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on BBC Radio 4, 'Out of season' by Anne-Marie O'Connor, deals with four people visiting a cafe in Blackpool and the thoughts they have about what is going on in their lives. One of whom is a M2F transsexual, meeting her father for the first time.
The whole thing was quite well done.
For those who can use BBC iPlayer, click on Radio 4,'listen again', then 'thurs' on the 'afternoon play' category, and sit back for 45mins.
Angharad.
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The Link
Here's the link. I gather it will only be available until next Thursday's "Afternoon Play" replaces it. So, if you're interested, don't tarry.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/after...
It is possible ...
to get an MP3 off the website. Unfortunately, I don't know how. One of the US participants on Crystal's website did this for a previous TG related play (Portia).
Review of Radio Play, "Out of Season"
"Out of Season" is a radio play of the kind you never hear on American radio any more. It's technically excellent and well-directed and acted. It's recorded in stereo with sound effects and background sounds that lend to the ambiance. Total running time is around 45 minutes, but with four to five minutes of titles, credits and interlude breaks that separate the show into three approximately 15 minute segments.
There are four characters in the play, three women and a man, who each slowly reveal something about their lives and personalities. It takes place in a cafe. One young woman is the waitress, who interacts with the other three characters, who are customers. The other three characters are sitting at separate tables and do not interact with each other. Besides those brief external interactions, we hear each character's internal dialog, each wrestling with a problem or a situation. The two women (including the TS) are each waiting to meet someone, but those meetings do not take place before the play ends.
HERE BE SPOILERS!!!
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STOP NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW MORE!
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REALLY!
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LAST CHANCE
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Okay, so these aren't very big spoilers, but just in case you're interested in the rest of the play, this is the stuff that gets revealed by the other characters.
The man is 70, and his wife left him for another man. Ballroom dancing is heavily implicated.
The other woman customer was in a marriage with an abuser who beat her. She left and eventually made a new life and married another man. The problem is, she never got divorced. Whoops. She's waiting to meet her abusive ex-husband so they can untie that first knot.
Our transsexual heroine hasn't seen her father in a couple of years, and the last time wasn't too nice. Her sister set up the meeting. I'd describe her as confident, committed and curious as to why her father wants to see her, although she thinks it might have something to do with what is going to happen to the farm when the father retires or dies.
The young waitress is planning on leaving for Greece where she's arranged a job through a relative. She's fretting over telling her father, who owns the cafe and is very bossy, and anticipating how that will be received.
All in all, it's a pretty meaty drama, although only a little happens during the course of it, except we get into their heads and lives a bit. It's very heavy with local dialect, some phrases and words which will be meaningless to Americans. Also, some words mean quite different things to British and American readers. "Bacon," for example. In Britain, it's not a crispy strip of basically fat with some streaks of salted meat in it. Picture a boneless porkchop, sliced 1/8" thick, cured in the same salts used for the streaky stuff, and you'll be closer.
Most of the words can be found either here:
http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/features/chref/chre...
or
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/index.htm