The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Review
On My Wavelength
The immersive history of radio drama is celebrated in Dramatic Beats (tonight, Radio 4, 8pm), presented by the poet and radio dramatist Michael Symmons Roberts, who chooses a selection of pieces from a century of BBC radio to illustrate the distinctive features of radio drama. We begin with the first ever drama written specifically for radio, set in the pitch black of a coal mine, with the characters just as unable to see what’s happening as the listeners at home.
Perhaps nobody understands music better than dancers. Joining Michael Berkeley for Private Passions (Sunday, Radio 3, midday) is Wayne Sleep, who famously danced with Diana, Princess of Wales, to Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl on stage at the Royal Opera House in 1985. He reflects on that experience, and the secrecy and friendship that it involved, and chooses pieces of music that have played an important part in his career. Remarkably, he also hears, for the first time since his childhood, the voice of his mother, on a record specially restored for the programme.
We’ll learn in The Climate Question (Monday, World Service, 9.30am) that skiing is facing an uncertain future. Rising temperatures mean shorter seasons and a general lack of snow, with growing grass, rain and slush replacing the white stuff on the slopes in the Alps. Presenter Graihagh Jackson finds that the communities built around the sport in various resorts are already feeling the economic impact and are devising alternative tourism options.
Children in war zones need to play. In fact, they probably need to play more than any other child does. In Flying Seagulls, Child’s Play (Tuesday, World Service, 9.30am) Georgia Moodie follows the work of the Flying Seagull Project and its founder, Ash
Perrin. The project is a colourful, cynicism-busting carnival full of music, clowning and magic, taken to refugee camps and war zones
(as well as the more rarefied surroundings of Glastonbury Festival), giving children the space and permission to play, have fun and be silly.
This year’s Lent Talks (Wednesday, Radio 4, 8.45pm) begin on Radio 4 this week. The theme is the Lord’s Prayer, and how its words, shared across Christian denominations, speak to cultures, traditions and values across the world. This episode begins with the very first words of the prayer: “Our Father”. What follows is a reflection on the meaning of fatherhood, its challenges and joys.
In Roleplay (Thursday, Radio 4, 11.30am), actors share stories and discuss the difficulties, and pleasures, of developing a particular role for the stage.
This week focuses, in fact, on two roles: Vladimir and Estragon from Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett’s existentialist masterpiece. J Kyle Manzay, Marty Rea and Aaron Monaghan reflect on their approach to one of the most nuanced and challenging plays in the canon.
And in Lemn Sissay Is the One and Only (Friday, Radio 4, 11.30am), the poet and broadcaster explores the meaning of uniqueness, and whether it’s always a positive experience. He remembers being the only poet on the bill for comedy nights on the Manchester performing circuit of the 1980s, alongside Steve Coogan and Caroline Aherne.
The programme itself, written and performed by Sissay, is creative, surprising – and unique.