First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2013

For as long as anyone can remember, there have been rumours of a man living somewhere on the island of Manhattan and keeping 250,000 bees in his apartment. Max Callaghan is obsessed with finding him and has spent 15 years building up an audio library of sometimes contradictory accounts - The Manhattan Bee Testimonials.

When Daisy Lucas overcomes a severe case of meningitis thanks to a pot of honey left anonymously by her hospital bed, she tries to find the donor, her father, who she believes to be the Manhattan Bee Man.

Featuring the real voices of New Yorkers describing their version of the story, alongside original drama written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz.

Written by Sebastian Backiewicz
Sound design: Eloise Whitmore
Producer and Director: Joby Waldman
Executive Producer: Polly Thomas

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.



The Manhattan Bee Testimonials

Broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2014
Heathrow is Europe's busiest airport with 190,000 visitors each day. It is also the setting of a conspicuously large number of ghost stories. On Runway 1 there have been recurring sightings of a wandering manwearing a pin-striped suit and bowler hat, dating back to the 1948 DCS Dakota plane crash, Heathrow's first major air incident.
Based on original research interviews, Ghosts of Heathrow draws on this and other pieces of local folklore to create a psychic adventure set in and around the airport.
Martin is a senior marketing consultant based in San Diego attending a conference in Heathrow. The night before his presentation he receives an unwelcome visitor in his hotel room. Forced out into the wilds of Hounslow Heath he finds himself chasing down some ghosts of his own.
Writer Sebastian Baczkiewicz is the creator of the returning Radio 4 series Pilgrim, and one of the UK's leading radio dramatists.
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz Produced / directed by Joby Waldman Sound design by Eloise Whitmore
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4.


Ghosts of Heathrow

Gregory lives at home with his Dad. When an alarming condition leaves him incapacitated he takes advice from a series of therapists via the internet: a lifecoach, a GP, a healer and a dating expert.

Mr Rainbow fuses elements of drama with real voices and is inspired by The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Part of Radio 3's series "In the Shadow of Kafka" exploring the enduring power of the writer's work.

Tom Bennett plays Gregory and the Spaceman.

It also features the voices of Tom Kenyon, Margaret Paul, Joan Herrmann, Kezia Noble, Terry Elston and Chazz Ellis.

Producer Joby Waldman
Writer Sebastian Baczkiewicz 
Executive producer, Polly Thomas
Sound design by Chris O'Shaughnessy
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 3


Between The Ears Mr Rainbow

Not Quite Cricket, Between the Ears
BBC Radio 3, 9:30PM Sat, 21 Jan 2012

Hear it in full: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b019lzn3/Between_the_Ears_Not_Quite_Cricket/

In 1868, the first Australian cricket tour of England took place; the team was made up of Aboriginal men from the western plains in the state of Victoria. Based on historical documents, Not Quite Cricket tells the story from the Aboriginal team's perspective, in particular through the experience of Yanggendyinanyuk - a Wotjobaluk warrior (named Dick-a-Dick by the colonial management).

Richard Kennedy is Yanggendyinanyuk's great great grandson, and it is through him and his family that some of the text was translated and spoken (by Richard) in the Wergaia language. This language is currently being reconstructed from 19th century sources; over 100 years of silence marks the destruction of the Wergaia peoples and their culture.
Although a punishing schedule of cricket matches was played, there were other more sinister motives for the trip. Are the patronising racist attitudes heard in Not Quite Cricket a distant harmless memory of the 1860s, or were they inherent in the development of the pseudoscience of eugenics and its aftermath?
Richard Kennedy (Yanggendyinanyuk, Wergaia translation), Warren Foster (Aboriginal cricket team narrator), Andrew McLennan (Master of Ceremonies). Hollis Taylor (violin), Anthony Pateras (piano), Rishin Singh (trombone, tuba), Laura Altman (clarinet, whistle), Jon Rose (violin, piano, voice). Text written by, music composed by Jon Rose.


Between the Ears - Not Quite Cricket, BBC Radio 3

An Alternative History of Art for broadcast March 5th-16 2018 on BBC Radio 4, 9.45am
A new series exploring overlooked visual artists from the 20th century.  Art history has been written from a white, western male perspective. What would an alternative canon look like?

The series features artists selected by three curators from different backgrounds - Iwona Blazwick (Director of Whitechapel Gallery), Hans Ulrich Obrist (Creative Director of Serpentine Galleries) and Naomi Beckwith (Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago).

An Alternative History of Art Preview

BBC Radio 4, 11.30am March 29th 2012
Full programme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dvw70
Guardian article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/mar/28/narcocorrido-sound-los-angeles?INTCMP=SRCH

Robin Denselow visits L.A., the commercial centre of the narco-corrido, or Mexican drug ballad. The lyrics celebrate the exploits of smugglers and cartels. But bizarrely it sounds like cheerful, almost comical, accordion polka.

As the Mexican drug war has spiralled out of control it has reinvigorated the music with alarming consequences for some musicians: numerous singers have been killed in unsolved cases since 2006.

The style is a legacy of German miner immigrants at the turn of the 20th century. Despite it's rather quaint sound, the links with drug cartels are close. Often the first thing a trafficker does, following a successful deal, is to contract somebody to write a song about his exploit.

The music is generally not played on Spanish language radio stations in Mexico. But in the United States there's a strangely ambivalent response in the Mexican community who often appreciate the beat from home, even if they don't like the hyper violent lyrics.

What is the enduring appeal of this music? And what does it say about the Mexican migrant community? The programme visits Los Angeles - the de facto capital of Mexican music - to find out.

North of the border on BBC Radio 4

A short spoken word feature recorded on location in NYC 
with words and acoustic bass playing by Lisle Ellis, and additional music from Austin Peralta (RIP)
produced by Joby Waldman

Keepin' Time

This is a sampler from My Boy, a 45 minute drama which went out at 2.15 on 19th December on BBC Radio 4 - hear the full thing here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pc33r

Here's the story outline:
Lisa is being rehoused,  providing a fresh start for her and the baby she is expecting. She makes friends with Jordan, a teenage neighbour who cares for his depressed father. Lisa is under social work supervision and Claire, her worker, becomes concerned about her ability to deal with motherhood. When Jordan is intimidated by local kids, Lisa threatens the bullies, ending up with the police being called. Lisa barricades herself in her flat, and waits for her baby, the angel she believes will save her from the real world.

An uplifting new play by theatre writer Laura Lomas, exploring a modern miracle. 
My Boy has been developed over nine months with lead actress Christine Bottomley, and recorded with documentary techniques, reflecting the contemporary story and characters.

Laura Lomas has an MPhil in Playwrighting from the University of Birmingham. In 2009 she was one of six 6 writers selected for the Paines Plough / Channel 4 Future Perfect scheme. 

She has been produced by Paines Plough, Nottingham Playhouse, Hampstead and New Perspectives theatre companies.  Her radio plays include LUCY ISLAND (BBC Radio3, The Wire) and SIREN (BBC Radio3, The Verb).

Laura is currently writing a short film for Coming Up (Channel 4 and Touchpaper).



Cast and crew: 

Lisa………………………………………………Christine Bottomley

Claire…………………………………………….Nadine Marshall

Jordan……………………………………………Ciaran Clancy

Policeman………………………………………..Edward Hulme




Writer……………………Laura Lomas

Producer/director…………….Polly Thomas

Sound design……………….. Eloise Whitmore

BA…………………………..Kate Cooper Owen

Executive producer……………Joby Waldman

A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 3


Joby

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