Audible’s first solo venture into theatre production, Radio by Al Smith opens at Arcola Theatre on 24 June, and runs until 13 July and will also be released as audio.
Charlie Fairbanks was born in the dead centre of the United States at the dead centre of the twentieth century. Americans are going to the Moon and Charlie’s sure he’ll be the first one there. But as he shines his spotlight on the Moon, so too does it illuminate the darker side to his nation’s history.
The Artiscape spoke with director Josh Roche about the play. Josh Roche was the recipient of the 2017 JMK Award. His theatre credits include Plastic (Mercury Theatre), The Agony and the Style (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama), My Name is Rachel Corrie (Young Vic – JMK Award Winner 2017), Women Centre Stage (Sphinx Theatre), A Third, Magnificence (Finborough Theatre), World Shakespeare Conference and Keep The Aspidistra Flying (RSC). His credits as Assistant Director include The Alchemist (RSC), Doctor Faustus (RSC/Barbican), Farinelli and The King (Duke of York’s Theatre), Death of A Salesman (RSC/Noël Coward Theatre) and Doctor Scroggy’s War (Shakespeare’s Globe); and as Associate Director, Pressure (Park Theatre/UK tour).
We asked Roche what inspired him to direct Radio?
Roche: I’ve wanted to make work about America for a little while now. I’m fascinated with the USA because it is so full of paradoxes. It’s a country built on immigration yet created out of genocide, a naturally isolationist nation that has a history of vast interventions in other countries, to varying degrees of success. RADIO is a play that manages to contain all of those paradoxes in a personal story about the Space Race. The combination of personal and the political ideas is what first inspired me to direct the play.
We asked him if he had a particular favourite line or exchange from Radio?
Roche: So many to choose from! Charlie Fairbanks is born in the geographical dead centre of America, but soon that centre moves, and then moves again, and soon Charlie isn’t sure where he lives. This idea of a knowable place called Home, that we all experience as children, which then moves and shifts around us, is really eloquent I think, and true to my experience for sure.
How does directing Radio compare to other plays he have directed?
Roche: In some ways, RADIO is similar to ‘My Name is Rachel Corrie’, which I directed at the Young Vic as the winner of the JMK Award 2017. Both plays are personal stories of people who engage personally and emotionally with geopolitical ideas. Where Rachel Corrie took upon her shoulders as much of the Israel Palestine conflict as she could handle, Charlie Fairbanks takes on the mantle of America’s optimism and ambition which manifested in the Apollo Missions and the Space Race. They are both characters of great ambition and impressive resilience.
What does he perceive will be the greatest challenges in directing this play?
Roche: Al Smith is an extraordinary writer who is uniquely able to run several different themes throughout a play, all acting in concert with each other. Trying to get all those different threads to breathe and develop will be the biggest challenge I’m sure.
What is he most looking forward to in directing in this play?
Roche: Getting to work with Adam Gillen and Al Smith together. I’ve long admired Al’s writing but never had the opportunity to work with him in a rehearsal room. I have worked with Adam before very briefly, but not on a long project. They are both extraordinarily talented artists, and I feel really privileged that they’ve trusted me to be part of the project.
Finally what does he feel this play will appeal to an audience today?
Roche: It’s America, stupid. This is a play about the essential DNA of the USA, the good and the bad. Radio is about the genesis of Trump, of Barrack Obama, of California, and of the American West. Lest we forget, as Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, Richard Nixon landed in the Whitehouse. This extraordinary play dissects the optimism and the anger which is eating at the heart of America.
Radio by Al Smith opens at Arcola Theatre on 24 June and runs until 13 July.
