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Ed Harris - Take Me to the North Laine

4 Extra Debut. Today is the day that street sweeper Charles has to say goodbye to Brighton, but it is not going to be that simple. Stars Jeff Rawle. From March 2013.

by Ed Harris.
The last in a short series of stories that each take us to a different part of the UK.

He hasn't told anyone, but today is Charles' last early shift, sweeping the streets of the North Laine in Brighton. This afternoon he's leaving. Forever. All he wants to do is get to the Pavilion Gardens for dawn, to say goodbye properly. But it's not going to be that simple.

Directed by Abigail le Fleming

The Writer
Ed Harris is a young Brighton-based playwright and poet. His plays include MONGREL ISLAND (Soho Theatre), THE COW PLAY and NEVER EVER AFTER (shortlisted for the 2008 Meyer-Whitworth Award). He has also written numerous radio plays including TROLL which won The Writers' Guild Award for best radio drama, and THE MOMENT YOU FEEL IT (成人快手 Radio 4) which was nominated for the Tinniswood award.

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 5 Jan 2018 21:15

Writer Ed Harris on why he wanted to write about Brighton:

Writer Ed Harris on why he wanted to write about Brighton:

For a few years I was a binman in Brighton. One Winter I did early-shift throughout; which meant getting up around 5 am and clocking in, then wheeling a barrow round your patch, sweeping up leaves and litter-picking the cigarette butts and everything. It was routinely cold and bleak, and you'd be trundling past your mates' houses, where maybe you'd been at a party the night before, and the house was now fast asleep. And you were out of sync with the rest of the world.

It was lonely, it was barren, and it was beautiful. You learned to enjoy the empty streets and the seagulls in the grey drizzle, because there was nothing else to enjoy. The whole town felt ramshackle and antiquated, not the bright middle-class creche that it is in daytime. It was that feeling- of being on the peripheries of everything, of being an unseen little worker bee, full of little nothingy thoughts, bumbling away on your own- that I wanted to evoke in Take Me to the North Laine. When the whole town feels epic in scale, and yet possible to fit into the palm of your hand.

Credits

Role Contributor
Charles Jeff Rawle
Dennis Gerard McDermott
Ziggy John Macmillan
Penny Lizzy Watts
Cabbie Will Howard
Drunk Man Will Howard
Writer Ed Harris
Director Abigail le Fleming

Broadcasts

  • Wed 13 Mar 2013 14:15
  • Fri 5 Jan 2018 11:15
  • Fri 5 Jan 2018 21:15

Opening Lines

Opening Lines

John Yorke unpacks the themes behind the stories in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.

The Shakespeare Sessions

The Shakespeare Sessions

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