Pam Fraser Solomon
Born
Guyana
NationalityBritish
Alma materMiddlesex University
OccupationProducer/director
OrganizationMountview Academy of Theatre Arts

Pam Fraser Solomon FRSA is a British producer/director of Guyanese heritage, whose work spans four decades in theatre, radio, film, television and education, winning prizes such as the Commission for Racial Equality "Race in the Media Award" in 1999. She worked for 16 years with BBC Radio, where she was a senior producer. Her career in fringe and repertory theatre includes working for venues such as the Sheffield Crucible and the Theatre Royal Stratford East, and she is currently the Head of Creative Producing at Mountview drama school.[1]

Background

Born in Guyana and raised in London, England, Pam Fraser Solomon holds a master's degree from Middlesex University.[2] Her early career included work in fringe and repertory theatre, with venues such as the Sheffield Crucible, the Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Haymarket Theatre, and as a director for theatre companies Temba and BTC (Black Theatre Co-operative) in the 1980s.[3] Bonnie Greer quoted Fraser Solomon in a 2006 Guardian article as saying: "In those days, black theatre was the new kid on the block, surviving from production to production or, if you were very lucky, season to season....The difference between black theatre and the rest was that many of us had degrees in drama or English, even physics – but we didn't dress the stage with it. You didn't have to be into theatre to make black theatre, and black theatre didn't always happen in black theatre spaces. But oddly, everyone knew exactly what they were talking about when they said 'black theatre'. Often we were expected to be 'black' and produce something alternative, preferably 'ghetto'. Funding bodies could ask you to be 'theatre' today and 'black' tomorrow. It was shifting sands."[3]

Speaking of how her Guyanese heritage and the experience of growing up in London as a Black woman has impacted her work, Fraser Solomon has said: "People like me with experiences that can inform characterisation and storytelling, subtly changing the emphasis, can lead drama away from comfort zones. This doesn't make me better than others, but it makes my contribution equally valid. I see the world through the eyes of a Black woman, so in that sense all my intuition eventually leads back to that fact."[4]

From 1991, Fraser Solomon was for 16 years a senior producer with BBC Radio, where she directed more than a hundred hours of audio dramas,[1] and she was involved in major arts events such as the Africa95 and Africa '05 festivals, as well as the 2007 Abolition commemoration season.[5] She wrote and produced for BBC Radio 4 in January 2001 the programme Stealing the Glory, about the Arctic explorer Matthew Henson, presented by Colin Salmon.[6]

Her television drama work encompasses producing several episodes of EastEnders and Holby City, and she was the development producer for the BBC short film One Night In White Satin.[1][7] She was an executive producer of the 2007 BBC2 television documentary In Search of Wilberforce, presented by Moira Stuart.[8]

Also in 2007, Fraser Solomon produced on BBC Radio 3 The Lamplighter,[9] by Jackie Kay, who has written about the commissioning of the work for the season marking the bicentenary of the Slave Trade Act 1807: "After we had finished recording The Lamplighter, we sat around talking about the complex business of what we remember and what we forget. Pam Fraser Solomon said that her great grandmother, whose mother had been born enslaved, often had an enigmatic expression on her face. She'd say: 'I'm just listening to where the breeze is coming from.' I thought of all the silences - the silences from African people who do not want their children to hear about slavery, and from white people who do not want to discuss the family tree with its roots in a plantation in the Caribbean."[10]

Continuing her career as a freelance producer, director and script editor, Fraser Solomon was involved in projects including the production of the documentary film Divided by Race, United in War and Peace, about Caribbean war veterans and their struggles against colour prejudice and racism.[11] She took up the position of Head of MA Creative Producing at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 2018.[12] She is also Co-Chair of Theatre Deli.[2] Addressing the "[m]ismatch between BAME stories and performances when compared to presence in the boardroom, she has written: "Organisations should examine internal structures that block gateways to leadership reflective of ethos and mission statement."[13]

Among her awards as a producer/director are a 1999 Commission for Racial Equality "Race in the Media Award" (RIMA) for Radio Drama[14] as director of Margaret Busby's play based on C. L. R. James's 1936 novel Minty Alley,[15] first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1998, featuring Geff Francis, Vivienne Rochester and Burt Caesar.[16][17]

Fraser Solomon has served as a judge for prizes including The Whickers Radio & Audio Funding Award (RAFA) in 2020.[18]

Selected work

Theatre

  • 1990: Zindika, Paper and Stone — director (Black Theatre Co0operative, at the Albany Empire)[19]

Radio

Television

  • 2006: One Night in White Satin — development producer (BBC TV)
  • 2007: In Search of Wilberforce, presented by Moira Stuart, documentary examining the role of anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce — executive producer (BBC 2)

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Pam Fraser Solomon - Head of Creative Producing". Mountview. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Board of Trustees". Theatre Deli. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  3. 1 2 Greer, Bonnie (17 May 2006). "The great black hope". The Guardian.
  4. ↑ Campion, Mukti Jain (October 2005). "Look Who's Talking Cultural Diversity, Public Service Broadcasting and the National Conversation" (PDF). Nuffield College, Oxford. p. 57. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  5. ↑ "Pam Fraser Solomon". The London Conversations. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  6. ↑ "Stealing the Glory". matthewson.com. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  7. ↑ "Pam Fraser Solomon". IMDb. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  8. ↑ "In search of Wilberforce (BBC 2)". 1807 Commemorated | The abolition of the slave trade. 16 March 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  9. ↑ "The Lamplighter (BBC Radio 3)". 1807 Commemorated. Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past and the Institute of Historical Research. 2007. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  10. ↑ Kay, Jackie (24 March 2007). "Missing faces". The Guardian.
  11. ↑ "The Project". Divided by Race, United in War and Peace. The-Latest.com. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  12. ↑ Grady, Chris (12 July 2018). "Creative producers make more than the tea". My Theatre Mates. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  13. ↑ Fraser Soomon, Pam. "BAME Leadership for the Future". Devoted & Disgruntled. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  14. ↑ "CRE Race in the media awards 2002 | 10th Anniversary programme" (PDF). jstor. Commission for Racial Equality. 2 April 2002. p. 100. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  15. ↑ "Non Traditional Channels – A Publishing and Lit Conversation — Contributor Biographies". Sable LitMag. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  16. ↑ "Minty Alley (Afternoon Play)". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  17. ↑ Hodge, Barry (June 2012). "Radio Drama & Readings, radio 4, 1999". The Afternoon Play. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  18. ↑ "2020 RAFA Award winners announced". The Whickers. 17 November 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  19. ↑ Abram, Nicola (2010). Black British Women's Theatre: Intersectionality, Archives, Aesthetics. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 164, 172. ISBN 978-3-030-51458-7.
  20. ↑ "The Sunday Play: Anowa". Radio Times. 7 September 1995. p. 96. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  21. ↑ "Coloured People". Radio Times. BBC. 14 September 1995. p. 121. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  22. ↑ "AS Byatt - Gode's Story". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  23. ↑ "Afternoon Play: Mule". Radio Times. 23 November 1995. p. 129. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  24. ↑ "Beyond a Boundary", BBC, Radio Times, Issue 3787, 22 August 1996: Abridged in five parts (25–30 August 1996) by Margaret Busby, produced by Pam Fraser Solomon.
  25. ↑ "Grinning from Ear to Ear". Radio Times. 22 February 1996. p. 103.
  26. ↑ "The Monday Play: Spell Number 7". Radio Times. 8 August 1996. p. 103.
  27. ↑ "The Late Book: Devil in a Blue Dress". Radio Times. 28 March 1996. p. 109. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  28. ↑ "Dilemma". Radio Times. 31 October 1996. p. 127.
  29. ↑ "The Late Book: Going to Meet the Man". Radio Times. 3 April 1997. p. 113. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  30. ↑ "The Late Book: The White Boy Shuffle". Radio Times. 17 July 1997. p. 117.
  31. ↑ "Short Story: The Winner". Radio Times. 13 November 1997. p. 137.
  32. ↑ "The Late Book: Something to Hide". Radio Times. 8 January 1998. p. 119.
  33. ↑ Deacon, Nigel. "BBC Radio Plays, radio 4, 1998". Diversity Website. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  34. ↑ "Deborah Moggach – Playing the Part". BBC Radio 4.
  35. ↑ "The Saturday Play: The Little Prince". Radio Times. 16 December 1999. p. 189. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  36. ↑ "Stealing the Glory: the Conquest of the North Pole". Radio Times. 21 December 2000. p. 197.
  37. ↑ "Afternoon Play: Hidden History: Blood for Britain". Radio Times. 8 October 2001. p. 145.
  38. ↑ "The Saturday Play: Queen Gertrude PLC". Radio Times. 20 September 2001. p. 131. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  39. ↑ "Hidden History: Universal Tongue". Radio Times. 11 October 2001. p. 151.
  40. ↑ "Afternoon Play: Love in the Afternoon - Courtin' Miss Lucie". Radio Times. 5 September 2002. p. 125.
  41. ↑ Redfield, Mark (23 February 2003). "Director's Diary". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  42. ↑ Redfield, Mark (23 September 2009). "An old 'Tradition' Reborn – Radio Plays". An Actor's Diary. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  43. ↑ "Listings – Black History Month: Yaa Asantewaa". Radio Times. 13 October 2003. p. 131. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  44. ↑ "Yaa Asantewaa". RadioListings. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  45. ↑ Reynolds, Gillian (6 January 2004). "Joyful journey to the Celestial City". The Telegraph.
  46. ↑ "Classic Serial: Northanger Abbey". Radio Times. 15 September 2005. p. 131. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  47. ↑ "Twenty Minutes – Interval programming for Performance on 3 and Opera on 3". Radio Listings. 23 November 2005. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  48. ↑ "Drama on 3: The Lamplighter". Radio Times. 4 October 2007. p. 140. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  49. ↑ "The Black Chord". 1807 Commemorated. 13 March 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  50. ↑ "Stories From Notting Hill". Radio Listings. August 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  51. ↑ "Stories from Notting Hill". CultureWise.com. 17 September 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
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