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Some Kind of Black, Episode 1

Tough, wry Black British classic adapted from his hit novel by Diran Adebayo. When Dele graduates from Oxford, the real world bites him harder than he could ever have imagined.

Tough, wry Black British classic about a young man navigating his way through love, politics and violence in 90s Britain. Adapted from his hit novel by Diran Adebayo.

When Dele graduates from Oxford, the real world bites him harder than he could ever have imagined. Now his sister is comatose in hospital and he must work out how this happened and what he's going to do about it.

Dele .... Kenneth Omole.
Dapo .... Danielle Vitalis
Concrete .... Stephen Odubola
Helena .... Laura Christy
Tamsin .... Georgie Lomax Ford
Jonathan .... Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong
Gabriel .... Kwabena Ansah
Lermontov .... Matthew Durkan
Andria .... Thea Gajic
Cheryl .... Elexi Walker
Mother .... Yetunde Oduwole
Father .... Cyril Nri
Celia .... Nneka Okoye
Dawn .... Kemi Durosinmi
PC Mills .... Matthew Durkan
PC Daniels .... Michael Begley
Duty Sergeant .... Neil McCaul
Gerry ... Neil McCaul
Sol .... Zackary Momoh
Fitzroy .... Chris Jack

Technical Producer .... Caleb Knightley
Technical Producer .... Jenni Burnett
Technical Producer .... Martha Littlehailes
Technical Producer .... Keith Graham
Production Co-ordinator .... Ben Hollands

Writer and dramatist .... Diran Adebayo
Director .... Femi Elufowoju jr
Producer .... Abigail le Fleming

A 麻豆约拍 Audio production for Radio 4

About the writer...
Diran Adebayo is an author, critic and academic best known for his stylish tales of Afro-British lives. His debut novel, the picaresque Some Kind of Black, set among the sounds and slangs of the early nineties, was hailed as breaking new ground for the 鈥楲ondon novel鈥, and won him numerous awards, including the Writers Guild of Great Britain鈥檚 New Writer of the Year Award, the 1996 Saga Prize, a Betty Trask Award, and The Authors鈥 Club鈥檚 鈥楤est First Novel鈥 award. It was also long listed for the Booker Prize and is now a Virago Modern Classic. His second novel, the neo-noir fable My Once Upon a Time was also widely praised.

Diran has written stories and scripts for television and radio, including the 2005 documentary 鈥極ut of Africa鈥 for 麻豆约拍2, and for anthologies such as 鈥極xTales鈥. He has toured and performed extensively, both domestically and internationally, from the Oxford Union to California State Prison, In 2017, he was one of 20 people to have their portraits taken by Oxford University for permanent display, as part of its 鈥淒iversifying Portraiture鈥 initiative.

Born in London, Diran read Law at Oxford University, before becoming a print and television journalist. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

About the director...
Nigerian director Femi Elufowoju jr made his operatic debut with a new production of Rigoletto for Opera North in the 2021/22 season. Femi will direct - and create a new version - of L'Amant Anonyme, a neglected 1780 chamber opera by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges for Theater St Gallen in 2022.
In early 2021, Femi co-directed - with Annabel Arden - a film of The Soldier鈥檚 Tale by Stravinsky with The Halle虂, conducted by Sir Mark Elder.
In the theatre, Femi鈥檚 recent engagements include his new production of The Little Prince adapted by Inua Ellams which opened in London, in January 2020; and his reinterpretation of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, described as a 鈥渞adical new reimagining,鈥 in May 2019 for Watford Palace Theatre and Arcola Theatre. He won the Best Director Award at the 鈥淥ff West End Awards (Offies)鈥 for The Secret Lives of Baba Segi鈥檚 Wives.
In 1997, Femi became the first theatre director of African descent to establish a national touring company in the UK: 鈥淭iata Fahodzi.鈥 He has since served as an Associate at the Almeida Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Royal Court Theatre

57 minutes

Last on

Sun 20 Mar 2022 15:00

Broadcast

  • Sun 20 Mar 2022 15:00

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