English Wordplay ~ Listen and Enjoy
Workshops for Writing, Producing and Acting Radio Drama, Documentaries, Poetry and Readings
Building a Documentary 1: Do It Yourself - a Personal Odyssey.
Shaun MacLoughlin and his twelve year old son, Seamus, cycled 1,100 miles along the ancient pilgrim's road from Mont St Michel in Northern France to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The journey took five and a half weeks.
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| PLEASE LISTEN |
This is the kind of feature that as researcher, writer, presenter, sound recordist, producer and editor you could put together yourself - with the help of a few other voices.
The shape of the programme was simple. It was that of pilgrims, throughout the ages, making the journey. Shaun and Seamus MacLoughlin were simply the most recent among the multitudes, who had gone that way before.
Here are the first five minutes. May I suggest you count the elements: scripted speech, actuality, pre-recorded music, etc, and think about how you would plan the shape, and record and assemble these elements. I will explain at the end of the passage.
The Script - The Field of the Star
| ANNOUNCER | A reflective pilgrim on the road to Santiago always makes a double journey: The backward journey through time and the forward journey through space. |
|---|---|
| (INTRODUCE MEDIAEVAL HARP MUSIC BY MARY REMNANT) | |
| Every step the pilgrim makes evokes memories of those who passed that way ever since the discovery of the tomb of the Apostle James in the Ninth Century. | |
| READER |
(FROM JACQUES DE VORAGINES) When St. James was beheaded, his disciples placed his body in a boat without a rudder and an angel of the Lord guided them to Galicia, the Kingdom of Queen Lupa. When the disciples asked her for a burial place she set them a series of trials. In the last of these they were attacked by two wild bulls. They made the sign of the cross over them and the bulls became as gentle as lambs. The disciples followed a star, until it stopped. There they buried St. James. This was in a field called The Field of the Star, or Compostela. |
| ANNOUNCER | The Field of the Star. Last year Shaun MacLoughlin was among the five or six hundred pilgrims who walked, cycled or rode horseback to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. His companion was his son, Seamus. |
| (FADE MUSIC) | |
| SEAMUS | My dad told me we were going to cycle to Santiago. He just told me, but now I'm glad I went. It was about 1,100 miles and took us around five and a half weeks. I was 12 then, but now I'm 13 and we both kept diaries. |
| (ACTUALITY RECORDING OF DEPARTURE) | |
| MOTHER | Just be careful. Right? |
| SEAMUS: | (TO SMALL SISTER) Binnie, get off my - Don't put your foot in the pedal, Binnie. The whole thing will tip over. |
| MOTHER: | Right? Right? And just be careful. |
| SEAMUS: | Yeah. |
| MOTHER: | Won't you? |
| (LOSE ACTUALITY) | |
| SEAMUS: | At 3.29 pm we set off for Temple Meads, and I recorded everyone saying good bye. |
| SHAUN: | (A PRAYER) Please St. James, guide our wheels and bring us safely to your shrine and to heaven. |
| SEAMUS: | And at 4.10 the train set off. At 6.46 the train arrived at Portsmouth Harbour Station. We cycled one and a half miles to the ferry terminal at about seven o'clock. I'm very excited about having to cycle onto the boat. |
| (INTERWEAVE SOUND EFFECTS OF SEAGULLS AND SEA WASH) |
| ACTORS AS MEDIAEVAL FRIENDS OF PILGRIMS: | (CALLING) Pray for us at Santiago, May St. James look after you, etc, etc. |
| SEAMUS: | The boat rocked all night, up, down, up, down, and it was awful, but I still liked it. |
| (SAILING BOAT MAKING GOOD WAY. MEDIAEVAL MUSIC) | |
| ACTOR: | Haul up the bowline, now, veer the sheet! Cooke make ready our meat, Our pilgrims have no lust to eat. Steward a pot of beer! Anon of the best. |
| (MIX FROM MEDIAEVAL MUSIC TO BACKGROUND OF CONTEMPORARY TOURIST CROWD) | |
| SHAUN: | After docking at St. Malo, we started our pilgrimage proper from Mont St Michel, Normandy, where many pilgrims set out in the Middle Ages. |
| (ACTUALITY OF GUIDE IN FRENCH) | |
| GUIDE: | Ça commence ici la visite à Mont St. Michel, etc |
| (FADE AS WE MOVE AWAY) | |
| SEAMUS: | Mont St. Michel was crowded with tourists and very noisy. We left our bicycles by the Gendarmerie. |
| SHAUN: | And walked up the crowded, tripper streets with our heavy packs to the Abbey. |
| (LOSE CROWDS. BRING UP A MIXED COMMUNITY OF MONKS AND NUNS SINGING PLAIN CHANT IN FRENCH) | |
| SHAUN: | There we were met by Sister Brigitte and attended vespers. We had a simple Friday supper and walked round the island with the tide coming up and we had a good night's sleep. |
| (LOSE PLAINCHANT) | |
| Matins at seven o'clock in the small oratory, followed by breakfast and Lauds; and then one of the brothers blessed our undertaking. | |
| BROTHER: | Benissez especialment nos deux amis qui maintainent vont partir vers St. Jacques de Compostelle, |
| (INTRODUCE GENTLE MEDIAEVAL CHIMES) | |
| que l'Apotre et notre coeur les accompagne sur la route et les ramene sains et sauf dans leur foyer, par Jesus Christ, Notre Seigneur, Amen | |
| SHAUN: | Amen. |
| SEAMUS: | Amen. |
Summary
This feature was over a year in the making. Cycling up to fifty miles a day with a twelve year old and finding the route and accommodation was a full time activity. We managed to keep diaries however; most of which we recorded on family holiday in France the next summer (for the authentic background of birds, cicadas, etc), just before Seamus' voice broke. In fact I did not shoulder all the artistic responsibility, as John Theocharis, produced it, directed the actors playing mediaeval pilgrims and provided an objective ear. He was able to tell me where I was self-indulgent and should be cut and where Seamus and I were instructive and entertaining.
John Tydeman, Head of Radio Drama, described the feature, which was broadcast four times on BBC Radio 4, as "Pilgrim and Adrian Mole."
Notes to actors:
It is a challenges for the actors - in a feature such as this where interviewees and actors are mixed - to sound real and not performed. Thorough research into character and background are recommended to help inhabit the part.
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