Cast for Proud Songster

Jennifer Biddal played Sarah
Jennifer’s just finished her role as Jessica Harris on Hollyoaks. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Theatre credits inc. Isabella in The White Devil, Helena in All’s Well that Ends Well  & Sybil in Private Lives. Other radio credits inc. Princess Caraboo playing Princess & Blue Remembered Hills playing Angela.

Francesca Isherwood played Young Sarah
16 year old Francesca is just about to do her A Levels with plans to take English and go to Drama School. She’s been acting since she was six and loves it.

Robin Browne played Grandfather
Robin’s career spans over 40 years. TV credits include Rusty in Crossroads, Z Cars, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Peter Hall's TV film The Final Passage, Panorama: The Hutton Inquiry, and most recently Little Britain..He was a member of the BBC radio drama company and the BBC schools radio drama company. In 1980’s Robin worked in Channel 4 continuity. In 2008 he played Morten Kiil in Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s adaptation of Ibsen’s An Enemy Of The People at the Arcola Theatre in London.

Angus Wright played Paul
Currently playing Shylock in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of The Merchant of Venice, Angus trained at Edinburgh University and Central. Winner of the BBC Radio Drama Carleton Hobbs Award, credits inc. Mr. Pluck in Nicholas Nickleby, Warwick in St Joan at the National & Stephen Carson in the BBC’s Waking the Dead

Ery Nzaramba played Milton
Since fleeing the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, Ery trained as an actor in Brussels & later in Birmingham, Through Creative Pathways & Birmingham City Council, he made his first film, G54, a mockumentary exploring African emigration. With a Production Award from OFVM Film Oxford, he’s shooting his next film, Annex, a psychological drama about refugees. Credits include The Bill & Barabas, the Jew of Malta, at the Hall in Cornwall (October 2008).

Susan Engel played Grandmother
Born in Vienna and escaped to England in 1938, Susan speaks French and German. As a student in Bristol, she played ‘Rose’ in Harold Pinter’s first play The Room. Her debut was opposite Peter O’Toole as the ‘Dame’ in Panto at Bristol Old Vic. At the Royal Court she succeeded Simone Signoret as ‘Lady Macbeth’ in Bill Gaskill’s production. One of Peter Hall’s original RSC players, she was ‘Queen Elizabeth’ in The Wars of the Roses. Favourite film role is ‘Regan’ in Peter Brook’s King Lear with Paul Scofield and the eccentric murderess in an episode of Midsomer Murders.  

Jennifer’s experiences of performing in Proud Songster

It was really enjoyable to work with such a professional production on this thoughtful script. Radio requires a different skillset to that for TV acting. You’re working so closely to the mic so you’ve got to use the voice more consciously and breathe. It was challenging finding ways of evoking the genocide and atmosphere of Rwanda without the benefit of the pictures. But that’s the beauty of radio where you’ve got to imagine it all from nothing. As an actor it pushes me to another level. The director, Andrew Foster was really clear and knew exactly what he wanted which made the job much easier. Proud Songster’s quite a shocking play and should go down well on Channel 4. I’m excited about radio drama on Channel 4 Radio, a kind of Skins for the airwaves. That will push the boundaries. It was also great to have the executive production team on board because not only were we getting to perform in an innovative radio drama but there was endless opportunity for everyone to be trained. I really enjoyed it.

Francesca’s experiences of performing in Proud Songster

This was my first time working in radio. Despite the nerves, everyone was extremely friendly so I relaxed and knew I’d gain new experience. Luckily Andrew our director  didn’t want the scenes static, so with the exception of crowds of people, costumes and cameras, it felt familiar. Being in that flexible set up enabled me to imagine my surroundings as if I was filming a scene and that really helped my performance.

It was a strange sensation at first, not knowing what to do with myself physically. Then I realisied I needed to just act as naturally as though I were being filmed - as long as I didnt make any noise of course! And it was great not to be confined to a recording booth like in a regular radio studio. The play is really delicate and beautiful despite capturing such a violent subject. I was inspired by the part. I’d love to hear more radio drama on Channel 4 and The Radio Play’s The Thing is an exciting way of involving people.

Robin’s experiences of performing in Proud Songster

To return to working in a medium in which I spent more than a decade of my working life, was an exciting prospect. I liken the ideal working conditions for an actor in radio to those for a chef embarking on cooking a perfect meal. The ingredients must be fresh, the kitchen should feel user friendly and the equipment must be the best.

An actor in film or television is used as part of the storytelling process and is as important as the lighting, costumes props and scenery. In radio the actor has to be all these things and to that end the canvas on which he/she works must be as blank as possible. The analogy would therefore read a fresh script, a user friendly studio and a belief in the equipment used for simmering the voice.

Studio based radio is important for a radio actor in order to create all those things mentioned above. Working outside this “north light”, to use the painter’s terminology, is a challenge and one that, if you are prepared for it, can be exhilarating. But the preparation is different. The process of “cooking”, al fresco, more trial and error and the end product requires good presentation and a certain amount of wastage. The burnt bits get put in the bin!

Theatre is a medium requiring the skills of a high wire artist, a town crier and a marathon runner. It is physically demanding in the way radio is not. To turn one’s energy from the physical to the cerebral requires knowledge of how to put down the broad brush strokes of the landscape painter and pick up the fine brush required by the miniaturist. In both cases the energy level must be focused and sharp.

Finding the place of work is a constant worry to every actor. He/she is nervous of meeting new people and to arrive calm and good-humoured is essential. Knowing how to get to the studio and what to expect are pre-requisites to this state of mind.

When producers, directors and actors talk the same language then the creative process is quickly completed. This was certainly the case with Proud Songster.

Radio is a window through which the listener can see the world. You can go anywhere, meet anyone and experience every emotional journey that is available.

But it requires writers, producers, directors and technicians with very singular visions and actors with the skills to paint remarkable pictures and stir deep emotion in order that the feast becomes memorable. Vox Pop can be illuminating, well made documentary is allways educational and inspiring and good drama is the finest therapy humans can experience.

I tried to inspire my students to create drama whenever I worked with them in a radio studio. I encouraged them to improvise and write their own material. I can do this through enthusiasm and constructive criticism and praise but I am not a technician and this last skill is the oven in which the culinary creation is ultimately cooked.

Angus’s experiences of performing in Proud Songster

I recorded parts for two plays on my day - The Colonel and Proud Songster. The venue was at first sight a little surprising. I’ve done most of my radio in the BBC Radio Drama studios in Maide Vale and Bush House so entering a Fish Factory was a new departure but it proved to be a relaxed and versatile space.

The plays themselves were intriguing and unusual and the direction I thought excellent. I wasn't aware that John was a 'mentoring' director and it certainly didn't confuse the issue having him. The actor’s job tends is constant - using one's imagination and common sense to achieve what it seems the writer intends while being adaptable to the director’s vision. It’s the same in radio, television, film and stage. Now Shylock beckons.

Ery’s experiences of performing in Proud Songster

Initially asked to play Milton, a Rwandan teacher and colleague of Sarah the main character, I also played the militias and the radio presenter. That’s the beauty of Radio. Where else can an actor play an entire population? It was a challenging job, technically, but more so emotionally. I had to dig deep, to bring back all those memories of the Rwandan genocide that I've spent the last 14 years suppressing.

From experience, I knew I was going to end up doing all the voices (how many Rwandan actors are there in the UK?) so I was prepared. The recording approach really helped: instead of being locked-up in a studio, we acted in a bigger space where we could move with the microphone following us (recording '43.59: Yara', also produced by John Dryden, we even went outside in the streets). It's like bringing TV to Radio. With this freedom, I managed to do the militias' voices more easily.

I really loved the play which is brilliantly written. It makes full use of the intimacy that only radio can offer. Sara's footstep in the grass, Sara's breathing, the birdsongs, the squeaking noise of pencil against paper - every single noise is described and create the exact mood. You can literally hear the play when reading it. The analogies offered by the birds is striking. Finally, using such beautiful poetry to describe such a horrible event actually emphasises its inhumanity and is all the more effective.

Susan’s experiences of performing in Proud Songster

As an experienced actor who’s done a lot of radio, I was excited that there was a group of young people doing something quite different to the BBC approach. The more one can venture out the more exciting it is. The location was totally eccentric and surreal – a fish factory! For a few eery moments I thought I’d walked in on a bunch of amateurs but that lasted for quarter of a second. Here was a bunch of professionals doing a great job.

Acting in radio drama it helps to have mic experience yet I was cast alongside young TV actors who were new to radio but they rose to the radio challenge. The director, Andrew Foster knew what he wanted and how to talk to actors. That’s what you need, to be told where to stand and in which space and what breathe to use in order to record the right effect. It’s also helpful to be able to listen back in the control room to the take so that as an actor you understand what’s working, what’s not and amend accordingly.

While the script wasn’t a polished piece of work, it touched me very deeply. That’s - working with a director – Andrew Foster and a mentoring director ie. John Dryden (very good … he asked her to do it several times and each time she knew what he meant … speaking the same language … good director … he had a way of talking to actors …

As an old lady, I’m excited that there might be a renaissance in radio drama. Sadly it’s a shrinking art form. You can’t afford to put on a play without a big name these days but Channel 4 should be able to pull some big names. It’s a shame that more effort isn’t made to support non-commercial work. It’s a great career that of acting but only for those who are eccentrically driven and can’t or won’t do anything else. It chooses you. Though I’m now a granny I’m doing Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s play, Her Naked Skin about the suffragettes at the Olivia. It’s great to be busy!

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