Before the Monday by Giles Cooper
Produced by Michael Bakewell
BBC Third programme 4 Jun 1959
Plot[]
A girl delivering flowers encounters a man who wishes to die because he has become overwhelmed by the astronomical complexities of life. He cannot shave, for example, because this act reminds him of the mining of iron ore and its complex conversion into stainless steel blades. He cannot eat sardines because this would force him to consider the ramifications of the tin coming from Peruvian mines and of the Portugese fishing for the sardines. The packaged world appals him but the girl asks him to take life as it comes and to accept things as they are. She eventually persuades him to forsake his obsession but Cooper does not resolve the matter there. While the hero goes off happily to church, having ceased worrying about shaving and eating sardines, the girl hears the church bells and begins, as the play ends, to think about the complexities of bell-ringing.
The Cast:[]
- Desmond.......................Kenneth Griffith
- Jane..........................Frances Cuka
- Alfred........................Toke Townley
References[]
Radio Drama by Ian Rodger