http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tmlh6
Editor's note: Marc Beeby is Co-Producer of Radio 4's dark, myth-inspired drama series Pilgrim. He's keeping a production diary. Here's part two - SB.
We begin the recording of episode 2. This is a very different world from episode one - more urban, more obviously modern, touching on concerns like consumerism and absurd wealth. So the sound is different. The language and the acting are edgier, there's a lot more traffic in the mix. It's great fun catching up with some really contemporary music to include in the programme. Looks like Lady Gaga, Jamie T and Regina Spektor will all make the final cut. A thousand year-old hero does battle with Lady Gaga. Only one winner.
We've got three really good young actors in this episode: Stuart McLoughlin, Sam Alexander and Iain Batchelor. Stuart is playing the King of the Greyfolk's son who, before he discovered his power, thought he was a postman called Ray Norris. So he's got a pretty big journey - from decent ordinary Ray, to psychotic stock-broking faerie. It's a tricky acting task. The hard bit is not overplaying the madness of the character. Somehow he manages to be thoroughly unpleasant and to make us laugh a lot.
There is a great showdown towards the end of the play. Pilgrim confronts Ray in an enormous crumbling hotel. To do this, we open up all the partitions in the studio to make one huge room. Pete Ringrose, our Studio manager, then puts up 5 microphones at different points which means that the actors can use the whole space. Pete's fingers fly over the fader controls as he attempts to get the balance right. It's a great moment. The acoustic sounds fantastic. Sam Dale, playing Ray's foster father is really moving in this scene, and Paul Hilton has a speech which made me think for a moment that the reason he's so good in the part is because he really is 900 years old.
Marc Beeby is Co-Producer of Pilgrim
- Listen to episode two of Pilgrim, series two, this afternoon at 1415 and, for seven days afterwards, on the Radio 4 web site.
- Read Marc's blog post about Pilgrim, episode one and all the posts about the series.
- Jessica Dromgoole, who co-produced Pilgrim, has written for the Radio 4 blog before.
- Marc Beeby made a lovely video to promote the series which you can see on the Radio 4 Facebook page.
- The picture shows the Ruined Overlook Mountain Hotel in Woodstock, New York. It's by Miss K and is used under licence.
