BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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The Wire

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Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative, created by first-time radio writers and also writers distinguished in other forms

The Wire: Lump Boy Logan

Performances & Events

Drama: Psychological

Lump Boy Logan

18/09/2010

BBC Radio 3 - The Wire, Lump Boy Logan

Chris Wilson's darkly comic account of an adolescent boy's struggle with acne.

In Chris Wilson's play, an adolescent boy has a frightening relationship with his acne, a distant relationship with his father and a dismal view of his 'evil auntie Jeanette'.

An adolescent boy has a terrible and frightening relationship with his acne, an increasingly distant relationship with his father and an unsettling and a dismal view of his 'evil auntie Jeanette' who sometimes resembles a man in drag. A bold, quirky, funny and touching play by a brand new writer. Alfred Bradley Radio Bursary Award winner Chris Wilson's first play is a vivid account of an adolescent boy's struggle with acne and grief. 

Andrew Logan ..... William Rush
Dad ..... Smug Roberts
Auntie Jeannette ..... Annette Badland
Big Smiggy ..... Stephen Hoyle
Directed by Pauline Harris

Both Andrew and his dad are living with 'evil Auntie Jeanette' - who never stops cooking; culinary delights such as Date and Wensleydale pie, mutton casserole, and veal and paprika stroganoff. But the most disturbing thing by far is Andrew's acne. It can hurt like crazy, beat like a drum, red and swollen. When he gets particularly upset the spots start shouting at him, willing him to cut them out, or kill evil Auntie Jeanette. 

At school he gets bullied, and things come to a head when he gets smeared with chocolate cake to cover his red blotchy face, and he gets laughed and jeered at. This is compounded by his spots that he can hear shouting and screaming and laughing at him too. Andrew's spots, which alternately represent his pulsing anxiety and anger, recurrently come alive to torment him, and completely obsess him. 

When eventually his evil Auntie Jeanette tells his father he's been skiving school, Andrew turns on his aunt and we discover just how much he is projecting all his hurt, his grief and anger onto her. This acts as a turning point for him and his father, who are forced to face the tragic truth.

Chris Wilson also had a play for Radio 4 - I Before Bee - broadcast in January 2011. He is also a Sports Journalist.

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