Pearl is a 1978 radio play by award-winning English playwright John Arden. Set in England in the 1640s, the play concerns a young Irish political operative named Pearl, who, with playwright Tom Backhouse, attempts to sway the political climate in favor of the British Parliament, as part of a plan to achieve Irish sovereignty.
Production[]
Pearl was produced and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on July 3, 1978, with the following cast:
- Pearl - Elizabeth Bell
- Mother Bumroll - Paula Tilbrook
- Barnabas/Male Voice - David Mahlowe
- Stage Manager/Casca/Actor - John Jardine
- Grip - Geoffrey Banks
- Sowse/Caesar - Ronald Herdman
- Grimscar/1st Commoner - Peter Jeffrey
- Backhouse/Soothsayer - David Calder
- Belladonna - Lynda Marchal
- Duchess - Kathleen Helme
- Catso/Marullus - Kenneth Alan Taylor
- Katerina/Female Voice - Jane Knowles
- Messenger/Flavius/Actor - Robert Morton
- Music composed and conducted by Stephen Boxer
- Musicians Ephraim Segerman and members of the Northern Renaissance Consort
- Produced by Alfred Bradley
Critical reception[]
The play won the very first Giles Cooper Award in 1978, and is considered one of the finest examples of the medium.
Publication[]
Hardcover and Paperback editions were published by Eyre Methuen in 1979.