Award-winning production of The Fishermen to feature in BBC Arts Season
04 December 2020
New Perspectives award-winning production of The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma, adapted by Gbolahan Obisesan is being produced for BBC 3 Radio as part of a season to light up British Theatre as part of a new culture in BBC quarantine season.
The recording, scheduled for broadcast in February 2021, will feature the original stage cast of Valentine Olukoga (winner of Best Actor at the Black British Theatre Awards 2020 and Stage Award for Outstanding Performances 2018), Michael Ajao (winner of Stage Award for Outstanding Performances 2018) and David Alade - who took over the role original played by Ajoa - brining all three actors together for the first time for this exclusive recording.
Based on the 2015 Man Booker Prize-shortlisted novel The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma, Radio 3 will debut this powerful allegory of brotherhood, vengeance and fate, in a new adaptation by award-winning playwright Gbolahan Obisesan.
The play begins with two brothers, Ben and Obembe, reuniting after eight years, before they retell the story of their Igbo childhoods in southern Nigeria in the mid-90s. The fishermen are the two children themselves, alongside their two older teenage brothers. The boys become haunted upon hearing the village madman's terrifying Macbeth-like prophecy, and the story that follows charts a family tragedy.
This recording forms part of BBC Lights Up scheduled to begin in February 2021. New Perspectives joins 12 theatres and theatrical producers across the UK as part of a the three week season which includes more than 15 newly-recorded plays which will be broadcast across BBC Four, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, iPlayer and BBC Sounds. Each play will be a collaboration between BBC Arts and a theatre or producer.
The Fisherman is a co-production between Naked Productions Ltd and New Perspectives, commissioned for BBC Arts and Radio 3 by Matthew Dodd. Producer is Polly Thomas. Director by Jack McNamara, Composer Adam McCready and Shadow Producer Ravelle-Sadé Fairman.
Our productions are testament to the fact that rural theatre is as relevant, challenging and vital as theatre made for any other environment. Our participatory projects, career defining training and mentoring opportunities for emerging regional talent and rural touring scheme Northants Touring Arts makes tangible difference to people where they live.
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