By Dave
Link: https://www.newperspectives.co.uk/?idno=1168&s=82
Available until: Unknown
Place Prints is a series of short
audio dramas written by David Rudkin, focusing on different parts of the
British Isles. It seems to focus on very specific places with a story to tell,
places we probably wouldn’t know about unless we happened to live there.
These stories are available to listen to on the New Perspectives site and also on a number of podcast sites.
The first play is River, Of Course,
a monologue performed by Richard Lynch. It’s told from the point of view of
someone who haunts the river crossing and has done for a long time.
A couple of thousand years ago, the
protagonist was asked a question – and he replied truthfully. The people who
asked could have found out the answer for themselves but he was still the one
who gave the answer and now he has to live with that.
Of course he doesn’t strictly ‘live’.
He’s not alive. But he still exists, always standing beside the river crossing,
watching the many changes but powerless to do anything. Powerless to stop
feeling this is all his fault.
The story is compellingly written,
filled with pain and guilt but also giving us all the information we need to
picture and understand the story. Richard Lynch performs it very well,
explaining the events and the results of it with the strong sense of guilt
that’s always there.
The story is set in a well-known place
and I admit I didn’t realise where it was the first time I listened. One of the
clues sounded very like an Italian word (strada) and a German word (strasse).
The meaning of these words is relevant to what is happening in the story and my
mind went off in the wrong direction. But I got there in the end and I’m glad I
did. It’s a very important place.
No comments:
Post a Comment