Lou Beckett

Lou Beckett

By Lou BeckettArtsHistoryPerforming Arts
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Lou Beckett episodes

  • A Rose By Any Other Name

    It’s 2016 and two young lovers—she’s a literary journalist who fancies herself a detective and he’s a Shakespeare scholar—clash in a witty, comedic battle over the Bard’s authorship. This light-hearted story invites audiences to ponder an enduring literary mystery while enjoying a story that blends passion for the written word with a spirited debate.

    43 min
  • An interview with Flo Clucas, Cheltenham City Councillor, discussing the radio play ’We Can’t Be’
    When writing my play about two young women wanting to build a statue to an accomplished woman in Cheltenham, I thought it would be helpful to speak to a member of Cheltenham City Council. By sheer good luck, I phoned Flo Clucas. Flo has a distinguished background, having served as Councillor and Deputy Leader on Liverpool City Council before arriving in Cheltenham. While there, she played a key role in having a statue built to Kitty Wilkinson, often called the 'Saint of the Slums' in Liverpool. 
     
    In the interview, she proposes her candidate for a Cheltenham statue, Josephine Butler, and advises what steps could be taken to get a statue built.
    27 min
  • We Can’t Be
    Two students notice Cheltenham's only statues of women are the tightly-clad, delectable young females set along shop fronts in Montpellier. Surely, they think, Cheltenham is ready for a statue honouring an important local woman. Or is it? They are about to find out.
     
    The audio play is 25 minutes long.
     
    We Can't Be was produced by Parrot Productions, written and directed by Lou Beckett. Astra was played by Stephanie Louise, Pen by Ari Anindita, the Council Chair by Philip Douch. Sound was by Paul Hamblin, Cam Shand, and the Boom sound team led by Lee Walpole. Music was composed by Jim Barne. Parrot Productions are grateful to the Cheltenham Arts Council for their generous support.
     
    Please send any comments or feedback you have to [email protected].
    25 min
  • Forbidden Music - Michael Haas Interview
    An interview with Michael Haas, discussing the radio play Forbidden Music.
     
    Based on a true story, Forbidden Music is a short radio play about an idealistic young man in the late 1980s who wants Decca Records to record the music forbidden by the Nazis. His boss says he will support his case, but for a price. 
     

    The play is based on the book Forbidden Music written by Michael Haas and published by Yale University Press.

    39 min
  • Forbidden Music
    Based on a true story, Forbidden Music is a short radio play about an idealistic young man in the late 1980s who wants Decca Records to record the music forbidden by the Nazis. His boss says he will support his case, but for a price. 
     

    The play is based on the book Forbidden Music written by Michael Haas and published by Yale University Press.

    18 min
  • Bletchley Girls Radio Play
    Do you enjoy hearing true stories about people’s lives in WW2? Or just fancy listening to a good story? The radio play Bletchley Girls fits the bill. 
    Inside Bletchley Park, England’s TOP SECRET codebreaking center, Dilly Knox enlists a small team of girls to crack some of the enemy’s toughest codes. Whilst Margaret Rock is a trained statistician, the newest recruit is Mavis Lever, 19 years old and a student of German romantic poetry. A friendship develops between this unlikely pair as pressure mounts on them to decipher intercepts which could change the course of the war. But it’s not all-night shifts and Enigma machines; there are dances, pranks, and even a touch of romance.
    There are three episodes of 30 minutes each, followed by Episode 4, a 45 minute interview with Tony Comer, recently retired archivist at GCHQ (the successor UK intelligence agency to Bletchley Park) by Ann Morrison, formerly Executive Editor of Fortune magazine. Episode 5 is an interview with the playwright, Lou Beckett, by Jo Durrant of BBC Radio Gloucester
    Bletchley Girls is a Jenny Wren Production, written by Lou Beckett. Bletchley Girls was produced by Helen Jeffrey, sound was by Paul Hamblin and Saoirse Christopherson of Boom Sound, and Jim Barnes composed the original music. 
    Mavis Lever is played by Moya Matthews, Dilly Knox by John Martin Stevens, Alastair Denniston by Philip Douch, Margaret Rock by Rosie Mason, and Keith Batey by Kieran Capaldi.
    28 min

About Lou Beckett

From the publisher's feed

Lou Beckett is a playwright recognised for plays that often blend historical themes with contemporary relevance. Notable plays include ‘Bletchley Girls,’ which is based on the true story of women…