by A.T. Boyle
About the story
This short audio play by A.T. Boyle is a pilot of a longer drama set in Blackpool that spans 125 years and two world wars.
Om, Pom, Pom involves live singing and a postcard sent by Jack (who lives in Salford) to Gina (who tours the resorts as an entertainer).
This audio experience celebrates the people who stayed in a single room of a seaside B&B in Blackpool… some passing through, others who never left.
Seagulls call and swoop, aiming to nab a third chip butty of the day and it’s not even dinner-time.
Children scream with laughter, or scream from fear at the top of a ride before it plunges. A toddler sobs when the dollop of ice cream inexplicably falls from its cone to the pavement (again). He cries because he knows he won’t get another. Traffic beeps, waves swish back and forth, back and forth.
An ordinary day in a regular seaside town. This town is Blackpool.
A hop, skip and a doughnut roll from the Tower and Central Pier is a rundown Victorian boarding house. Past the fruit machine in the hall (no, not your 5-a-day), up the thick old carpeted stairs one by one, facing you is a door, always open.
This bedroom has giant windows that look out to the Prom and the sands and all that’s going on. It’s a room filled with light, on a good day. This room has been home to many – some passing through, some coming back, some never leaving.
It is a room that takes care of memories.
About the author
Alison is multiply published as an author of children’s books and has commissioned hundreds of writers and illustrators and devised book and visual concepts. She was editor of a BBC weekly magazine, a publisher and consultant, she worked on international digital awards for the Department for Education and was launch editor of web book reviews for a telecomms company. Alison runs international collaborations, focusing on India, as part of Artificial Silk.
Her first audio story for adult readers entered in a BBC Radio 4 competition reached the shortlist. Her first fiction story entered into an international competition was shortlisted from over 2,000 entries then turned into a dual language Turkish and English tale and printed in a special edition foiled book in Cumbria.
Read a digital version of The Typing Man book
Under the name A.T. Boyle, Alison adapted her fiction story for a playscript which was performed with sound and light projections at Bluecoat arts centre in Liverpool, capturing the old quarter of Instanbul.
About the sound artist
Abi Hellam is a creative sound composer and producer. Born and based in Blackpool, she was commissioned by Artificial Silk to live-record audio samples along the north-west coastline in May and June 2025 for the play Om, Pom, Pom.
Abi began on North Pier and finished up at Coral Island, capturing a range of historically ambiguous recordings to conjure a sense of Blackpool not tied to a particular period.
The Wurlitzer recorded on the North Pier carousel, games in the arcades, seagulls crying over the crashing waves (during some very windy weather) are sounds that remain ever-present while the world around them continues to shift and change… like a postcard frozen in time.
About the characters and performers
In the short pilot outing of the audio play Om, Pom, Pom Maggie Pollard takes the role of May and A.T. Boyle takes the role of Maude.
Get involved
If you would like a role in developing Om, Pom, Pom in 2025 and 2026, email us at: artificialsilkorg @gmail.com
In the subject line of your message tell us what you are interested in (marketing, social media, singing, stage set, designer, visual art, sound tech, lighting, music, acting, production, general volunteer…)
We look forward to hearing from you.
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To read the other 5 commissions in Writing that Sings click here
