Lovely Jubilee

Lovely Jubilee is the first part of an ongoing radio soap opera (or serial, if you prefer) by Alison Plant, produced by Rhys Philips for Radio Cardiff.  Its settings are perhaps modest in scope—rival tea rooms in Cardiff gearing up for the Queen’s Jubilee weekend—but they are engagingly created in a short space of time and have already introduced us to endearing characters from just around the block (if you happen to live Cardiff, that is).  Having been professionally produced by a commercial radio station, the background sound-worlds of Lovely Jubilee are surprisingly dense.  Doilies with a Diff, whose proprietor Kate (Mab Jones) stocks more than 40 varieties of tea, is full of hustle and bustle; a more familial atmosphere is evoked in Tiger Bay Tea Rooms, where the family business is being enthusiastically spearheaded by Chris (Ryan Prior).  At first, it’s war:  a barrage of puns is exchanged in a Twitter smackdown, which frankly is quite up-to-the-minute and funny.  The Jubilee celebrations use an outdoor setting (and music by Aretha Franklin, no less!), obviously bankrolled by the likes of Radio Cardiff (a rather clever as well as functional insertion).  The future promises more compromises between the two establishments.  I, for one, want to know what’s going to happen next.