Celebrating World Audio Drama Day 2023 ...

It's that time of year again ... when we celebrate all things AUDIO DRAMA!

It's 33 years since my very first AUDIO DRAMA/RADIO DRAMA a radio play called 'THE PEOPLE'S WOMAN' directed by the much missed PHILIP MARTIN for BBC RADIO all the way back in 1990... It was an important moment in my fledgling career and I'm very grateful to have continued working in audio drama for over 30 years now - huzzah!

I'm also grateful to now LECTURE & DIRECT students in the DARK ARTS OF AUDIO DRAMA at some of the countries leading universities and drama schools, long may that continue too! I get so much from passing whatever knowledge I've acquired over the years to the next generation of radio/audio actors ... Oh and I'm glad to say that I haven't stopped working myself in this world and I'm still learning!

Linktree linktr.ee/SeanConnolly

 Acting website at www.seanconnolly.co.uk

Voice website at www.seanconnollyvoices.com

WARHAMMER DAY 2023 - marking it's 40th Anniversary with a TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE - my WARHAMMER JOURNEY!!

Following on from yesterday's WARHAMMER DAY, not only are they celebrating all things WARHAMMER - this year they are celebrating 40 YEARS of all things WARHAMMER! I thought it might be fun to look back at my own involvement over nearly 35 of those years!!

My very first recollection of what was then called GAMES WORKSHOP was playing some of their games and painting their fantasy figures in the early nineties, some of which I still have to this day (don't ask me where!). I had recently left drama school and I landed the job of voicing one of their very first VIDEO PAINTING GUIDES using their CITADEL PAINTS, if my memory is correct it was even produced on VHS!! That was the beginning of what was to become a long and pleasurable association over the next three decades.

This potted history continues when I met the stupendously talented TOM LAUTEN and his team at BRIGHT LIGHT STUDIOS based in Coventry. He was producing the most extraordinary creatures, costumes, and props for the cutscenes in Games Workshop video games, it was an extraordinary time! I had the opportunity not only to wander open-mouthed around his incredible workshop but also be part of that world ... I ended up playing WARHAMMER'S SHORTEST EVER ORK alongside Gavin Naylor ...

Then there was the time that I played a rather unfortunate MINER in a game, (who's name I completely forget) but here is the photographic proof, opposite a pretty scary looking TYRANID!!

More live action cutscenes came along. perhaps the most impressive and well-remembered being 'FINAL LIBERATION: WARHAMMER EPIC 40,000' where I played a TECH ADEPT opposite the enormously missed actor LARRY REW ...

There's a lot of love still out there for this game and for the standard of the live action sequences, remember this was 1997 ...

A few years previously, I had also started my VOICE OVER JOURNEY with WARHAMMER when I provided the voices for about a dozen characters including the MAIN GAME PLAY CHARACTER - COMMANDER MORGAN BERNHARDT (it's him on the front cover below on the white horse!) on 'WARHAMMER - SHADOW OF THE HORNED RAT' for PC and PLAYSTATION!!

I still remember to this day the feeling of being in the studio recording what would be my very first computer/video game voice over ... NEARLY 3O YEARS AGO! Here's a great video I've found on YouTube showing the game's look and actually some of the characters I voiced.

I played about a dozen or so characters, some of whom are featured below in a rogues gallery of sorts ...

Well just three short years after the 'FINAL LIBERATION: WARHAMMER EPIC 40,000' game in 2010, came the terrifically exciting 'ULTRAMARINES - A WARHAMMER 40,000 MOVIE', an all singing - all killing thing of beauty from Good Story Productions featuring a stellar voice cast including John Hurt, Terence Stamp, Sean Pertwee ... Director was MARTYN PICK, alongside producer BOB THOMPSON and the writer was WARHAMMER LEGEND DAN ABNETT ...

Perhaps you're wondering why I'm mentioning this WARHAMMER MOVIE, well I had the great privilege to provide, alongside fellow voice actor MIKE HAYLEY, the GUIDE TRACK CHARACTER VOICES for the film's pre-production period, in other words the WHOLE FILM was voiced by Mike and I so the animators had something to work with before they had received the vocal performances of Messrs Hurt, Stamp and Pertwee et al ... I would've have loved to have been in the final film, unfortunately that wasn't to be! Nonetheless so chuffed to have been a part of it ... 

So now fast forward NINE YEARS to 2019 for my next involvement with WARHAMMER ... I was so delighted to be asked to audition for a character in a brand new BLACK LIBRARY AUDIO ADVENTURE called 'THE BEAST INSIDE'. I got the part (ROGUE TRADER Janus Draik) - more on him later! The rest is history I suppose, as I went on to be cast in FOUR further BLACK LIBRARY ADVENTURES in that year, ALL LEADING ROLES - great times! As well as Janus, I played Brezarrk (Northern Dwarf) in 'HEIRS OF GRIMNIR', Magnus The Red (The Crimson King) in 'MORNINGSTAR' (one of the BIGGEST characters - literally as he's over 20 feet tall - in the WARHAMMER UNIVERSE), Chamberlain Edmund Sark in 'BROKEN SAINTS - SISTER ADAMANTHEA' and Lord Oswal in 'DARKLY DREAMING' ...

Also a slight departure with a great WARHAMMER HORROR AUDIO DRAMA called 'DARKLY DREAMING' by JOSH REYNOLDS which was terrific fun to record ...

All of which culminated in me NARRATING MY FIRST FULL LENGTH WARHAMMER BOOK, 'BLACKSTONE FORTRESS' by DARIUS HINKS (Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins) playing over 30 characters, all based around Janus Draik's (there he is front and centre on the cover below!) exploits exploring the mysterious and dangerous Blackstone Fortress. It was a crazy year and a bit which ended as the 'thing that shall be named', reared its ugly head in early 2020!

Thanks for joining me on my trip down WARHAMMER 40,000 memory lane!

Linktree linktr.ee/SeanConnolly

 Acting website at www.seanconnolly.co.uk

Voice website at www.seanconnollyvoices.com

'Mahabharata Now' - Episodes 3 & 4 - The saga continues on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday 15th & 22nd October 2023 ...

I am delighted to be a small part within this RADIO ADAPTATION of 'THE MAHABHARATA', an epic that comprises one hundred thousand stanzas of verse divided into eighteen books, or parvas. It is the largest single literary work in existence. In Episodes 3 & 4 - Yash and Padma arrive in Manchester to begin their four year exile. I pop up as the WAREHOUSE SUPERVISOR in Episode 3 and in Episode 4 I can be heard playing a myriad of characters ... 

You can listen to 'MAHABHARATA NOW' on Sunday 15th & 22nd October 2023 at 3pm on BBC RADIO 4 ...

As previously mentioned across some of my socials, the recording session was an extraordinary happening, bringing a whole new meaning to the idea of 'remote' recordings. The UK-based cast recorded from LONDON at THE SOUNDHOUSE studios, linked up to the MUMBAI cast some 4,500 MILES AWAY. It all worked a treat, amazing really with the added bonus that the productions carbon footprint would be tiny by avoiding those long plane flights!! 

'MAHABHARATA NOW' was written by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle, produced by Helen Quigley and Andrew Mark Sewell and the director was Jatinder Verma ...

Here are the full production credits ...

Cast:

Dhruv: Neil Bhoopalam

Yash: Tavish Bhattacharyya

Padma: Ira Dubey

Shaks: Vivek Madan

Karthik: Sukant Goel

Gopi: Mina Anwar

Nyra: Abir Abrar

Swati: Rina Fatania

Emmi: Ayla Wheatley

Landlord: Dean Harris

Andy: Kenny Blyth

Warehouse Supervisor: Sean Connolly

Other characters played by Abir Abrar, Omkar Kulkarni, Devika Shahani Punjabi and Prerna Chawla

Sound Supervisor (Mumbai): Ayush Ahuja

Sound Design and Post Production: Wilfredo Acosta

Original Music: Imran Ahmad

Written by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle

Producer (Mumbai): Nadir Khan

Producer(s): Helen Quigley and Andrew Mark Sewell

Director: Jatinder Verma

A B7 Media production for BBC Radio 4

It promises to be an enthralling couple of episodes, can't wait to hear it for the first time this Sunday ... 

Linktree linktr.ee/SeanConnolly

 Acting website at www.seanconnolly.co.uk

Voice website at www.seanconnollyvoices.com