AUDIBLE ANNOUNCE NEW LONDON PRODUCTION OF AL SMITH’S RADIO
Audible presents
RADIO
By Al Smith
Directed by Josh Roche
Arcola Theatre
19 June – 13 July 2019
Audible,the world’s leading producer and provider of spoken-word entertainment, today deepens its commitment to UK theatre announcing a new London production of Radio written by Al Smith. Josh Rochedirects Adam Gillen as Charlie Fairbanks in a one-man play about memory, love and spaceships. The production opens at Arcola Theatre on 24 June, with previews from 19 June and runs until 13 July. To coincide with the opening of the stage show, a studio recording of Radio will also release exclusively on Audible this summer, available for members to download worldwide.
Charlie Fairbanks was born in the dead centre of the United States at the dead centre of the twentieth century. Americans are going to the Moon and Charlie’s sure he’ll be the first one there. But as he shines his spotlight on the Moon, so too does it illuminate the darker side to his nation’s history.
Al Smith, said today, “I’m delighted that Audible is staging and releasing Radio in audio – I hope it will give more people an opportunity to hear it. It feels exciting to me that the play’s being restaged in the run up to the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. I wrote it as a sort of love letter to my dad who, as a young physicist, worked for NASA to help select potential landing sites for Apollo 11. It seems heart-breaking that in the near-half-century since that extraordinary achievement humans haven’t been back. And so the play, I suppose, is a reflection on that, and tries to look at what gets left behind when a planet turns its collective attention to the heavens for a single moment.”
Kate Navin, Artistic Producer, Theatre at Audible added, “Audible is at the forefront of the audio renaissance and we are excited to open up a new world of stories to audiences both on stage and in audio. Continuing our commitment to creative talent Audible Theatre will bring theatrical performances to new audiences, redefining storytelling through audio with best-in-class works from established and emerging writers, directors and performers.”
Al Smith’s theatre credits include Harrogate (HighTide/Royal Court Theatre – Nominated for Most Promising Playwright at the 2017 Evening Standard Theatre Awards), Diary of a Madman (Gate Theatre), The Bird(Underbelly/Arcola Theatre) and The Astronaut Wives Club (Soho Theatre). His television credits include Father Brown and The Coroner.
Adam Gillen plays Charlie Fairbanks. His theatre credits include Killer Joe (Trafalgar Studios), Amadeus, The Five Wives of Maurice Pinder (National Theatre), Wendy and Peter (RSC), Lotty’s War (UK tour), Lee Harvey Oswald(Finborough Theatre), School for Scandal (Barbican), The Door Never Closes (Almeida Theatre), A Taste of Honey (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Good Soul of Szechuan (Young Vic), The Lions Mouth and War and Peace (Royal Court Theatre). Television credits as series regular include Liam in Benidorm. Other television credits include Fresh Meat, Prisoners Wives and This is Jinsy; and for film, Vita and Virginia and Funny Cow.
Josh Roche directs. His theatre credits include Plastic (Mercury Theatre), The Agony and the Style (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama), My Name is Rachel Corrie (Young Vic – JMK Award Winner 2017), Women Centre Stage (Sphinx Theatre), A Third, Magnificence (Finborough Theatre), World Shakespeare Conference and Keep The Aspidistra Flying (RSC). His credits as Assistant Director include The Alchemist (RSC), Doctor Faustus (RSC/Barbican), Farinelli and The King (Duke of York’s Theatre), Death of A Salesman (RSC/Noël Coward Theatre) and Doctor Scroggy’s War (Shakespeare’s Globe); and as Associate Director, Pressure (Park Theatre/UK tour).
Other theatrical works co-produced on stage and in audio by Audible in the UK include:
- Avalanche: A Love Story, by Julia Leigh (Betty Trask Award-winner, Prix de l’Astrolabe-winner, Encore Award-winner, The Hunter, Sleeping Beauty). Avalanche: A Love Story follows a woman in her late 30s as she grapples with questions of maternity and womanhood whilst undergoing a series of difficult IVF treatments. Avalanche: A Love Story is produced by Barbican Theatre Productions and Fertility Fest, co-produced by Audible and the Sydney Theatre Company. Maxine Peake (BAFTA-nominee, The Village, Black Mirror, The Theory Of Everything, The Bisexual) stars in the stage production which runs at the Barbican Theatre from 27April –12 May 2019.
- True Weststarring Kit Harington (Emmy-nominee, Game Of Thrones) and Johnny Flynn (Genius, Beast). Two brothers spar, smoulder and burn in Sam Shepard’s darkly comic 1980 drama. The Cain and Abel conflict is a showdown of sibling rivalry but also bears witness to a legacy of booze-fuelled family brawls. The audio edition of True West is produced by Audible. The stage production was performed at the Vaudeville Theatre and produced by Smith & Brant Theatricals and Empire Street Productions.
Some of the Audible Theatre titles that members can purchase include Girls & Boys performed by Carey Mulligan, Harry Clarke performed by Billy Crudup, Iphigenia In Splottperformed by Sophie Melville (Winner of UK Theatre Awards Best New Play, 2017, Winner of James Tait Black Award for Best New Play, 2017, Nominated for Drama Desk Outstanding Solo Performance, 2018), The Diary Of A Hounslow Girl, written and performed by Ambreen Razia, Sakina’s Restaurant, written and performed by Aasif Mandvi, On The Exhalestarring Polly Frame, Winner of the Fringe First Award 2018 and Feeding The Dragon, written and performed by Sharon Washington.
For further information about current and upcoming Audible Theatre productions please visit:www.audible.co.uk/ep/theatre. Audible members can buy theatrical titles to download and keep forever for 1 credit, non-members can also purchase titles for a one off payment (exact prices vary title-by-title).
RADIO Listings
Arcola Theatre
24 Ashwin Theatre, Dalston, London E8 3DL
19 June – 13 July 2019
Press night: Monday 24 June, 7pm
Box Office: 020 7503 1646
Tickets: £15 – £22