BBC Radio 3, 1 September 2012
Set in a dystopian Preston, sometime in the future, Lavinia Murray's
drama told the story of sixteen-year-old George, a politically motivated youngster who has been taken up by a mysterious group
of eco-warriors called the Pro-Arkwrights. His mother Miram (Suranne Jones), desperately tries to find him, but finds
herself drawn into a mysterious world in which a hoodie on a scooter called Puck (Chris Finnegan) appears to exert a mysterious
authority.
Using a combination of eerie sound-effects (by Eloise Whitmore) and disturbing
music (John Nicholls), Melanie Harris' production conjured up a world where the elements took revenge on human beings
for ruining the environment. In the past forest had been cut down, deserts populated, rivers filled in a desperate
desire for lebensraum; now human beings were regarded as fuel to help sustain the world's natural balance.
They seem powerless to intervene: everyone has asthma and birds keep mysteriously dropping out of the sky.
There was a strong sense of inevitability about this play - despite Miriam's best
intentions, it was clear that the search for her son would be futile. Even when she did find him, there was little or no guarantee
that he would return to her; he was dedicated to the pro-ArkWrights. Lemn Sissay's sonorous narration added to this sense
of doom; it seemed that he knew what was going to happen already.
Some eco-dramas are designed to warn human beings of the consequences of destroying
the environment: The Ballad of the Burning Boy went beyond that by suggesting that human destruction was inevitable.
A very disturbing piece.
