Coronet Inside Out: David Rudkin
(This is a past event and is no longer running)
As part of Coronet Inside Out we are delighted to present two haunting audio dramas from legendary playwright David Rudkin, alongside an exclusive interview with Rudkin and Jack McNamara, Artistic Director of New Perspectives Theatre Company.
LISTEN TO THE LAND: DAVID RUDKIN’S PLACEPRINTS
Two of David Rudkin’s haunting audio dramas that offer a visionary awareness of the landscape performed by Toby Jones, Frances Tomelty, Stephen Rea, Juliet Stevenson and Jack Wilkinson.
Legendary playwright David Rudkin (Afore Night Come, Ashes, Penda’s Fen) has created ten stunning new works for audio giving a voice to some of the most remote regions of the British landscape.
Two of these haunting works were recorded live at the Print Room studio with an all star cast and are now being made available for listeners to enjoy at home. Both are masterpieces of place writing and showcase Rudkin’s unparalleled ability to evoke vast worlds with human voice alone.
GRIM’S DITCH
Performed by Toby Jones, Juliet Stevenson and Jack Wilkinson
Long haunted by the great ghost story writer MR James, Rudkin pays homage to him here in this eerie and blackly funny tale about an ancient earthwork who curses a facile academic called Marworth for attempting to use her as the basis for a university lecture. Whilst on site researching his subject, Marworth finds himself deeply haunted by the landscape and face to face with an apparition who eventually unravels his sense of self.
TO THE WATERS AND THE WILD
Performed by Stephen Rea and Frances Tomelty
In a rare return to his Northern Irish roots, Rudkin takes us to the place of his childhood and creates a stunning duologue between a haunted lake and a young boy, now grown up, who used to visit her secretly. Rea and Tomelty swings us between conflicting layers of reality with language that plunges you headfirst into the darkest depths of imagination.
The ten-strong PlacePrints series is free to listen to on your favourite podcast platform including: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Radio Public, Breaker, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Soundcloud and more. For further details click here.
“Somewhere between ghost story and New Nature Writing Rudkin’s homage to the British landscape is eerie, unexpected (and) gripping…. these stories deserve careful listening.” Reviewshub