The Chandelier Maker: A Radio Drama

We have an amateur drama group who had been meeting for most of 2025 on ZOOM, creating a radio drama for my book, The Chandelier Maker. It has been a massive project and runs to eight episodes, with a total listening time of seven hours! We hope you enjoy them. To find out more about the book CLICK HERE.

THE CAST

Colin Baynes: Newt (and many other parts)

Kim Smith: Jax (and many other parts)

Mark Farlow: Mo (and many other parts)

Monica Maltz: Miss Garland (and many other parts)

Nigel Wylie: The narrator (and many other parts)

Robert Hopkins: Joe (and many other parts)

Rosie Smith: Abi (and many other parts)

Steve Maltz: The commentator (and many other parts)

Preamble

In 1929, after an Arab uprising in Palestine, the British rulers of the land instigated an inquiry into the causes, resulting in the Shaw Report, named after Sir Walter Shaw, who led the inquiry. The findings were controversial and did not do justice to all parties. In fact, it all seemed a bit of a fudge. One of the commission’s members, Henry Snell, a Labour politician, certainly felt so. He issued a ‘note of Reservations’, an addendum to the report, listing his disagreements. His summary was that “a few men of both races” should “meet together and explore the possibilities of common effort for agreed ends,” to work towards co-operation in establishing inter-racial justice and goodwill. “Out of their efforts would grow a reserve of understanding,” he proposed, “to unite Arabs and Jews in the task of building up a happy and prosperous land.”

 Now, almost a century later, they finally got round to it …