"Untitled No. 76"

A few months ago, performance art duo Good Cop Bad Cop, in their guise as producers/presenters of the arts-themed show “Pitch” on Radio Cardiff, put out a call for proposals for projects to be broadcast as part of their programme. Called “Pitch To The Power Of Three”, it would consist of twelve three-minute pieces, either plays, monologues, or poetry readings. I put in a proposal for a three-character drama with an “art” theme and happily, it was accepted.

Thus, this week, my play “Untitled No. 76” was broadcast, and is now archived on the Culture Colony website (about 21 minutes into the podcast). Set in a painter’s studio in New York in around 1951, it was inspired by the news story which emerged some years ago that at the beginning of the Cold War, the C.I.A. attempted to enlist abstract expressionism in the propaganda war against the Soviet Union.

Produced and directed by the Pitch team, it features Holly Davies, Steven Elliot and Richard Mitchley. And since it was supported with funding from Arts Council Wales, everyone got paid, which was nice.