Tin Can Podcast, 27 February, 26 March 2012
Produced by the enterprising Tin Can Podcast, who manage to create a
piece of new writing for download every week, these two plays were similar in subject, although tonally very different. Both
involved protagonists under stress: in Making the Delivery it was driver Barry (Chris Spyrides) who had to make his
most important delivery of all, yet found no one to accept it. In Sheltered husband and wife Julia and Mike (Victoria
Johnston, Daniel Dresner) had to deal with an Armageddon-like situation as they moved from their suburban residence into a
nuclear shelter to hide away from a meteor that treatened the future of western Europe.
The protagonists found different ways to deal with their respective situations: Barry
understood the value of perseverance, even if he found at the end that the delivery was no longer necessary. Mike found himself
unable to deal with the doomsday scenario; he preferred instead to indulge in daily rituals, such as making a cup of
tea. This might have been a retreat from 'reality' - more likely Mike knew that he was doomed anyway. His wife Julia seemed
more preoccupied with the welfare of their daughter Lottie, rather than caring for her husband.
Short plays like this - one lasts just over seven minutes, the other eight and a
half minutes - demand a considerable degree of emotional engagement from the actors, who have very little time to create and/or
develop their characters. It is a tribute to their vocal skills that they accomplish this task with considerable aplomb. I'm
looking forward to re-encountering Tin Can Podcast's work at the earliest possible opportunity.
