After a year in the making, a locally produced radio play will debut on Salford City Radio in time for Christmas.
Formerly a stage show, ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ has been produced by and casts members and volunteers of the Lower Kersal Young People and Community Group.
The play, which was last performed on-stage more than five years ago at The Lowry Theatre, centres on a group of Salfordians in an air raid shelter during the ‘Salford Christmas Blitz’ of December 1940.
Speaking to Salford Now, project manager and founder of the LKYPCG Tommy Lever MBE said: “When we performed [Keep Calm and Carry On] on stage, it was a lot more nerve-wracking because if you messed up you had to keep going.
“I did enjoy live theatre because you can interact with the audience. You get reactions from the lines, the comedy scenes and the sad scenes.
“On the radio, it can be more difficult because you don’t have that. It was all new to us.”
Funded by Salix Homes, the radio adaptation has involved around 30 people, including local children and long-running volunteers of the community group.
Sean Massey, who has been a part of the group since childhood, worked with Tommy to adapt the script and edit the show together.
Talking about the production process, the 27-year-old said: “We’d listen back to the actors, add in sounds and see what was missing – we just kept building on it.”
Describing the radio play as an ‘immersive experience,’ Tommy, 67, added: “The reaction from people so far has been that they’ve enjoyed it more sat listening to it because they felt as though they were there.”
The decision to broadcast the play over the festive period comes with intentions to commemorate the almost 200 lives lost during the Salford bombings, 82 years on. Tommy said: “Salford was badly hit during Christmas time during the early 1940s. So, it made sense to put it on around that time.
“We talk about the days building up to the massive bombings where hundreds of people lost their lives. This sort of history needs to be kept alive.”
Hoping to engage a wider audience of different generations, he added: “Younger listeners won’t remember how bad Salford was hit. Getting families around the table at Christmas to listen will give the young ones an idea of what people had to put up with.”
Keep Calm and Carry On has been at the heart of the community group for ten years. Wanting to preserve the voices of its members, Tommy said: “We’ve lost four of the original cast since we first performed it in 2012, through Covid and cancer.
“They were people dear to me, and I didn’t want to lose any more people without this being recorded. It’s just close to my heart. I always wanted to do a radio play.”
The group recently held a premier night to celebrate the shows’ completion at Salford Arts Theatre with a World War Two-themed dress code.
Tommy expressed gratitude for all those who helped to bring the radio play to life and is keen to hear what new listeners have to say.
“We’re really proud of what we’ve done so far. To have it on for five nights, Salford radio must have been impressed.
“I’m looking forward to see what feedback we get.”
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