Full casting has been announced for 45North and Ellie Keel Productions upcoming pieces Recognition and The Giant Pacific Octopus School, both part of the audio play series Written on the Waves.

Amanda Wilkin and Rachael Nanyonjo’s Recognition will be available from 17 February and is based on the life and music of Afro-English composer and conductor, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. It will be directed by Nanyonjo and will star Obioma Ugoala (Samuel) and Shiloh Coke (Song). Ugoala’s previous credits include Hamilton, Motown, The Jungle Book, Much Ado About Nothing. He will also originate the role of Kristoff for the West End run of Disney’s Frozen.

Coke’s previous credits include Emilia, Small Island, Misty, The Tempest, The Chaplain and The Litter.

The piece will feature original music from Mercury Award-nominated and Ivors Academy Award winning composer, arranger and alto-saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi.

Written by Amanda Wilkin, it features sound design and editing by Tom Foskett-Barnes, and musical mastering by Ollie Shelton. The piano, violin and cello will be played by Deschanel Gordon, Fra Rustumji, and Zara Hudson-Kozdoj respectively.

Jaclyn Backhaus’ The Giant Pacific Octopus Maritime School will be released on 8 April and is the penultimate piece in the series, with the final play due to be announced soon. CEO and Creative Director of 45North, Jessica Rose McVey, will direct.

The piece stars Adjoa Andoh (Richard II, Troilus and Cressida, Leave Taking, Assata Taught Me, Soul, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, plus series regular Lady Danbury in Bridgerton and DI Nina Rosen in Silent Witness) as Emma, Sam Crerar as Ilya in their professional debut since graduating from LAMDA in 2020, Andrew Gower (Conquest of the South Pole, Terror Tales, 1984) as Guy, Amita Suman (The Outpost, Ackley Bridge, Shadow and Bone) as Priya and Manjinder Virk (Bodies, A Kind of People, Midsomer Murders, Ordinary Lies, Hunted) as Seema.    

The audio plays can be accessed from the aforementioned dates here.