Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Oscar Tyndall, Gillian Kearney, Eithne Browne, Neil Caple, Liam Tobin, Paul Duckworth, Keddy Sutton, Nancie Thomas, Harley Harrison, Sonny Lackey.
The command of storytelling is one of humanities finest achievements, the insisting of developing the imagination enough to unleash a truth the individual, the ability to change someone’s mind with a single word, or to frame a narrative that has the ability to make someone get in touch with their emotions, to feel compassion where once stood silence and perhaps apathy.
As a winner of the prestigious Alfred Bradley Bursary Award, Paul Jones and his play Patterdale are more than deserving of being heard, of being immersed into as a radio performance of sheer quality, and in connection with the B.B.C drama unit, the audio performance set in Liverpool is one that is tender, compelling, and one that isn’t afraid to follow the line of the greatest of dramas, of providing the sucker punch of emotion right at its finale.
In such a play, if it were to be performed on stage, the lights would come down and for a few seconds the composure of the audience would feel their soul fracture, there would be tears being hastily wiped away by the individual, and the sheer intensity of the build up would be one that arguably remained with the crowd long after the cast have taken their bow in the shadow of the footlights.
As with most creative demonstrations, radio can be limiting in terms of the universal shared experience, and yet in Patterdale, the reverse is arguably to be found, for such is the performance of the actors, amongst the most talented that Liverpool continually offers the country, that the words themselves offer a simple dynamic that hits out and refuses to be seen as an individual pleasure, for its pursuit of empathy in a period framed by indifference driven at a Government and ministerial level is highly significant.
At the heart of the tale is a young boy, one to whose own story is far too often one categorised as neglect and hope removed, and one on which is superbly captured by Oscar Tyndall in the lead role of Tommy, and with delicate and pinpoint observation the flawless support offered by Eithne Browne is one that takes the listener to the point of complete emotional breakdown.
With additional support from the likes of Neil Caple, Liam Tobin, Keddy Sutton, Gillian Kearney and Paul Duckworth, Patterdale is an audio drama of the highest quality, and one that understands absolutely how to dig through the fiercest of reserves of any listener.
Ian D. Hall