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Delicates and Smoke
The writer, Rebecca Russell, seems to be saying something rather disturbing with these two monologues.
Moira (played by Russell) is a single mother with a stack of ironing to do to make ends meet. She exhibits the familiar anxieties about her health and, in turn, the health of her children. However, she turns out to be more than just another of the 'worried well'.
An arsonist fireman - intriguing - longs for the heroic afterglow of 9/11. But his health and safety advice turns out to be rather sinister.
Are these psychological case studies or an insight into how otherwise ordinary people lose the plot (so to speak)? In the case of 'Delicates' for instance, the programme makes reference to the Munchausen' Syndrome by Proxy controversy; and on 'Smoke', the blurb speculates on what makes a serial killer.
The link - other than the laundry destined for Moira's ironing board, but instead stoking the inferno of the second piece - seems to be that murder lurks in the dark heart of ordinary life. These pieces come dangerously close to giving credence to the dubious and already cliched slippery slope argument. Despite, or perhaps because of, this the writing and performances are compelling and rather believeable.
David Clements |
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