Tin Can Podcast, 28 May 2012, Audiotheque.co.uk, 19 May 2012
No one can say that a radio drama reviewer's life isn't variable. Over
the weekend I spent most of my time listening to Jeremy Mortimer and Jonquil Panting's epic dramatization of Ulysses.
In search of relief, I came across these two playlets, each one in their own way a little gem of radio comedy.
Recorded at the Crouch End Festival, Small Business Advice pokes fun at
the kind of advice offered by major financial institutions to unsuspecting customers. The title is deliberately ambiguous;
it refers to the kind of advice given to small businessness, as well as the small advice given by big business seeking
to maximize profits for minimum investment. Without giving the game away, suffice it to say that it involves two characters
- a lender and an investor (Matt Prendergast, Chris Spyrides) and some quite excruciating puns.
Monty has been conceived as a detective drama in which the eponymous hero
- Monty Whiskers - is a cat called out to solve one last case involving a dog. We do not know whether he will actually accept
the offer - this three-and-a-half minute excerpt is just designed to introduce the character - but we are made aware of his
idiosyncratic personality; like all good 'tecs, whether human or nonhuman, he knows his own mind. I look forward to hearing
more in the future.
