notlikecalvin

The first part in Al's Apollo trilogy, Radio is a one-man play that links personal and national loss of identity. Charlie Fairbanks is born at the mid-point of the twentieth century, the story of his life running parallel to America's own growing pains.

Our original design scheme was to create a moonscape/combat zone that would tie in with the central metaphor of Fairbanks' isolation: hard light from a single sharp angle would have formed deep black shadows on a cratered surface. But the production led us in a leaner direction that is less environmentally suggestive - now it is a simple space in which Fairbanks can tell his story, confront his past and his future.

Hard side-light remains, however, provided by a bank of slightly tinted profiles. The shadows from these are balanced through the bulk of the play, but feature prominently at the emotional peaks at beginning and end. Technically speaking it's very simple, the beamshapes creating their own texture for Tom to work in, but it's a simple beauty that I'm very pleased with.

Radio enjoyed a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2006, and picked up a hatful of awards at the National Student Drama Festival, including Best Lighting Design. Then we were invited to take Radio to New York City as part of the Brits Off Broadway festival.