My Country - A Work In Progress

Radio 4 is in the rehearsal room as the Director of the National Theatre, Rufus Norris, works with theatre-makers from around the country to capture the verbatim testimony of dozens of ordinary citizens from across Britain as they voted in last June's EU referendum - and then turn it into an original work of theatre.

"I was coming to the land of milk and honey" says one Asian immigrant, "I can buy for a pound two litres of milk; I can buy a jar of honey for a pound - but it's not a land of milk and honey..." With discontent and division the daily matter of news bulletins and newspaper headlines, Rufus Norris's experimental verbatim theatre work aims to reflect the divided lives of Brexit Britain through their actual words. Working with Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, producer Padraig Cusack and designer Katrina Lindsay, Norris is creating a startling and often angry portrait of Britain.

Seven actors take on multiple roles to represent the more than seventy voices from the original testimony. "There's a lot of secrets coming out," Norris confides to the programme. "There's just something about a microphone... So distilling that down, trying to get some sort of soup that gives in any way an accurate sense of what people think about this huge subject - that's the task. Bloody Hell!"

Producer: Simon Elmes.

Radio 4 observes National Theatre director Rufus Norris prepare an original Brexit drama.