Doctor Who star Nicola Bryant is among the cast lined up for Harry’s Home, a gently funny and emotional audio play touching upon the day-to-day reality of dementia, currently seeking crowdfunding on IndieGogo.
Harry’s Home is a not-for-profit project and will be made available to Dementia and Alzheimer’s related charities for free upon completion. But to complete it, the team, led by Helen Quigley, well known as a Podcast Producer and her work for B7 Media and Comedy Central, need your support!.
Harry’s Home – an authentic, gently funny and emotional play touching upon the day-to-day realism of living with a dementia sufferer – was originally a play written by Hannah Puddefoot and staged for the first time in 2013 by amateur drama group Theatre at Baddow in Chelmsford, Essex as one of their TAB Studio productions.
The story is a reminder that whatever is slowly being lost, there may still be time left to mend old hurts, build bridges and create new memories for those who are left behind.
Directed at the time by Helen Quigley, now B7 Media’s Production Director, it made a personal impact.
“I was looking for a short play to stage in Chelmsford on the theme of ‘Memory’ and by chance, was introduced to Hannah at a party,” she explains. “She told me about a play she’d written: Harry’s Home. It was a perfect moment of serendipity and the premier took place in April 2013 with a cast made up of Theatre at Baddow’s members in their Studio performance space.
“I always felt Harry’s Home deserved a bigger audience – its subject matter, sensitive handling and relatable characters resonated with everyone who saw the small, original production, but I had neither the skills nor the experience to take it further back then. Ten years on, I finally feel I’ve acquired both – and I’m now of an age where it has even more resonance for me and the people around me. Both of my parents were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the last two years.
“With a few professional radio dramas for BBC Radio 4 and Audible under my belt with B7 Media, I contacted Hannah to see if she’d be interested in adapting Harry… for audio. Fortunately she was!”
Paired with writer and script editor Colin Brake (EastEnders, Doctors, Bugs), Hannah extended and adapted Harry’s Home into a new drama for audio, which you can support here. Initial funds raised – £6,750 – will cover studio hire, the writer, cast and studio manager fees for the recording session. Producer and Director fees are deferred until we reach the stretch goal.
“If we’re lucky and reach this early, we can create a Stage 2 stretch goal of £10,685 (a further £3,950) to cover post-production,” says Helen, “including a Sound Designer and a Composer for original music… and any other costs where required for the rewards.”
Nicola Bryant, whose career spans over 35 years in theatre, television and radio has joined the project as Co-Producer, and will play Harry’s daughter, Theresa.
“I love the play. It’s sweet, poignant and full of well drawn characters,” she says. “It’s great. When do we start?”
Nicola, who recently starred in the short horror film, The Wilds, directed by Greig Johnson, is best known for her role as the American companion Peri in Doctor Who opposite both Peter Davison and Colin Baker — a part she played for three years, and continues to reprise in the Big Finish audio dramas. Other audio dramas include Dark Shadows, The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, Iris Wildethyme, The Confessions of Dorian Grey, The Companion Chronicles, UNIT, and Judge Dredd.
She has also featured in one-off dramas Night of the Triffids and The Mervyn Stone Mysteries and for Audible the taut psychological thriller The Effect.
Nicola has also made guest appearances in numerous television shows, most notably as Rowan Atkinson’s niece in Blackadder’s Christmas Carol, and also in Casualty; Cravings; Wild Seed; Animal Ark; Doctors; Holby City; Love in Hyde Park; My Family; Scoop; the award-winning comedy The 10 Percenters; and three series of The Biz.
Nicola’s most controversial roles were playing the royal correspondent in the drama documentary on Princess Diana’s inquest, There are Dark Forces, and playing God in The Theory of Everything. More recently, Nicola appeared in the BBC series New Blood, the mini-series The Promise, and as Lana in Star Trek Continues.
If you want to be among the first to hear Harry’s Home, make any size pledge and select the Harry’s Home MP3 as an add on. If you’d like to listen along live with the cast and crew, select the reward which will give you access to the Online Premiere
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Audio, Crowd Funding Projects, Digital Media, downthetubes News, Other Worlds
