ANITA SULLIVAN playwright

The measure of a man

 

Three elderly tailors are commissioned to make a bespoke waistcoat, coat and trousers for a very particular customer. The fabric is the most expensive on earth, the contract is diabolical.

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'Rock of Eye' is a bespoke tailoring term, meaning to take the measure of a man by eye. In traditional tailoring the trousers, waistcoat and coat ('only potatoes wear jackets') are made by three different specialists who may never meet. I learned about the business from Tom 'Tinker Tailor' in Brighton, now retired.

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'Rock of Eye' is an original Afternoon Drama for Radio 4. It was first broadcast July 2011 starring Malcolm Storry and Catrin Stewart, with Allan Corduner and Stephen Marzella.

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Produced by Kate McAll BBC Wales. Directed by Anita Sullivan.

Original music by John Beagley.