Drama on 3: Adventures with the Painted People

Original version

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

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Drama on 3

Drama

Series of drama performances, ranging from experimental works to the Classics

Adventures with the Painted People

BBC Radio 3 - Drama on 3, Adventures with the Painted People

David Greig's compelling drama about love and culture set on the River Tay 2,000 years ago

Compelling drama about love and culture, set on the River Tay 2,000 years ago, as a Roman poet and a Pictish witch escape downriver. By David Greig.

Originally commissioned as part of Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Shades of Tay project, Adventures With The Painted People was adapted into a Drama on 3, as part of Culture in Quarantine in 2021, and subsequently staged at Pitlochry Festival Theatre.  

This powerful two-hander is a story of people meeting in extraordinary times, of borders being crossed, of cultures changing, and of love. Lucius is a Roman solider with poetic leanings, captured by the Picts and about to be sacrificed. Eithne is a wise Pictish woman, who wants to record her people's history in writing, a skill they do not yet have. She makes a deal - she will rescue Lucius, in exchange for him teaching her to write. So they have to flee - not by road, the Romans haven't built those yet, but down the river...

Pitlochry Festival Theatre teamed up with award-winning, independent audio producers, Naked Productions. Under the direction of Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s acclaimed Artistic Director, Elizabeth Newman, the drama was recorded remotely to adhere to Government Covid-19 guidelines at the time, coming up with creative and exciting solutions to making radio drama in difficult times.

The Culture in Quarantine initiative spanned television, radio and online, giving the nation access to the arts at a time when most needed during lockdown: providing extraordinary access to shuttered exhibitions, performances and museums, a virtual book festival and much more besides. 

Adventures with the Painted People by David Greig was first presented by BBC ARTS – Culture in Quarantine, BBC Radio 3, Naked Productions and Pitlochry Festival Theatre in association with Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.

Cast

Eithne ..... Kirsty Stuart
Lucius ..... Olivier Huband
Other parts played by members of Pitlochry Festival Theatre ensemble

Writer, David Greig

Production team:
Director, Elizabeth Newman
Assistant Director, Amy Liptrott
Composer and sound designer, Benjamin Occhipinti
Sound designer, Eloise Whitmore
Executive Producer, Polly Thomas

A Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Naked Productions co-production for BBC Radio 3

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Drama on 3

Adventures with the Painted People

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3