The Test Batter Can’t Breathe

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Drama on 4: The Test Batter Can’t Breathe

BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, The Test Batter Can’t Breathe

Set in the world of cricket, a new drama from the award-winning writer of Dear Harry Kane.

An Ashes Test Match is interrupted by the sudden walk out by an English batsman and no one knows why or where he has gone. A new drama from the award-winning writer James Fritz.

It's a Test Match between Australia and England. Who will win the Ashes. But the commentary is interrupted by the mysterious and troubling disappearance of one of England's most talented young batters. This young cricketer has walked out of the match and no one knows where he has gone. Or, why. As the cricketer talks to a therapist his story unfolds. 

The Batter ..... Dan Parr
The Dad ..... Ian Conningham
The Ex Girlfriend ..... Melissa Vaughan
The Bowler ..... Will Kirk
The Therapist ..... Tracy Wiles
The Test Commentator ..... Jonathan Agnew

Written by James Fritz
Directed by Tracey Neale

Cricket has been part of this young man's life since he was six years old. Growing up in Lancashire he is talented and incredibly ambitious, always proud of the way that he handles pressure. Under the watchful eye of his dad he has risen from school to club to country and finally international level. His mum died when he was seven, so it's always been just him, his dad and cricket. 

When his first England Test cap is awarded, he takes to international cricket like a duck to water. A high flyer and settled down with a girlfriend who is studying Climate Science. On tour, although older players tell him not to, he googles his own name and constantly reads and watches everything he can about cricket and then this becomes mixed in with climate fears. He begins to read tweets and articles and watch TikTok videos that inflame his worries even more and things begin to get out of control and his ability to play cricket suffers. Then finally, on the biggest stage, something snaps. With millions watching on the television around the world and without saying a word to his teammates, he drives away from the stadium into the Australian outback and ends up locking himself in a wardrobe in a motel in the middle of nowhere. Frightened and alone. As his demons start to overwhelm him, can he find the strength to open the door? As the cricketer talks to a therapist his story unfolds.

Cricket has long had a problem with poor mental health. The unique pressures of ‘a team game played by individuals’ have led many prominent players to experience substance abuse, anxiety, depression and at times suicide. It involves extreme scrutiny of talent, technique and mental fortitude combined with extended periods away from the comforts of home and family. The batter who is out for nought is left for days or weeks to stew on their failure: on how it has cost their team, their career prospects, their country. 

Arguably there has never been a harder time to be a professional athlete. The constant scrutiny of social media means that there is no escape from the public glare for young sports men and women. But this is only reflective of the wider crisis in young men’s mental health in our society. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45. Generations of young men are growing up unable to ask for help, trapped in cycles of anxiety and depression, feeling their own pressure to ‘perform’ in a variety of different ways.
 
The Test Batter Can't Breathe is heart-breaking and occasionally terrifying, but hopeful and educational. An honest, unflinching portrayal of a mind under extreme stress that might make those suffering from performance-related anxiety and depression feel a little less alone. 

The Writer:
James Fritz is a multi-award-winning writer from South London, whose plays for BBC Radio include Comment Is Free, Death of A Cosmonaut, Eight Point Nine Nine and Dear Harry Kane. His awards for audio drama include the Imison and Tinniswood BBC Audio Drama Awards – the first time a writer has won both in the same year - and the ARIA award for Best Fictional Storytelling in 2021. He has also been nominated on multiple occasions for Best Single Drama at both the BBC Radio Awards and the BBC Audio Drama Awards. Dear Harry Kane won Best Drama in this year's ARIA Awards.

For theatre his plays include Four Minutes Twelve Seconds, Parliament Square and Ross & Rachel. He has won a Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, The Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright and has been nominated for an Olivier Award.

Producer and Director: Tracey Neale

Technical Production: Alison Craig and Peter Ringrose

Production Co-Ordinator: Hannah O'Reilly

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