Scripted Paradox House

Paradox House presents… Episode 10 and the season finale of Scripted hosted by Daisy Lewis.

For our final episode in season 1, we are treated with the presence of Lolita Chakrabarti OBE. Lolita carved some time out of her busy schedule to chat to Daisy about all things scripted - The process of writing, multi-hyphenates and representation in the stories she creates.

Lolita Chakrabarti OBE is an award-winning actress and writer. She trained at RADA and has been working as an actor on stage and screen for over thirty years.

Her writing work includes –

Theatre

HYMN, live-streamed and performed live at the Almeida Theatre, London 2021

Also shown on Sky Arts

Adaptation of LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel World premiere at Crucible Theatre,
Sheffield, July 2019. Transferred to Wyndhams, London in 2021.

Awards: WhatsonStage Best New Play 2019, UK Theatre Award for Best New Play, Cameo Book to Stage 2020


Adaptation of INVISIBLE CITIES by Italo Calvino
World premiere at Mayfields, Manchester International Festival and Brisbane Festival 2019
A collaboration with digital projectionist 59Productions, choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and twenty two dancers from Rambert.

RED VELVET
Tricycle Theatre, London 2012 and 2004
St Anne’s Warehouse, New York 2014
Garrick Theatre, London 2016
To date there have been over 30 productions worldwide.
Awards: Charles Wintour Evening Standard Award Most Promising Playwright Award 2012; Critics Circle Award in 2013 for Most Promising Playwright; AWA Award 2013 for Arts and Culture; Nominations for Whatsonstage Awards 2013 for London Newcomer of the Year & Best New Play; Nomination for an Olivier Award 2013 for Best Play in an Affiliate Theatre.

THE GREATEST WEALTH – 2018 Old Vic Theatre, London
Curated by Lolita. A series of 8 monologues celebrating the NHS’ 70th birthday including SPEEDY GONZALEZ by Lolita Chakrabarti

LAST SEEN – JOY – 2009 Almeida Theatre/Slung Low

Dramaturg on MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE directed and choreographed by Kate Prince for ZooNation and Sadlers Wells

Other

Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti : A Working Diary published by Bloomsbury in 2020

Radio:

PUT MY NAME IN LIGHTS – 2020 a monologue for BBC Radio 4

RED VELVET – 2014 Saturday drama BBC Radio 4

THE GODDESS – 2006 Woman’s Hour serial BBC Radio 4

Film:

Lolita produced OF MARY, a short film, directed by Adrian Lester

Awards: Best Short Film at PAFF, Los Angeles 2012, nomination for Best Producers at Underwire 2012

Paradox House presents… Episode 9 of Scripted hosted by Daisy Lewis.

Episode 9 is here and Daisy sat down with the unstoppable Clint Dyer to chat all things theatre, process and how positive representation at the National Theatre can pave the way for a brighter, more inclusive industry. We also are joined by the brilliant Rachel De-Lahay. It’s not double trouble this week, listeners. It’s double value and we can’t wait for you to tune in.

Clint Dyer is the Deputy Artistic Director of The Royal National Theatre. Clint is one of only a very small number of people, and the only Black British artist, to have worked at the National Theatre as an actor, writer and director on full-scale productions. His breadth of experience and creative work will be invaluable as the NT adapts following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and focus on the future. Clint continues to act, write and direct his own work away from the National Theatre. His most recent project saw him directing Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical which opened at the Lyric Theatre in the West End this year.

Additionally, he reopened the National Theatre with Death of England: Delroy, which he directed and co-wrote with Roy Williams.
Directing credits include: The Big Life (Theatre Royal Stratford East/Apollo, West end), The Westbridge (Royal Court), Kingston 14 (Theatre Royal Stratford East).
Writing & Directing credits include: Death of England (National Theatre), Sylvia Plath (Royal Court), The Happy Tragedy of Being Woke (Complicité) – co-directed with Simon McBurney.
Writing credits include: The Big Idea – The New Order (Royal Court), Starter Motor – part of Soon Gone Windrush Monologues (BBC), Redacted – The Lock Down Plays Podcast, 846 – Stratford East, My White Best friend/3.3 - Royal Court Theatre.
Acting credits include: For Stage – Clint has worked with the likes of Mike Leigh, Simon McBurney, Dominic Cooke, Michael Attenborough, Ian Brown, Mike Bradwell, Madani Younis, Gbolahan Obisesan, Dawn Walton and Philip Hedley. He starred in the Oliver Award-winning Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (National Theatre).
For Film – Mine, Sus, The Trail, Cherps, Mr Inbetween, Everybody Love Sunshine, Love Me Still, Act of Vengeance, The Club, Montana, Unknown, Sahara, Agora, Mr Bean 2 and Shopping.

Awards include: Best Actor – I.A.R Awards (for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), British Urban Film Awards, Screen Nation Film and Television Awards, Liege International Film Festival and The Texas Black Film Festival (for SUS).

Rachel De-Lahay is an award winning playwright and screenwriter.

Rachel’s debut THE WESTBRIDGE premiered at the Royal Court in 2011 and went on to win the 2012 Writers Guild Award for Best Play as well as the 2011 Alfred Fagon Award. Rachel followed this up with ROUTES, which opened Vicky Featherstone’s first season at the Royal Court in 2013. The play went on to earn Rachel the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Awards 2013. Rachel’s third full-length play CIRLCES debuted at Birmingham Rep and transferred to the Tricycle Theatre. In 2015, the Bush commissioned Rachel to write a monologue for Black Lives, Black Words. The monologue became MY WHITE BEST FRIEND, which became the template for Rachel to collaborate with and commission a number of established and emerging voices in theatre under the Bunker and the Royal Court. In television, Rachel has collaborated with Jack Thorne on Channel 4’s KIRI and Netflix’s THE EDDY. She has written on episodes of THE FEED and NOUGHTS AND CROSSES, as well as developing and adapting material of her own with various production companies in the UK and the US.

Enjoy!

Paradox House presents… Episode 8 of Scripted hosted by Daisy Lewis.

Oh, do we have a treat for you listeners… Daisy sat down this week with the Academy Award winning screenwriter and director, Emerald Fennell. Listen in as we traverse through Emerald’s career to date, development process and some helpful pointers when it comes to creating stories.

Emerald Fennell is a writer, director and actress.

Her debut feature film, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN starring Carey Mulligan, won her the ACADEMY AWARD and BAFTA for Best Screenplay.

She was Head Writer and Executive Producer of Season Two of KILLING EVE, for which she was nominated for the 2019 Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, and the 2019 Golden Globe for Best Drama.

She has written three novels. Her first, SHIVERTON HALL, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in 2014 and was quickly followed by a sequel, THE CREEPER. Her most recent novel MONSTERS, called a “modern classic” by The Guardian, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal (2017), and published to great critical acclaim.

As an actress she has starred in films and series including Call the Midwife, Anna Karenina, and The Danish Girl . She most recently played Camilla Parker Bowles in Netflix’s THE CROWN.

Enjoy!

Paradox House presents… Episode 7 of Scripted hosted by Daisy Lewis.

This week Daisy sat down with one of the U.K’s brightest writers in Anya Reiss to talk through all things scripted. We also bump up the excitement with her upcoming TV show, ‘Becoming Elizabeth’, that is being distributed via STARZ!

Anya Reiss began her writing career in theatre with her debut play Spur of the Moment at the Royal Court Theatre in 2010. She won the Most Promising Playwright Award at both the Critics Circle and Evening Standard awards that year along with Best New Play at the TMAs. Her follow up play The Acid Test was staged at the same venue the next year and her National Theatre Connections play Forty-Five Minutes was in 2013. Her original version of The Seagull, directed by Russell Bolam, was staged in 2012 at Southwark Playhouse, and they worked on two further modern-day Chekhovs together at the same venue and then St James Theatre. Since then her version of Spring Awakening toured with Headlong and an adaptation of Oliver Twist was at the Regents' Park Theatre in 2017. Anya has worked in television, a core writer on Eastenders and a lead writer on series one of Channel 4’s Ackley Bridge. She is currently writer-producer on Starz's Becoming Elizabeth which will air next year.

Enjoy!

Paradox House presents… Episode 6 of Scripted hosted by Daisy Lewis. On this episode, Daisy caught up with Nigel Marchant and Jo Strevens from Carnival Films to chat all things creative, development and yes, scripted. If you don’t know, now you will. Carnival Films is a division of NBCUniversal International Studios and one of the UK's leading drama specialists. Since 1978, Carnival has produced hundreds of hours of drama that have been broadcast and performed around the world, garnering over 200 award wins and nominations, including Primetime Emmys®, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Oscars and TONYs. Carnival’s shows include global phenomenon Downton Abbey and series such as Poirot, Hotel Babylon, Whitechapel, US shows Dracula and The Philanthropist, as well as mini-series such as the original Traffik, David Nicholl’s The 7:39, David Hare’s Worricker Trilogy, William Boyd’s BAFTA-winning Any Human Heart, The Hollow Crown, a co-production with Neal Street, and Peter Morgan’s BAFTA-winning The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies.

Carnival’s current slate includes The Last Kingdom for Netflix, and Belgravia for ITV and EPIX. Carnival is responsible for the television and film sensation Downton Abbey, which topped $190m at the box office and set a new opening record for Focus Features, as well as achieving numerous accoldates including the winning of three Golden Globes and fifteen Primetime Emmy awards, including Best Mini-Series. It is the most nominated non-US show in the history of the Emmy’s with a total of 69 nominations and is distributed in over 250 territories worldwide. Among numerous national and international awards, including three Screen Actors Guild Awards and four National Television Awards, the show has even garnered a Guinness World Record for highest critical ratings for a TV show, and a BAFTA Special Award in recognition of its outstanding global success. Enjoy!

Paradox House presents... Episode 5 of Scripted, hosted by Daisy Lewis.
Week 5 is here and this week Daisy sat down with Dominic Cooke CBE. Listen in as we delve into process in theatre and screen as well as touching on the highly anticipated stage adaptation of Game of Thrones.
Dominic graduated from Warwick University, his first job was as a TV runner led him to start his own theatre company, Pan Optic, which he ran for two years before becoming an assistant director at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).
He started his relationship with the Royal Court Theatre under Stephen Daldry in 1995. He then became an associate director at the Royal Court for Ian Rickson in 1999 during which time he directed Fireface by Marius von Mayenburg, Other People by Christopher Shinn and Redundant by Leo Butler. In 2003 he left the Royal Court and returned to the RSC for Michael Boyd where he directed his acclaimed version of The Crucible starring Iain Glen which won him the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director; the play also won the Olivier for Best Revival.
In 2013 he won the International Theatre Institute Award for Excellence in International Theatre and in the same year was awarded Honorary Doctorate of Letters by his alma mater, Warwick University. Cooke was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to drama.
Dominic was artistic director and Chief Executive of the Royal Court Theatre 2006 to 2013 during which time he pioneered new writing by actively promoting the Royal Court's Young Writers’ Programme and new, young writers such as Mike Bartlett (My Child), Polly Stenham (That Face), Penelope Skinner (The Village Bike) and Bola Agbaje (the Olivier Award-winning Gone Too Far!)
For film, Dominic’s feature directorial debut, On Chesil Beach starring Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2017. It is based on the novel of the same name by Booker Prize winning novelist Ian McEwan. His latest film The Courier starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Rachel Brosnahan and Jessie Buckley, premiered at Sundance in January 2020. Enjoy!