.Rogers
J.T.Rogers - The Overwhelming
BBC Radio 3: Drama on 3
Broadcast: Sunday 29th April 2007 @ 8:00 p.m.
"The Overwhelming" is a gripping story of a country on the brink of genocide.
An American Professor of International Relations, Jack Exley travels to the benighted African country in 1994 in order to obtain material
for a book that he hopes will save his academic tenure. He takes his troubled teenage son and beautiful new African-American wife into
the war zone, believing in a cease-fire that doesn't exist.
They are there at the invitation of Jack's old college room mate, Joseph, the inspirational AIDS specialist who may also have darker
connections. However, by the time that the family arrives, he has vanished from the face of the earth. What ensues is part detective
story, part political history lesson.
Jack begins a fervent search for his dear and missing friend while his wife and teenage son find trouble of their own. As Jack involves
himself in local politics, he discovers a pattern of brutality and beliefs that jeopardise the lives of everyone around him.
J. T. Rogers' "The Overwhelming" was first performed at the National Theatre in 2006.
With Matthew Marsh [Jack Exley], Andrew Garfield [Geoffrey], Tanya Moodie [Linda], Jude Akuwudike [Joseph Gasana], Miles
Anderson [Woolsey / The Zimbabwean Doctor], Nick Fletcher [Jean-Claude / Verbeek], Babou Ceesay [Gerard], Danny Sapani
[Samuel Mizinga], Chipo Chung [Elise / The Rwandan Doctor], Lucian Msamati [The Bangladeshi Major / The Man in Embassy], and
Adura Onashile [The Woman in the Club / The Market Woman].
Directed by Max Stafford Clark.
110 min.
Jim
