005 Contemporary Drama – New
I was very, very impressed with the calibre of contemporary
drama in this quarter. Take, for
example, Rhoda and Pete Get Back on the
Scene by Ross Dunsmore. I admired
this drama for its ability to depict believable relationships between elderly
people and their grown-up children. The
prolonged intercut argument between new widow Rhoda (Elizabeth Counsell) and
her daughter Mairi (Valerie Goghan) and regretful, self-obsessed, panicked
percussionist Pete (Kenneth Cranham) and his long-suffering, yet patient son
Seb (Ryan Whittle), was quite impressive in its authenticity. Disagreeable,
damaged Rhoda has been taking care of her deranged husband for years, so his
death has come of something of a relief to her, and while visiting Mairi in
London, she just wants to fill her life with material goods. Pete is struggling to get out of bed in the
morning. Forced into “going for a meal”
together, things take quite an unexpected turn.
Nevertheless, a friendship has bloomed between the two, and perhaps a
romance for Mairi and Seb. This sounds
corny, but believe me, it wasn’t. It was
directed by Peter Kavanagh.
Just a Girl was
evidently the fourth series of this story this story about Amy (Molly Pipe), a
trans girl who has been on some hormone blockers but is making the decision
about whether to commit to surgery (she’s only 16). She and her grandfather Grant (Michael
Garner) are up in Manchester to attend a funeral, but also for Amy to get away
as she is having a disagreement with her mother. In Manchester, she falls for Ryley (Khalil
Madovi), with whom the chemistry is amazing—yet things get a little weird when
she tells him she’s trans. Having not
heard the earlier series, I don’t really know what the rest of this is like,
but I thought it was extremely thoughtfully written, especially the certainty
of Amy in contrast with Ryley’s second wave feminist mother (Jane Hazelgrove)
(think of Germaine Greer) who actually started to see things from Amy’s point
of view after speaking to Grant. Also, I
had a very disorienting experience walking through Eccles as I listened to this
drama, as the tram noises in the drama made me automatically look around to
make sure I wasn’t going to get run over the by the tram. It was a Naked Production directed by Melanie
Harris, produced by Polly Thomas, and with a special guest appearance from Kate
O’Donnell playing herself.
However, hats off to what may be (in my opinion) the best
drama broadcast on Radio 4 all year, In the Shadows. It was made in the US, with American
actors, recorded on location in NYC (though it is set in Chicago), and the
author is American with a clearly authentic grasp of the life of the average
Chicagoan. If this is the future of
American radio drama, then bring it on. Elena (Elaine Valdez) is a teenager
from a Mexican background; she was born in the US, but her parents are
illegal. She and her best friend CiCi
(Maria Diaz) are planning their quinciñeras
(helpfully, Mrs O’Connor [Paulie Lee], the Irish-American nun who runs the quince classes, explains what they are, that
is, the important rite of passage for young women when they turn 15). In the midst of this, Elena finds out she is
type 1 diabetic; part of the jeopardy of the story is that she cannot manage
her condition properly because her parents fear to go to a hospital where they
could be found by ICE and deported.
Elena’s father Camilo (Eric Betancourt) works for Doug (Pete McGilligan),
a small businessman who ultimately has to let Camilo go because ICE are
cracking down on businesses that employ illegal immigrants. What is clear from this depiction is that
although Doug is working in his own best interests, he is not “anti” Mexican or
“anti” immigration. The ICE officers
themselves—though depicted in less depth than I would have preferred, and
sounding rather like Agents Pierce and Marshall from Wolverine: The Long Night—have
ambivalent attitudes; the great hypocrisy of the scene where they eat lunch in
a Mexican restaurant is lost on no one, not even them. They are served by Elena’ mother, Rosa
(Arlene Chico-Luco), who is learning English.
While the optimistic ending feels just a little too rosy, overall I
thought this was a fantastic radio drama.
It was a Corporation for Independent Media production written by Susan
Lieberman and directed by Judith Kampfner.
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