005 Contemporary Drama – New
A Night Visitor by
Stephanie Jacob was not what I expected when I first started listening—I thought
it was going to be a horror story. It
was definitely a distinctive and worthy play.
Hillary (Stella Gonnar) and Tom (David Cann) have moved from London to
rural Norfolk in order to retrench. He
owned a restaurant but lost all the money on drink. She is an English teacher. They have a memorable visit from a pig during
a storm. At first they are terrified of
it, but it becomes Hillary’s friend. It
belongs to the neighbor Martin (Carl Prekopp), who oddly enough is also a
diver. Hillary can’t bear to give up her
pig, with whom she goes running in the woods at night naked. Tom accidentally runs the pig over, so they
rush to prepare her into food. Martin
then comes by and reclaims the pig particles as his own; too bad, he was
interested in Hillary. It seems as
though the married couple have been brought closer together in this bizarre
incident. I have to say this, it used
sound very creatively with all the pig noises, including the sounds of bristles
being scrubbed off and flesh being hacked!
It was directed by David Hunter.
Life Lines, a 15 Minute Drama by Al Smith, was
superb. The protagonist was an emergency
dispatcher. Each call that began each of
the five segments did not end as you thought it would, particularly the call
that started the first episode, in which a woman dials to order pizza, which
the dispatcher realizes is because she cannot openly be seen to be calling
emergency services. Eventually another
man calls, trying to get her address, and the emergency services are able to
successfully fob him off and save her from an abusive relationship. In another, a young father has to be talked
off the bridge where he has brought his infant son. The son is saved, but the man jumps, despite
the dispatcher’s best efforts. The
dispatcher herself realizes through the play that she is better at dealing with
other people’s emergencies than connecting with her policeman boyfriend. They have some harsh words, and it takes her
four episodes to tell him that she’s pregnant. Despite a slight anti-climax in
the resolution (though I suppose a happy ending was a relief after all that
angst), I thought this series was very good.
It starred Sarah Ridgway and was directed by Sally Avens.
I started listening to Wounded
Light by John Lynch not believing I would like it, but it was very
interesting and seared with emotion.
James Lochlan (John Lynch) is a successful writer who is being given an
award by his hometown of Trevento in Italy (where his mother is from). He has been living in Northern Ireland for
most of his life. There is a mystery
surrounding why his mother (played when older by Sian Phillips and by Sofia
DiMartino when younger) visited her hometown once and then never again. With his mother unable to accompany him to
accept the award due to her Alzheimer’s, he goes on his own, though his mother
is always in his thoughts, communicating with him. It’s something that could only work on radio
as his mother manifests in multiple ways:
as her sadly confused Alzheimer’s-afflicted self, as his lucid guide in
the manner of Dide in Blood, Sex, and
Money, and as her younger self when she believed God visited judgment upon
her. Despite the overwhelming quality of
these mommy issues, there are some haunting images in this play—such as the
statue of Jesus that fell into the sea, which has become a tourist
attraction. A play that understood the
medium. It also starred Cesare Tabrose,
Rosina Carbone, and Una Kavanagh and was directed by Nadia Molinari.
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