Lake play to air live on British radio

Visual and Media Arts Assistant Professor Diane Lake will be on hand for the broadcast of her radio play The Casebook of Violet Strange: The Inseparables live on Britain’s Tequila Radio on Friday, June 11, at 10:00 am EST via live stream.

Lake’s inspiration for the play was the work of Anna Katherine Green, one of the first mystery writers in Canada and the U.S. in the late 1800s. The play tells the story of Violet Strange, an 18-year-old woman who becomes a detective in post-World War I London to uncover the culprit in a string of thefts. Three young society women, who call themselves The Inseparables, always seem to be nearby when things disappear. Violet, being their age and able to infiltrate their crowd, is put on the case despite the fact that she is a woman, a rarity for women in those days.

“I’m looking forward to being a part of the process,” said Lake. “It was great fun writing something so dependent on sound and I can’t wait to see how it all comes together.”

The all-live production will be directed by Richard Hand and produced by Mary Traynor. The sound effects have been devised by Rob Dean and the music composed by Ben Challis. The performers will include Stephen Lacey and Geraint D’Arcy as well as drama, music, and media students from British colleges.

Besides teaching screenwriting at Emerson, Lake has been a working screenwriter since 1993, commissioned to write films for Columbia, Disney, Miramax, Paramount, and NBC. Lake’s film Frida opened the Venice Film Festival in 2002, and was named one of the 10 Best Films of 2002 by numerous top 10 lists, including the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. Frida was also nominated for six Academy Awards in 2003.