Pearl (radio play)
Introduction '''''Pearl''''' is a 1978 radio play by award-winning English playwright John Arden. Set in England in the 1640s, the play concerns a young Irish political operative named Pearl, who, with playwright Tom Backhouse, attempts to sway the political climate in favour of the British Parliament, as part of a plan to achieve Irish sovereignty.
Production ''Pearl'' was produced and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 3 July 1978, with the following cast:*Pearl - Elizabeth Bell*Mother Bumroll - Paula Tilbrook*Barnabas/Male Voice - David Mahlowe*Stage Manager/Casca/Actor - John Jardine*Grip - Geoffrey Banks*Sowse/Caesar - Ronald Herdman*Grimscar/1st Commoner - Peter Jeffrey*Backhouse/Soothsayer - David Calder*Belladonna - Lynda Marchal*Duchess - Kathleen Helme*Catso/Marullus - Kenneth Alan Taylor*Katerina/Female Voice - Jane Knowles*Messenger/Flavius/Actor - Robert Morton*''Music composed and conducted by'' Stephen Boxer*''Musicians'' Ephraim Segerman and members of the Northern Renaissance Consort*''Produced by'' Alfred Bradley
Critical reception The play won a Giles Cooper Award in 1978, and is considered one of the finest examples of the medium.
Publication Hardcover and Paperback editions were published by Eyre Methuen in 1979.
References