David Tennant Audios: 'Sunburst Finish' (2002)
David Tennant Audios: 'Sunburst Finish' (2002)
...aka my (other) favorite David Tennant audio drama
Hello again, everyone! Today we’ll be discussing David’s 2002 audio drama, Sunburst Finish!
A bit ago I posted a long discussion about one of my favorites of David’s audio projects, the 2003 audio drama Tuesdays & Sundays by Daniel Arnold and Medina Hahn. If you missed that and want to read more about it, you can read about it in more depth below:
Today’s deep dive is into my other favorite audio drama - 2002’s Sunburst Finish by Andrea Gibb, with Paddy Cunneen.
I say “other favorite” because boy, do I do a lot of flip-flopping between these two audio dramas. One day one will be my all-time favorite, but then if you ask me the same question the next week, you’ll probably get a different answer. They’re both just SO stellar, and David is sublime in both. So don’t ask me which one I prefer!
Speaking of Gibb and Cunneen - Sunburst Finish isn’t the first (or last) time David’s worked with them. In an earlier post I discussed 1997’s Bite, a fantastic short also written by Gibb, with music composed by Cunneen. You can read more about Bite right here:
Here’s a little bit about the author(s): Andrea Gibb is an award-winning Scottish screenwriter/actor. As an actor she’s best known as Deirdre in All Creatures Great And Small, and as a screenwriter? You name it! Dear Frankie, Call The Midwife, AfterLife, Mayflies…I could go on and on! Her ex-husband Paddy Cunneen is an award-winning Scottish theatre director, playwright and composer for radio, TV and film. Some of his best-known works include scores for Boy A, King Lear and Twelfth Night, and for his plays Fleeto and Wee Andy. He’s also an Associate Music Director of the Cheek by Jowl Theatre.
Throughout David’s career, he and Cunneen have worked on many of the same projects. Other than Bite and Sunburst Finish, Cunneen’s composed the music scores for three more plays starring David: 1995’s An Experienced Woman Gives Advice, 1999’s Vassa, and 2003’s The Pillowman.
But back to Sunburst Finish! I don’t know half as much about this play - what was its inspiration (was it based in real life events?), was it written specifically for audio, was the lead character called ‘Davey’ by coincidence or specifically for David, what if anything was the significance behind the title Sunburst Finish, etc? - as I’d like to know. But I’ll tell you what I do know: Sunburst Finish was produced by BBC Radio, and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as the Friday Play. It went out at 9-10pm on 24 May 2002. David played Davey, the lead role. It was directed by Gaynor Macfarlane. Other cast members were Julie Austin as Amy, Ewan Stewart as Uncle Gus, and Helen Lomax as Georgie.
It’s hard to talk in-depth about the plot of this audio without giving the thing away, but here’s a little something from The Guardian (trigger warning - references to self-harm). It describes the play as follows: “Davey is a gifted music undergraduate with plenty of friends, who appears to have everything going for him - except that he doesn’t want to live.”
And also, here’s the play’s BBC Genome entry:
It appears the play was received very well, for in 2004, Gibb and Cunneen adapted 'Sunburst Finish’ for the stage. Some 2nd year acting students from David’s alma mater, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (the RSAMD, now the Royal Conservatoire) put on a production. On 23 February 2004, it was performed at the Dundee Repertory Theatre (in association with the Rep).
The production was also performed at the Tron as part of the RSAMD student Play:ground season, and ran for one night only on 3 March 2004. Emun Elliott (Black Watch, Star Wars, Guilt and Game of Thrones) played Davey, and Paul Blair played Uncle Gus.
The Scotsman had this to say about the play: “…Here, though, the subject is the confusion and despair of a final-year music student who - despite the concern of his parents, sister and girlfriend, and the gruffly affectionate care of his uncle Gus, an aging rocker turned sheep-farmer - finds the darkness in his mind too much to bear. There’s a conventional hint of untold family secrets and lies at the root of the boy’s despair…”
But back to David’s version!
For a brief and glorious period in 2018, Sunburst Finish was uploaded to the Internet Archive. It was swiftly removed because REASONS, but many (me-me-me-me!) got to enjoy it, including this iconic moment when Davey sings Nirvana’s 'All Apologies’ with his uncle Gus, and this adorable little singy-song to Semisonic’s 'Secret Smile’!
(ETA: So here’s a link to the full audio…get it while you can!)
If you’re interested in the play and want to read it, you can…sort of? If you can find the stage screenplay adaptation, that is. One was published in 2004 by Capercaillie Books Limited, but it’s sold out everywhere I looked - and as I really wanted one, believe me, I’ve looked!
There’s also a printed version available at the University of Glasgow, though! It’s a 103 pg 4th draft script of the audio play - not the stage adaptation - and it’s held in the Scottish Theatre Archive collection. I wish I’d read it when I was doing my postgrad work at the university in 2018-2019, but I had so many other things on my research plate, it (sadly) slipped through the cracks.
And that’s it for 'Sunburst Finish’!