Dark Side - Tom Stoppard radio play

[kissmekate]

We can always work out the meaning later, when we listen again and again and ...

[Laila]

Legendary playwright Sir Tom Stoppard has penned an original new play for BBC Radio 2 to mark the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s album, The Dark Side Of The Moon.

To be broadcast on Radio 2 on Monday 26 August at 10pm, Darkside, is a fantastical story based on themes from the seminal album and stars a stellar cast which includes Bill Nighy, Rufus Sewell, and Adrian Scarborough. The lead roles will be played by Olivier Award-winning Iwan Rheon (Misfits) and stage actress Amaka Okafor (The Garbage King).

In the lead-up to the programme, Radio 2 will broadcast a number of programmes to complement and celebrate this big anniversary.

Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music will be simulcasting a unique show that will put the audience in control of the music across both networks for two hours, as they collaborate online to pick the tracks. Now Playing will provide the perfect build up to a night of exciting programming on the two stations.

Following the broadcast, The Record Producers – Pink Floyd Special will give listeners another chance to hear Richard Allinson and Steve Levine’s look at the work of Pink Floyd concentrating on the late 60s through to the mid-70s. The show will feature guitarist David Gilmour and percussionist Nick Mason, and Richard and Steve share the original multi-track recordings of some of Pink Floyd’s best work from this period.

On the night of broadcast, visitors to the Radio 2 website will be able to watch a specially commissioned animation by Aardman to accompany the drama, creating a unique, immersive audio-visual experience.

Darkside, Monday 26th August, BBC Radio 2, 10pm

www.atvtoday.co.uk/p41183-r2/

and BBC Press Release.

[adina]

Aug 9, 2013 13:17:49 GMT rueful said:

LOL!  Sounds like the play will have some of Sir Tom's trademark humor.

Yes, I also laughed out loud at that part. Stoppard's humour is as cunning as a fox, one just wants to highlight a joke but ends up with the text entirely in "bold" letters. (If there was a Stoppard Cake, it would be nothing else but filling - shaped like a cake. )


Thanks, Laila. That BBC thing has some interesting teasers.
"Ethics man is a thought experiment. He exists for the purposes of the thought experiment. He’s a kind of philosophical superhero who comes in and saves the day or does what has to be done...and Mr Baggett is the teacher who dreams up these thought experiments." (Mr Baggott sounded better.)
"One of them is a person, the other is just an idea."
A philosophical superhero must have a philosophical superhero voice - oh, ohhh, ohhhhhh - I am curious!
I like Bill Nighy's second personality, too, The Witch Finder.
  Leave me alone, Bill, I am not a witch! I can't spell Nietzsche!! What other proof do you want??

Amaka Okafor's answers are passionate and humble. "This project was very emotional for me. I cried all the way home on the last day of recording." Aww...


Rufus: “… Tom was making a joke… To the wrong people it could be some annoying voices interrupting their favourite album or it could be an album interrupting something they want to listen to.”
I hope GE2 has already started to organize a "light show" for our Rooftop Party - we'll have fun, I am sure!

[kygal]

Thanks ladies!

[kitty]

Sounds great! I was able to listen to "Words and Music" on BBC, hopefully this will work for us too.

[ginny]

I think we can. Somewhere in the deep, dark pages of the Beeb's website I once read something about BBC radio being available to all. It's only the tv that's restricted (even the trailers).

They sure put a huge amount of work into this. The play, special animation too. I wonder if they are going to do something with all that work, a dvd or something. It seems a bit of a waste to go through all this work (and money I presume) for one single broadcast. (I have the same opinion about those "audio books" (Dr. Syn!)they have on the radio. There's only so many times you can repeat them and after that nothing but gathing dust in the archives?)

[walt]

Thanks a lot for posting this info, Laila, especially....

On the night of broadcast, visitors to the Radio 2 website will be able to watch a specially commissioned animation by Aardman to accompany the drama, creating a unique, immersive audio-visual experience.

[GreenEyesToo]

Aug 9, 2013 13:17:49 GMT rueful said:

Looks like we will have to do some serious thinking while we listen to this one.... or maybe just drift off to the sound of the voice and not concentrate on the meaning at all.

That'll be me!

Thanks for the news, Adina!

[ginny]

Link to BBC's radio 2 schedule for the 26th. Click on the programme for more info, including a behind the scenes gallery (which is unfortunately Rufus-free except for the one we've already seen.)

And for those wanting to hear the original: You tube might be your friend there I think. Or the library.


ETA: Now I'm confused: the schedule says the play lasts one hour (from 2200 to 2300) but the other page mentions a duration of 1 hour and 57 minutes?

[nell]

I don't remember reading 1hr 57. It states a 1 hr play on the original post. There is a Pink Floyd special on for an hour after, maybe that's what you read about Ginny? There's a Pink Floyd thing on for 2 hours prior to the play too. A proper Pink Floyd fest!

[walt]

Aug 19, 2013 17:53:35 GMT nell said:

..... There is a Pink Floyd special on for an hour after, .... There's a Pink Floyd thing on for 2 hours prior to the play too. A proper Pink Floyd fest!

! 4 hours of Pink Floyd! I agree, Nell, that's a proper Pink Floyd fest - how lovely that Rufus is involved with it - otherwise I would not have taken any notice of it!

And thanks for finding and posting the link, Ginny!

[rueful]

Thank you for the links, Laila and Ginny! Looks like its going to be an interesting evening!

Here's a link to a 3 minute trailer. No Rufus, but it is an interesting taste of what the program will be like! www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23768213

And here's a link to a 15-min interview with Tom Stoppard. It's radio, so it should work for everyone outside the UK. There's a brief clip with Ethics Man AKA Rufus starting at 1:43! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038c0fg

[GreenEyesToo]

Thank you for all the links, ladies!

Aug 20, 2013 14:05:00 GMT rueful said:

There's a brief clip with Ethics Man AKA Rufus starting at 1:43! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038c0fg

I think you mean [puts on deep booming voice] SUPERHERO Ethics Man!!!

This sounds like it's going to be fun!

[Laila]

Aug 20, 2013 14:05:00 GMT rueful said:

And here's a link to a 15-min interview with Tom Stoppard. It's radio, so it should work for everyone outside the UK. There's a brief clip with Ethics Man AKA Rufus starting at 1:43! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038c0fg

Thanks for the link, yes, it works also outside UK

[nell]

Thanks for the info Rueful It sounds like it's going to be quite a

I particularly like this .....

Described as a "philosophical comedy", the play also stars Rufus Sewell as superhero Ethics Man.

I also spotted an interesting link (or should I say connection) - Sir Tom Stappard wins annual Pen Pinter prize. I've read before that Tom Stoppard was a bit of a Pinter fan www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23502671

Sir Tom paid tribute to Pinter - who died in 2008 aged 78 - calling him "one of the reasons I wanted to write plays".

Another reason to thank Harold Pinter