Innovative performance duo Hunt & Darton have been delivering their upbeat show, Radio Local, digitally over the summer: now, they will be hosting a one-of-a-kind live event in Mitcham, a specially socially distanced two-day performance of their hyper-local radio show in an independent Italian restaurant. Broadcast live from Gino’s Restaurant on Riverside Radio, the show will run for six hours a day on the 21st and 22nd August with special guest stars and interviewees including international drag sensation Le Gateau Chocolat, performer, writer and Mitcham resident Vijay Patel, The Mayor of Merton – Councillor Janice Howard and showcasing a plethora of Mitcham residents. Complete with neighbourhood anecdotes and interviews with local heroes, the show will celebrate everything about what it means to be local and will be built with, by and for residents of Mitcham.
Stringent budgets and an ever-increasing centralisation of the media have led to a devastating demise in support for local radio, with tens of local shows closing their networks earlier this year. Hunt & Darton will gather stories from Mitcham to create their shows, strap aerials to their heads and talk to residents live from Gino’s restaurant with tales highlighting activity local to their guests and what their area means to them. Covid-19 has meant that the show has only been able to be accessed digitally up until now, a pocket of positivity for disappointed theatregoers unable to attend live performance; now residents of Mitcham will once again be able to see the live show as well as hear it on their local radio station.
Full schedules will be unveiled at http://www.radiolocal.co.uk/
Drawing on their signature deadpan, playful and inclusive approach, Hunt & Darton will turn regular radio features into a series of absurd games: news bulletins? Local residents divulge anything from DIY successes to family births. Restaurant reviews? Giving Hunt & Darton plenty of time to compile a long list of must-eats before the return of business as usual. Agony aunt? Strangers share their problems in a kind, supportive environment.
Jenny Hunt and Holly Darton said “We feel privileged to have found a way to carry on making work in this adverse time. Radio is a superpower. We are ridiculously excited to still be able make this show with you all and show off some wonderful local communities, commission some great artists and share our collective experiences in this bizarre time. We feel more than ever the need to keep communities connected and to offer some light relief to people with limited travel and as people begin to embrace their neighbourhoods again as lockdown eases. We cannot wait to collaborate with you- let’s make some art, let’s make radio!”
