Chris Attaway and Beth Lewis
Chris Attaway is a freelance audio producer. His partner Beth Lewis is an actor and writer. They live in Birmingham with their toddler Suky, and their dog Mouse.
They are creators of the audio short Hannah, a piece that totally blew Shreya and me away at Tribeca, which we heard in Talia Augustidis’ In the Dark audio event. Press play then sit back and enjoy. Chris also published a podcast episode sharing what happens next, if you're interested!
Shreya Sharma: Describe Beth Tapes: Hannah in 5 words or less.
Chris Attaway: Stages of grief, but renting
Beth Lewis: Awkwardly autobiographical millennial angst
SS: Where did the inspiration for Beth Tapes: Hannah come from?
CA: The prompt came from Beth’s writer’s group. As for the actual inspiration, I’ll let Beth answer that one. It’s very personal.
BL: Yeah, I started a writing group with some friends in lockdown. Each week we’d set a group homework - they were just meant to be quick, silly ideas to loosen us up a bit, but the temptation to try and make the others laugh (or cry) was always too strong and I spent far too long on them. Sadly I can’t find what the prompt was for Hannah, but we were trying to find somewhere to live, and lockdown was just starting to lift. It was such a weird time. It was like we’d had a reprieve from all the usual expectations of life, that surviving was enough, but suddenly all the pressure to achieve and be proper people again came flooding back in. I suppose really it’s also about how ridiculous we all are. You can spend months terrified your family will be taken from you, seeing the pain other people are going through, but when you’re finally in a room together again having an argument about which draw a pan should go in. We’re funny little ego-bound things.
SS: What’s one piece of audio you’ve listened to and thought ‘wow, I wish I made that.’?
CA: Jesse Lawson made a piece for Short Cuts a few years ago, called Bats in the Attic. They describe it as “a bit about bats and a lot about grief”. I cried when I heard it. The metaphor was so perfect. One of my best friends died when I was 21 and I’ve wanted to make something about that for years. If I can make anything close to Jesse’s piece I’ll be happy.
BL: I’m such a sucker for good BBC audio drama, especially if it’s spooky. I thought The Hotel by Daisy Johnson was amazing. Interweaving horror with feminist themes and incredible acting - just brilliant.
SS: Who are your dream audio producers to collaborate with?
CA: I’m late to the party but I absolutely can not get enough of Valley Heat at the moment (I can feel Beth rolling her eyes at me) so I’d love to make something with Christian Duguay
BL: Anyone, any project, let’s go. This is going to sound ridiculous because we live together, but I wish Chris and I made more together. Having a toddler has made it trickier than it should be.
SS: Should we make more short-form audio? Why?
CA: Absolutely! I like the punchy feel to short audio. You get in, make your point, and get out. No hanging around. And having a time restraint can often force you to get creative. For example, I always love taking part in the KCRW 24hr Radio Race and I love hearing everyone’s pieces afterwards. People are so talented.
BL: Of course! We need more places to put them too.
SS: What’s one thing you’d like to see more of in podcasting?
CA: More stories from real people. I feel like I’m always bollocking on about this but normal people are so much more interesting than celebrities. Just listen to Where Are You Going? and you’ll see that regular people are so much more charming and funny than any celeb. Having said that, I will absolutely produce the next Celebrity-Chats-To-Another-Celebrity podcast because god knows I need the money!
BL: Same, just more platforms and opportunities for the many talented people out there making brilliant audio, that isn’t just two celebs chatting about nothing for an hour.
SS: If you weren’t an audio producer, what would you be?
CA: I’d probably still be working in the school I was working in before I quit to pursue audio. If it wasn’t for Beth believing in me, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do it.
BL: Sadly my day-job is winning the battle for now. One day. One lovely day.
Thanks, Chris and Beth!