Entertainment

Pam Ferris to star in audio play about woman suffering from dementia

Angela is the first autobiographical play by dramatist Mark Ravenhill.
Angela is the first autobiographical play by dramatist Mark Ravenhill. Angela is the first autobiographical play by dramatist Mark Ravenhill.

Call The Midwife actress Pam Ferris will star in a new online audio play as a woman suffering from dementia.

Dramatist Mark Ravenhill, who recently adapted The Boy In The Dress, penned the play, Angela, during lockdown.

It centres on Ravenhill’s mother, Angela, at the age of 84, looking back at her life.

Ferris and fellow Call The Midwife actress Matti Houghton play Angela at different stages of her life.

Ravenhill said: “With the death of my mum in 2019, I was drawn for the first time to write an autobiographical play.

Mark Ravenhill as a baby in 1967 with his mother Angela and his father Ted
Mark Ravenhill as a baby in 1967 with his mother Angela and his father Ted Mark Ravenhill as a baby in 1967 with his mother Angela and his father Ted (Mark Ravenhill)

“I was particularly interested to explore the way culture high and low had impacted on mum’s life and our lives as a family.”

Detectorists actor Toby Jones, The Boy In The Dress actor Jackson Laing, and Grantchester’s Joseph Millson will also star in Angela, which will be delivered on audio-digital platform Sound Stage.

The play, “an emotive exploration of working-class motherhood in the 1960s”. depicts Angela’s struggle with depression “and the challenges of her own aspirations, and becoming a mother.”

Angela, from Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Naked Productions and BBC Radio 3, will air from March 26 to 28.