Cromwell’s Talking
Head must be one of the stranger audio plays (if you can call it that) that
I have ever listened to. It’s all
written and performed by Gareth Calway who, as you may have guessed, plays
Oliver Cromwell’s rotted yet somehow still sentient head. For what is basically a monologue with sound
effects, it’s pretty impressive, especially given that it divides itself into
ten chapters! It’s an interesting—and at
times, grisly—view of history. The idea
is that a grave robber (some time in the present) is holding a bewildered
conversation with the discovered head, which has long been separated from its
body (due to the last-minute switch by Cromwell’s family in the 1660s). The best moment is when Cromwell’s body writes
a postcard to his head. It’s trippy.
There are perhaps too many well-worn jokes and puns to be
completely palatable, but hats off (see what I did there?) to quite a unique
production.
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