Floating (Plynutí, 2011)

Přidal: Přemek |

Únor 17, 2012

Hugh Hughes. Rozhlasová hra. Režie James Robinson.

Účinkují Hugh Hughes, Sioned Rowlands, Shôn Dale-Jones a Jill Norman.

Nastudovalo BBC v roce 2011. Premiéra 9. 9. 2011 (BBC Radio 4,

Pozn.: Cena za nejlepší scénář na BBC Radio Awards 2011.

Lit.: Robinson, James:Afternoon Play: Floating. In web BBC Radio 4 Blog, 9. 9. 2011 (rozhovor + ukázka). Cit.: Editor’s note: The Radio Times described this fantastical Afternoon Play: Floating as „a maritime Passport to Pimlico, with the locals relishing their unexpected autonomy and selecting a leader“. The Guardian review said that Floating has „a delightfully quirky presence, and a poignant conclusion“. Here on the blog James Robinson, the producer of Floating, talks to its creator Hugh Hughes – PM.

On April 1st 1982, the Isle of Angelsey separated from the mainland of Wales and floated out into the North Atlantic. This Friday’s Afternoon Play: Floating, reconstructs this extraordinary event and tells the story of Anglesey’s subsequent journey.

Remarkably at the time the incident failed to grab a single headline. And I have to admit that until I met the creator of the show – emerging artist Hugh Hughes, who grew up on the island – I’d never heard of it myself. I caught up with Hugh recently and asked him why he thought the event went unnoticed:

„Well, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of Great Britain at the time and she took the country to war in The Falklands on the very same day that Anglesey drifted away. So all media attention was focused on the South Atlantic.“

So nobody noticed that Anglesey had floated off?

„That’s right. You see my friend Arwel says that the news has a finite number of cameras and it’s physically impossible for them to cover everything that happens.“

But, Anglesey’s a pretty big place (it’s the largest Welsh Island) how could something like this slip under the radar?

„I suppose it’s not an event most islanders openly talk about. I think there’s an anxiety about how tourists might feel if they knew their treasured holiday location has been known to take its own course and float away from the mainland where they live.“

So is there a possibility that this could happen again?

„No, no, no. I am sure the island is a safer place these days – after all, lightening doesn’t strike twice. Although my Uncle Dewi’s barn has been struck seven times within the last thirty years. But that’s no big surprise when you see how it has been wrapped in aluminum foil.“

So did you enjoy the experience of making Floating?

„It has been a wonderful experience. It’s not every day that a boy from Llangefni is invited to London by the BBC to make his very own radio play. I am thrilled by the opportunity the people in London have given me. And I was also very grateful for the support I had from the islanders themselves, including my Aunty Glenys who managed to persuade her choir to help with the crowd scenes.“

The story covers a very significant moment in your life, how did it feel to revisit that time?

„I remember the first time I cut the lawn with a lawnmower – making this play reminded me of the pleasure that activity brought me.“

The show itself is quite unusual – how would you define it?

„You could call it a documentary, a docu-drama, a biopic; it involves re-enactments and reconstruction, therefore you could call it a dramatic documentary reconstruction… It uses music and there are songs, so, technically you could call it a musical – although my friend Sioned says it’s nothing like what you find in the West End.“

So is it fair to say it defies definition?

„In a way, yes. My Aunty Beryl makes this cake; she uses apricots, plums, banana and cream and icing sugar; it’s so good that people ask her to make it for birthdays, weddings and even funerals. It’s a cake that defies categorisation, although it’s very rare to have it on Sundays.“

James Robinson is the producer of Floating

* Floating is on Radio 4 on Friday 9 September at 2.15pm and shortly afterwards on the Radio 4 website. Hopefully it will succeed in making slightly more sense out of this little known, momentous geological event.