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Africa,
India and pre-Civil War South Carolina featured in BBC World Service
dramas in August
BBC
World Service's Play of the Week presents a double-bill of
prize-winning plays from Africa on 2 August.
On
9 August there will be an evening of dramatic performances and readings
recorded live called The World is Smaller.
Walk
Right By Me stars top film actor Gary Oldman on 16 August and
a slave plantation in pre-Civil War South Carolina is the setting
for The Darker Face of the Earth on 23 August.
The
month is rounded of with The Guide by one of India's most
celebrated authors R.K Narayan on 31 August.
Two
prize winning plays can be heard on Play of the Week on 2 August.
K-Street
by Andiah Kisiah won first prize in the recent African Performance
competition and is set in Kenya.
Two
poorly paid policemen face the difficult choice of retaining their
morality and humanity in the face of poverty or of giving in to
the temptations of corruption.
The
Engagement by Sefi Atta won second-prize in the same competition
and is set in Nigeria.
A traditional
Yoruba wedding falls into disarray when the bride learns the truth
about her philandering fiancé.
The
plays are directed by Alice Martin (30 minutes).
The
World is Smaller - recorded live at the Café Royal in London
to mark the 70th anniversary of World Service drama - is on 9 August.
It
is a special evening of dramatic performances and readings, featuring
just a few of the many great actors who have performed on the BBC
World Service.
The
host is the former head of World Service Drama, Gordon House. Directed
by Ed Kemp (60 minutes).
Top
film actor Gary Oldman stars in Walk Right By Me, an extraordinary,
raw one-man play by first time writer Christopher C Harris on 16
August.
Warren
is compulsive, lonely and passionate. He lives alone in a big city
and one day sees Carol, a petite, ex-dancer approaching her 30th
birthday.
Utterly
captivated, Warren savours every intimate detail. He keeps a hair
brush with wisps of her hair in his flat and her clothes in his
wardrobe.
When
she rows with her partner, he is there, when she kisses another
man, he is there. When she gets pregnant he is almost the first
to know.
Walk
Right By Me is a testimony from the edge.
Gary
Oldman has starred in major Hollywood films for more than 10 years,
including Sid and Nancy, JFK (as Lee Harvey Oswald), Bram Stoker's
Dracula (as Dracula), The Fifth Element, Air Force One, Nil by Mouth
and most recently The Contender with Jeff Bridges.
Produced
by Claire Grove, and directed by Douglas Urbanski (60 minutes).
To
mark the International Day for the Remembrance of Slave Trade Abolition,
a new production of The Darker Face of the Earth will be broadcast
on 23 August.
Chiwetel
Ejiofor, highly acclaimed star of the film Dirty Pretty Things,
stars as Augustus.
Written
by the American Pulitzer prize winning writer Rita Dove, her poetic
play takes the Oedipus myth and transposes it to a slave plantation
in pre-Civil War South Carolina.
A black
slave and a white woman find their lives and destinies fatally entwined.
Directed
by Marion Nancarrow with music by Felix Cross (90 minutes).
Written
by R.K Narayan, one of India's most celebrated authors, The Guide
on 31 August tells the story of shopkeeper and resourceful tourist
guide Raju, who takes a rollercoaster ride through life when he
falls in love with the beautiful dancer Rosie.
Set
in the fictional town of Malgudi in southern India, it tells how
he seduces her away from her husband, transforms her into a celebrity
- but then falls out with her.
He
loses the fortune he made, finds himself in jail and then, sitting
outside an abandoned temple after his release, Raju is mistaken
for a holy man by local villager, Velan.
In
a series of flashbacks, we discover Raju's past life, as he turns
from impulsive, unprincipled and self-indulgent rogue to a holy
man counselling a growing band of followers.
Eventually,
Raju's new-found spirituality faces the ultimate test as Malgudi
suffers a terrible drought and the villagers turn to him to perform
a miracle and bring the rain.
Dramatised
for radio by Rukhsana Ahmad and directed by David Hitchinson (60
minutes).
Notes
to Editors
International
Broadcast Times:
West Africa: | Sat 22.01 rpt Sun 01.01, 18.32
Europe: | Sat 17.32 rpt Sun 01.01
E and S Africa: | Sun 01.01 rpt 10.01
Middle East: | Sun 01.01 rpt 09.32
South Asia: | Sat 11.32 rpt 23.01
East Asia: | Sat 18.01 rpt 11.32, 17.01
Americas: | Sat 21.01 rpt Sun 01.01 | Mon 05.01
Listen
online: from 9 August (updated weekly Saturdays) at
bbcworldservice.com/programmes
- choose Play of the Week from the drop down list of programmes
BBC
World Service broadcasts programmes around the world in 43 languages
and is available on radio and online at bbcworldservice.com.
It
has a global audience of at least 150 million weekly listeners.
All the
BBC's digital services are now available on Freeview,
the new free-to-view digital terrestrial television service, as well
as on satellite and cable.
Freeview
offers the BBC's eight television channels, interactive services
from BBCi, as well as 11 BBC radio networks.
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