Louise Doughty Radio Plays
Louise Doughty has written five plays for radio,
and five novels.
PLAYS:
1993 Maybe R3
1994 The Koala Bear Joke R4
1998 Nightworkers R4
2004 Geronimo! R4
2006 The withered arm (T.Hardy, adaptation), R4
NOVELS
Crazy Paving (1995) is a black comedy based on her experiences working in London.
Dance With Me (1996) is about ghosts, mental illness and sexual betrayal.
Honey-Dew (1998) is a satirical re-working of the traditional murder mystery.
Fires in the Dark (2003) is the story of a boy from a family of nomadic Kalderash Roma and his survival during the Second World War.
Stone Cradle (2006) is set in England during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is based on her own Romany ancestors.
Louise has worked as a critic and cultural
commentator for newspapers, magazines and the BBC.
She has been the theatre critic for the Mail on Sunday
and presenter of BBC Radio 4's books programme, A Good
Read. She has appeared on other bookish programmes, including
"Quote, Unquote". She writes a column for the Daily Telegraph's
Saturday Arts & Books Section, and is explaining to thousands
of would-be writers how to write a first novel. She has an
MA in creative writing from UEA, has presented the BBC World
Service “Writers’ Workshop” and lives in London.
NOTES
MAYBE....1993
This play won a Radio Times Drama Award. No other information
at present.
THE KOALA BEAR JOKE .... 1994
Intriguing title for a play - but no information. Please email
if you can help.
13 Sept 1997...appearance on "Book of the Year"
Adrian Poole and Louise Doughty talk about the year that saw the publication of Henry James's `The Turn of the Screw' and Oscar Wilde's `The Ballad of Reading Gaol'.
17 Oct 98. ..appearance on Descendants: Great Grandad Had a Flat Head
-Novelist Louise Doughty goes in search of her Gypsy ancestors, including her great-grandad Tabletop and his mother Spank, who gave birth to him in a churchyard. She looks for the echoes of their lives among the Romany people of today.
Nightworkers (R4, 1415, 28 Jan, 1999)
begins with two men checking the condition of some
lesser used tunnels belonging to the London
Underground. They meet a man on a similar errand
but who is oddly dressed, and who speaks in the
style of a century ago. Eventually they realize
that something odd has occurred...what has happened
to the exits? Will they be able to return to the
surface, and, if so, what will be the year?
The best play of 1999, perhaps, so far.
With Harry Myers, Daniel O'Grady and Robert Harper. Director Gillian Berry.
(....ND, VRPCC review, Apr. 1999)
GERONIMO....2004
R4,1415, 1 Apr 04. By Louise Doughty. Iyola, a
refugee from Africa works in the school kitchens.
She has a bleak existence and a terrible past.
But she likes to hear the children learning songs.
With Noma Dumezweni and Andrew Scott. Director
David Hunter. This play features the voices of
children from Yerbury School, London N19.
Iyola ...... Noma Dumezweni
Eamonn ...... Andrew Scott
Nigel Deacon / Diversity website
