FROM THE STONE AGE (Place Prints/New Perspectives)****

 

By Sophie

Link: https://www.newperspectives.co.uk/?idno=1168&s=82

Available until: Unknown

This Place Print is in two parts. Part 1 is called Cave Girl and Part 2 is From the Stone Age. The stories feature the same characters, but they are separate. Part 1 was reviewed yesterday.

After her Stone Age experiences in the last episode, Kerry finds herself once more in a difficult and potentially supernatural situation. She’s out with Sharon, Gary and Dean again, driving through the Sussex countryside. It’s a bit too late to get home before dark, but if they can get home before daylight, that would suit them rather well.

Things take a sinister turn when Kerry sees some people crossing the road and screams at Gary to stop the car, which he does, but her friends didn’t see them and are inclined to think she imagined it. Kerry, however, isn’t entirely disappointed they didn’t see them. She realises her connection with the Stone Age didn’t vanish that day at the castle.

When Gary attempts to start the car, there is some sort of technical malfunction which I can’t even begin to understand, and Kerry is unfairly blamed for this. They get out in an attempt to find help, and reality slowly falls away again, leaving Kerry uncertain where she is, when she is, and what exactly is happening to her this time. Drama, creepiness and horror follows as she attempts to make sense of her situation.

There is no text for the Place Prints plays, and I had trouble hearing some of the words, particularly in this part, but it makes a real difference if I listen to each story twice. I think, once I have the general gist of where the story is going, it is easier to pick out individual words the second time around. But even after two listens, there were some parts of the recording which I was unable to hear properly so there could be some vital information I completely missed.

Rachel Summers again gives a brilliant performance as a Kerry who is slightly older and wiser but no less likeable (except perhaps to certain male idiots sharing her company). She shows Kerry’s fears and anger very well and she brings David Rudkin’s descriptions vividly to life. Her friends have less of a role in this story and the onus is even more on Rachel to carry the entire narrative, which she does very successfully. As Kerry tries to make sense of everything, she also uncovers some fascinating facts about the area and the people who once lived there. Grace Cordell, Harpal Hayal and Ben Welch continue their good work in characterising Sharon, Gary and Dean. (Or Sharon, Dean and Gary.) Neale Birch again makes the vocal equivalent of an appearance.

More characters feature in this story, but David Rudkin has chosen not to give them a voice, thus strengthening the idea that they are not part of our world. Director Jack McNamara keeps the tension going wonderfully, giving us no time to speculate about what might be going on before David gives the story an unexpected twist which is both thrilling and heartrending (and which I completely misunderstood the first time, so the second listen was very necessary).

Place Prints continues to be an intriguing series, which each story going in a new direction. Anything could happen in the five episodes that follow.