Unglued by Paul Kenny. Dir. Peter Beeston. Perf. Peter Radford, Canan Cahit. Cornucopia Radio, 7 Jun. 2015. Download http://www.cornucopia-radio.co.uk/unglued/

Stew (Peter Radford) and Beth (Canan Cahit) have to try to come to terms with their daughter Holly's death. The little girl went out on her new bicycle in a local park, and has been killed by an unidentified middle-aged man.

Neither of the two adults can really adjust to what is obviously a shattering experience. Beth wants to keep all of Holly's things in the house, a shrine to the dead. Stew believes in "moving on," as current parlance would have it, but this strategy turns out to be nothing more than an evasion of the truth. Going back to work is no cure for grief, but a retreat from it.

Inevitably there are recriminations, as the two start blaming one another for what was nothing more than a shattering quirk of fate. As the arguments intensify, so some uncomfortable truths emerge, putting their relationship under even more strain.

"Unglued" is a highly charged piece that grabs the listeners' attention and never lets it go. Although there is some kind of resolution at the end, we feel that it is temporary at best; the two protagonists have to experience a good deal more heartache, and look into themselves far more, before they can even start to come to terms with their experiences. Whether they are ready to undergo this painful process is debatable; we can only hope that they can achieve some kind of self-knowledge in the future.