Look Back in Hunger
In the car this morning, driving south of Edinburgh through Tranent and into Pentcaitland. This tiny village is home to the Castle Sound recording studios which is where our radio drama team produce so many of the plays you hear on Radio 4, Radio 3 and, more recently, Radio Scotland.
I arrived as the actors were gathered around a kitchen table having a read-through of John Osborne's famous play, Look Back In Anger. They were kind enough to let me sit in on the session. Suddenly, the actors became the characters and I found myself in the heart of the action, listening to the lines of dialogue ping across the table like bullets. If you can imagine wandering on to a stage during a dress-rehearsal, that's what it was like.
During the coffee break I did some exploring of the studios. All the props were in place in readiness for the recording session. I opened a few fake doors and pulled a fake curtain. Each made the required sound. Easy, really.
I was told that the remote location of the studio means the actors and technicians rarely get distracted. I can believe that. Pencaitland isn't anyone's idea of a bustling metropolis. In search of a lunchtime snack, I went into the newsagent's shop next door and had to make lots of obvious coughing noises before the manager emerged from a back room. The shop itself seemed to have enough stock to last an afternoon. Lots of crisps and instant noodles, but nothing I was allowed to eat on my diet.
I did, however, pick up a bit of local history. Apparently the building that now houses the studios was once the village school. Sure enough, there were various crests and emblems on the stonework to confirm this.
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