RAY FUNK
In October last year, it was announced that Julien Neaves, a former Newsday reporter and freelance writer, had won the BBC World Service British Council International Radio Playwriting Competition 2023 for English as a first language, in a competition that received hundreds of scripts.
Now his winning entry will be broadcast on the BBC World Service, on June 8 at 2 pm Trinidad and Tobago time and on June 9 at 4 am and 7 am TT time. After those initial broadcasts, it will be available for an extended period on the BBC Sounds website.
The Mighty Corbeau is about Brian Gonzales, an elderly calypsonian, and the many challenges he and his family face as he tries to revive his career though suffering from health issues.
Neaves describes the play as “a tale of identity, love and memory set to the melodic tunes of calypso music and the pulsating sounds of stickfighting.” It is his first radio play to be broadcast. He’s very excited and looks forward to what people will think about it.
A longtime listener to the BBC World Service, Neaves had known about the competition for years and had previously submitted a play called Tanty Get ah Android, which won the 2018 Caribbean competition. That encouraged him to apply again.
This time he won the international competition, which meant his play would be produced for broadcast.
Neaves attended UWI, Mona, and developed a love for drama as a student. He wrote and performed plays for the Talawa Festival, the annual university drama competition in Jamaica. He is thankful for veteran acting friends who put together a dramatic reading of his draft play as he was working on it.
Part of the prize was a trip to the UK to attend the recording. The assigned director, Tracey Neale, a longtime BBC drama producer, contacted him ahead of time and suggested changes that he believes strengthened the play.
“She told me who the actors were and she kept me informed of what was happening up to the time when I arrived in London.”
The BBC chose a very experienced cast for the play.
[caption id="attachment_1087550" align="alignnone" width="1024"] BBC World Service British Council International Radio Playwriting Competition 2023 winners Julien Neaves, left, and Hyukin Michaela Kwon, right, with English actress and competition judge Shelley Conn following the prize-giving ceremony at the Council Chamber, BBC Broadcasting House, London, in November 2023. -[/caption]
Neaves was already familiar with the lead actor who plays Brian Gonzales.
“That's Don Warrington, from the long-running detective series Death in Paradise. He’s a Trinidad-born British actor who has quite a long history.”
Warrington has appeared in film, stage, radio and TV, first starring as Philip in the classic TV sitcom Rising Damp. He’s performed with the National Theatre and, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and starred as King Lear in a 2016 Talawa Theatre production.
Suzette Llewellyn, who plays Corbeau’s wife Sheila, has also had a long career on stage, television and radio, with long runs in the TV
