Adrift in Soho
Young writer HARRY PRESTON (Owen Drake) arrives in the London district of Soho sometime in the late Fifties. In a Soho pub he befriends the local characters who will change his life. They are JAMES CO…
Adrift in Soho
Young writer HARRY PRESTON (Owen Drake) arrives in the London district of Soho sometime in the late Fifties. In a Soho pub he befriends the local characters who will change his life. They are JAMES COMPTON-STREET (Chris Wellington) a permanently out-of-work actor and bon vivant in his late 20s who knows a thousand and one ways of making a living without actually working and DOREEN (Caitlin Harrys), a pretty 20-year-old American student visiting London and with whom HARRY will fall in love. Through his new acquaintances HARRY also comes into contact with MARCUS (Angus Howard) and JO (Emily Seale-Jones), two young filmmaking hopefuls in their mid 20s who use their Bolex cameras to film documentary scenes and interviews with the Soho characters while getting involved in the first CND demo. MARCUS and JO's activities will take them to film in jazz clubs, pubs and also moments of their friend's intimate relationships. They interview the unusual suspects that perambulate Soho every night, such as IRON FOOT JACK (Martin Calcroft), a self-styled bohemian charlatan; THE COUNT (William Chubb), an aristocrat fallen on hard times and MARTY (Olly Warrington), a prospective Marxist revolutionary trying to find and enthuse 'the masses' to embrace revolution. JAMES STREET and HARRY strike a relationship through which HARRY gets to know the inner workings of SOHO and JAMES gets paid for some of his food and drinks. As a bonus, JAMES takes the opportunity to display his many talents to HARRY and use him as his own personal captive audience. MARCUS and JO continue with their Soho filming activities but find they have different filmmaking ideas. MARCUS wants to move into commercials and make money while JO wants to make worthy documentaries. JO comes into contact with MARTY while filming and immediately finds him a kindred spirit. JO teaches MARTY the secrets of filmmaking while MARTY helps JO meet a seasoned Free Cinema filmmaker who is organising one of the first ever anti-nuclear marches, the 'March to Aldermaston'. As a result of the meeting MARTY and JO get a job as part of the team who will film the march. The decade of the 50s is drawing to a close and the future finally catches up with JAMES and other Soho characters of the period. The 60s is just around the corner. During the decade of the 1950s a man or woman could live their entire life within the confines of the Soho neighbourhood without ever leaving it. In those extreme cases, 'Sohoitis' would set-in with a vengeance. HARRY's learning curve in Soho also includes discovering the real meaning and consequences of Sohoitis.
Adrift in Soho
Drama
Film Details
Young writer HARRY PRESTON (Owen Drake) arrives in the London district of Soho sometime in the late Fifties. In a Soho pub he befriends the local characters who will change his life. They are JAMES COMPTON-STREET (Chris Wellington) a permanently out-of-work actor and bon vivant in his late 20s who knows a thousand and one ways of making a living without actually working and DOREEN (Caitlin Harrys), a pretty 20-year-old American student visiting London and with whom HARRY will fall in love.
Through his new acquaintances HARRY also comes into contact with MARCUS (Angus Howard) and JO (Emily Seale-Jones), two young filmmaking hopefuls in their mid 20s who use their Bolex cameras to film documentary scenes and interviews with the Soho characters while getting involved in the first CND demo. MARCUS and JO's activities will take them to film in jazz clubs, pubs and also moments of their friend's intimate relationships. They interview the unusual suspects that perambulate Soho every night, such as IRON FOOT JACK (Martin Calcroft), a self-styled bohemian charlatan; THE COUNT (William Chubb), an aristocrat fallen on hard times and MARTY (Olly Warrington), a prospective Marxist revolutionary trying to find and enthuse 'the masses' to embrace revolution.
JAMES STREET and HARRY strike a relationship through which HARRY gets to know the inner workings of SOHO and JAMES gets paid for some of his food and drinks. As a bonus, JAMES takes the opportunity to display his many talents to HARRY and use him as his own personal captive audience. MARCUS and JO continue with their Soho filming activities but find they have different filmmaking ideas.
MARCUS wants to move into commercials and make money while JO wants to make worthy documentaries. JO comes into contact with MARTY while filming and immediately finds him a kindred spirit. JO teaches MARTY the secrets of filmmaking while MARTY helps JO meet a seasoned Free Cinema filmmaker who is organising one of the first ever anti-nuclear marches, the 'March to Aldermaston'.
As a result of the meeting MARTY and JO get a job as part of the team who will film the march. The decade of the 50s is drawing to a close and the future finally catches up with JAMES and other Soho characters of the period. The 60s is just around the corner.
During the decade of the 1950s a man or woman could live their entire life within the confines of the Soho neighbourhood without ever leaving it. In those extreme cases, 'Sohoitis' would set-in with a vengeance. HARRY's learning curve in Soho also includes discovering the real meaning and consequences of Sohoitis..