Middlemarch Monologues [Drama On 3]

Middlemarch is an extraordinary 19th century novel about provincial lives during significant social change, such as the building of new railways. It creates an engrossing web of individual experiences in an unidentified Midlands town, largely modelled on Coventry, where Warwickshire born GEORGE ELIOT lived for a time.

These bold new Middlemarch Monologues weave together eight 21st-century voices. Covid 19, Brexit, HS2 and Black Lives Matter feature, mirroring the social upheavals of GEORGE ELIOT's day. The characters are updated versions of the originals. Dorothea Brooke becomes Thea, ardent climate change activist struggling with mental health; Dr Lydgate meets and falls heavily for Rosanna Vincy, beautiful South Asian social media influencer and thwarted pianist; Will Ladislaw is a Jamaican-Polish-heritage writer-cum-postman, hurt by the acts of racism filling up his social media and working out what to do about it. There are subtle references to the book and GEORGE ELIOT lines to be found within the monologues.

Tracy Dagley - JULIA ROUNTHWAITE

Writer AMANDA DALTON, director POLLY THOMAS

Dorothea Brooke - Ellie Turner

Writer Ellice Stevens, director Anastasia Osei-Kuffour

Tertius Lydgate - Henry Lloyd Hughes

Writer AMANDA DALTON, director Anastasia Osei-Kuffour

Rosanna Vincy - Sharan Phull

Writer Sabiha Mank, director Anastasia Osei-Kuffour

Mrs Cadwallader - MEERA SYAL

WriterTANIKA GUPTA, directed by POLLY THOMAS

Mary Garth - Sinead Matthews

Writer Leanne Allen, director POLLY THOMAS

Will Ladislaw - Calvin Demba

Writer Liz Mytton, director Anastasia Osei-Kuffour

John Raffles - Ashley Gerlach

Writer Debris Stevenson, director POLLY THOMAS

A co-commission by Warwick Arts Centre and BBC Radio 3, Middlemarch Monologues is part of Coventry UK City of Culture 2021, marking the 150th anniversary of the publication of GEORGE ELIOT's masterpiece.

Leanne Allen is a new writer from the Midlands. Work includes Connections drama series for community radio and BBC Radio 4, autumn 2020; Jazz and Dice, BBC Radio 4, June 2021; and Night of the Living Flatpacks, community radio drama, November 2021. She wrote a short film for Theatre of Debate for the 'COVID And Me' campaign, 2020.

AMANDA DALTON is a poet and playwright. Recent pamphlets include Notes on Water (smith

doorstop 2022) and 30 Poems In Thirty Days (Arc Publications 2021). She has written many dramas for BBC Radio 4 and 3 and features in BBC Radio 3's Northern Drift. A version of her Notes on Water will be a Radio 3's Between The Ears March 2022. www.amandadalton.co.uk

TANIKA GUPTA is a playwright and screen writer. Recent work for stage: ‘A Doll's House', Lyric Hammersmith, ‘Lions and Tigers' Globe Theatre and ‘Hobson's Choice', Manchester Royal Exchange. She is currently adapting Monica Ali's ‘Brick Lane' for BBC Radio 4.

Sabiha Mank is a playwright and screenwriter. She has had work shared by Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Belgrade Theatre, Kali Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe and BBC Writersroom. Her most recent project is writing for Hear Me Now: Audition Monologues - Volume 2.

Liz Mytton is playwright and poet from Bradford, currently Artistic Lead at Theatre In Flow and Women's Supper Club, a Theatre of the Oppressed project promoting systems change in Greater Manchester. Liz has worked extensively in the Midlands, most recently at Belgrade Theatre on a co-created play with young people, National Theatre Connections.

Ellice Stevens is a writer, performer and co-director of theatre company Breach. Normally writing with her partner, Billy Barrett, Ellice's writing credits for stage include Scotsman Fringe First winning shows It's True, It's True, It's True and Tank. She co-wrote a BBC short film, Gaia, which will be released later in 2022. She is currently developing with Breach a verbatim musical about Section 28 for 2023.

Debris Stevenson is a hybrid-playwright, dyslexic educator, Grime-poet, queer ex-Mormon and pro-raver. Debris' critically acclaimed debut play Poet in da Corner (Royal Court) was followed by the show's album release (Accidental Records) and UK tour 2020. Debris is currently developing several TV projects alongside her new show The Write to Rave, about her accidental career as an international raver.

Co Directors POLLY THOMAS and Anastasia Osei-Kuffour

Producer POLLY THOMAS

Original music Ellie Gowers

Sound design ELOISE WHITMORE

Executive Producer ELOISE WHITMORE

A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3. Middlemarch is a co-commission between BBC Radio 3 and Warwick Arts Centre supported by Coventry City of Culture Trust and Arts Council England. Warwick Arts Centre is one of the largest multi-artform venues in the UK, on the University of Warwick campus. Middlemarch Monologues will have staged readings at Warwick Arts Centre in May 2022.

Vivid reimagining of characters from GEORGE ELIOT's classic novel as 21st century voices.