THE BOY FROM ALEPPO WHO PAINTED THE WAR
BBC Radio 4 | Saturday Drama | 8 November 2014 | 14:30
Based on the novel written by Sumia Sukkar
Dramatised for radio by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle
Story Synopsis
Farshid Rokey, Noof Ousellam and Jalleh Alizadeh lead an outstanding young cast in this heartrending drama, based on the moving debut novel by Sumia Sukkar.
The Boy from Aleppo who Painted the War presents the Syrian conflict through the eyes of Adam, a teenage boy with Asperger syndrome, who can only speak the truth.
As the war creeps ever closer to home, it devastates and disrupts the life of his family. Struggling to make sense of the conflict, as he and his family try to survive in an impossibly brutal world, Adam paints as a way to record and cope with the horrors he witnesses.
His older brothers face the dilemma of whether to take sides – and the consequences of their choices have repercussions for the entire family. But can they make it to safety as the conflict in Aleppo rages all around them?
The immediacy and impact of this drama bear witness to the horrors of war, its effect upon the innocent, and the triumph of the human spirit over almost unbearable adversity.
About the Author
The Boy from Aleppo who Painted the War is the first novel to come out of the Syrian conflict, and is the moving debut of Sumia Sukkar, a young writer who grew up in London but has Syrian heritage. The Times said that her novel is ‘written with an insider’s knowledge of the land and its people.’
About the Writers’
The Boy from Aleppo who Painted the War is dramatised by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle, whose highly regarded work for film and television includes Primeval (ITV), Robin Hood (BBC) and their own mini-series The Baker Street Irregulars (BBC 1) as well as adaptations of Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal (Sky 1) and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped (BBC 1). Most recently they adapted Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, a B7 Production for BBC Radio 4’s Dangerous Visions strand.
About the Director
Director Fiona McAlpine has produced many dramas for Radio 4, including A Larkin Double – Jill and A Girl in Winter for the Classic Serial in 2013. She recently directed Britten’s Got Talent for the New Wolsey Theatre, a new play about Benjamin Britten.
Cast
Adam Farshid Rokey
Yasmine Jalleh Alizadeh
Khalid Noof Ousellam
Baba Bijan Daneshmand
Tariq Amir El-Masry
Wasim Adam El Hagar
Nabil Ashraf Ejjbair
Miss Basma Abla George
Aunt Suha Shazia Nicholls
Production Team
Original Music Imran Ahmad
Sound Design Wilfredo Acosta
Broadcast Assistant Tom Du Croz
Producer Patrick Chapman
Executive Producer Andrew Mark Sewell
Director Fiona McAlpine
A B7 Production for 