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Drama on 4: Judith Kampfner - Unfinished Business

Unfinished Business

09/05/2011

Judith Kampfner - Unfinished Business

BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, Judith Kampfner - Unfinished Business

A quick Internet search sets Simon off on a global quest in pursuit of his absent father.

4 Extra Debut. A visit to his mother in London starts Simon on a global search for his father. Based on an actual story. Stars Daniel Gerroll.

Judith Kampfner's play about how a quick Internet search can change the lives of two families who never knew of each other's existence. 

Based on the actual story of one man's impulse to discover more about his absent father and the fragile friendship he then forms with the man who was perhaps closest to the dad he never knew. The words of the letters they send are taken from the real email correspondence they exchanged. All names have been changed and additional characters invented. 

After a family tragedy, fifty-year old Simon decides to discover all he can about the mystery that has haunted him for decades. Neither Simon nor his mother, know anything about the whereabouts of Simon's dad. The last they knew of him was that he was a flamboyant artist in Florence, some time in the 1970s.

A chance search on the Internet leads to an artist in Tucson Arizona. Jeff Rodriguez was once taught by Simon's dad and became his business partner. After some initial suspicion from Jeff, the men exchange messages that are more like old-fashioned letters, revealing more to each other as trust grows between them. 
Just when Simon thinks he's learns the truth, new revelations complicate the story. 

Meanwhile, his relationship with his only child, his teenage son Owen, is put under increasing strain, as Simon appears to be abandoning his responsibilities in favour of exploring a distant and unreachable past.


Cast: 
Simon Sachanah ..... Daniel Gerroll
Owen Sachanah ..... Tom Datnow
Marjorie Robinson ..... Sandra Shipley
Dr Anna Carter ..... Christa Scott-Reed
Jeff Rodriguez ..... Shawn Elliot
Tina Rodriguez ..... Leslie Lyles
Radio Announcer ..... Sydney Beveridge

Technical Direction: Scott Lehrer

Producer/Director: Judith Kampfner
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.

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