Radio series recording week

From 3 to 7 August the whole of the second series of the BBC/RTC radio drama, Atching Tan, was recorded. To attempt to do this in just five days was a major undertaking, but with everyone's hard work and enthusiasm for the venture, it all came together really well.

The Gypsy/Traveller parts were, with one exception, all played by Travellers, some of whom were experienced professional actors and some totally new to acting; all other parts were played by professional non-Traveller actors.

A total of five locations were used for the recording. They included a field by the side of the road, a recording studio, the car park of a derelict pub, and a small private trailer site. The fifth location was down a quiet country road with a bye way off it; one of the Gypsy actors had pulled a family-owned trailer onto this, which was used for the recording of several scenes. This attracted the attention of some ‘concerned locals’, who telephoned the police and as a result, some members of Cambridgeshire Constabulary attended a recording session. When one young Officer made his enquiries, two members of the production team produced their BBC passes and said that they were recording a radio drama. He responded, ‘That's fine, the locals get a bit jumpy if they think it's Gypsies!’ It was an indication that the Romany Theatre Company still has much to do to counter this sort of prejudice!

Side by side with the recording of the radio drama, another project was unfolding. Dan was leading a group of young teenage Travellers making a documentary about the process of recording Atching Tan. This involved them devising interview questions for the actors, BBC staff, and the sound recordist. It also involved some skilful juggling to ensure they could interview everyone without delaying the progress of recording the radio series itself. It was great to see this lively bunch of teenagers working so enthusiastically on their project.

I spent the week with the actors and recording crew helping out with the running of the production. My role mainly involved driving actors and crew between the various recording sites and their B&B; making sure everyone was fed, and ‘loaning out’ my car for the actors to spend time in, in between scenes, particularly when it was raining!
My car saw a lot of action, being used alternatively as the police sergeant's car, the venue for an illicit sex scene, and a sex trafficker's car! I'm sure the retail value of my car has now increased substantially!

I also had the opportunity to be an ‘extra’ in a few scenes. The derelict pub car park doubled as a school play ground, so I got to run around and make playground noise with a few others, shedding a good few years to become a school girl again. At the private trailer site I was an ‘extra’ in a fight scene, which was great fun and really got my adrenalin going!

I thoroughly enjoyed my Atching Tan week, between clocking up several hundred miles driving, there was time to get to know both actors and crew, have a laugh, and witness history being made. Roll on series three!

- Sinead