Posted in: BBC, TV | Tagged: bbc, bbc radio, BBC Radio 4, clark gregg, david mamet

BBC Streams David Mamet's The Christopher Boy's Communion, Globally

Before lockdown, I got the chance to see John Malkovich in David Mamet's Bitter Wheat in the West End for a knockdown priced ticket thanks to a) coronavirus fears keeping people away and b) poor reviews. I didn't care, I loved it. One year later, the BBC just aired an adaptation of David Mamet's latest play, The Christopher Boy's Communion on BBC Radio 4. The play debuted in Los Angeles at the Odyssey Theatre a year ago, but was closed down with lockdown. Now David Mamet has restaged the play for the radio, with the cast Rebecca Pidgeon, Clark Gregg, David Paymer, Fionnula Flanagan and John Pirruccello, with one woman will do whatever it takes to save her son, no matter what he has done. While everyone, including her husband played by Clark Gregg, familiar to Bleeding Cool readers, uses words to dance around the reality of what has been done and who they are. And because it is BBC Radio, it is streamed out, free, globally, and legally.

The Christopher Boy's Communion

Martin Jarvis directs the British premiere of David Mamet's brand-new thriller, set in New York City. Joan (Rebecca Pidgeon) is a devout Catholic and a mother, whose son Michael has mutilated the body of his nice Jewish girlfriend. He awaits trial in prison. Joan will stop at nothing to free him, even blackening the dead girl's character.

In a series of gripping encounters, Joan attempts to persuade her husband Alan (Clark Gregg), Jewish lawyer Mr Stone (David Paymer) and priest (John Pirruccello) to do her deadly bidding. She even tries blackmail.

This present-day, churchgoing Lady Macbeth is driven by her misguided views on intermarriage. Mysterious Mrs Charles (Tony-award nominee Fionnula Flanagan) might provide a solution to Michael's freedom by inspiring Joan's own capacity for belief, and the strength of her maternal instinct. Then, an extraordinary, thought-provoking final twist in this thrilling and provocative drama.

This is Jarvis & Ayres' seventh collaboration with David Mamet. They produced his Keep Your Pantheon (R4), Glengarry Glen Ross (R3), Faust (R3) all directed by Rosalind Ayres. Martin Jarvis appeared in Mamet's movie Phil Spector (HBO) and Funny Or Die (Comedy Central).

Cast:
Joan….Rebecca Pidgeon
Alan….Clark Gregg
Mr Stone….David Paymer
Father Paul….John Pirrucello
Mrs Charles….Fionnula Flanagan
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4

And while you are at it, they also have other previous radio play debuts including The Ventriloquist's Dummy
by Amanda Dalton, and Christopher Eccleston in Christine Entwisle's Murmuration.

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