BBC Radio 4, 18 September 2023 and on BBC Sounds

A cave in Sicily has a mysterious auditory effect – echoes return after 32 years. But a lot can happen in that time…

Dan Rebellato’s 45 minute play is one that you want to go into with as little foreknowledge of the specifics as you can, and therefore this review won’t go into too many details about the plot. There’s an introduction from the author which explains his inspiration for the format, and it’s fair to say that he achieves his aims – for all sorts of reasons, this is a play that will stick in your mind for some time after you’ve heard it, wondering how you’d react in the circumstances, what you might say if you were to visit this cave, and whether you would want to effectively travel back in time and revisit the person you were. (The description on the BBC website seems to fill in more background to the story than actually appears in the play – again, don’t read it until after you’ve heard the drama.)

Regular SFB readers will guess that I’m coming at this from a slightly different perspective, as someone who probably has less than a year to live, and who is therefore very conscious about the issues of legacy and wanting to leave some markers for the future of loved ones. Rebellato’s play deals with these elements – as well as some well-observed and well-portrayed family dynamics with regard to a widower and his grown-up daughter and their expectations of each other, and how different people experience and handle grief in their own way – broken up by auditory elements that add context in an unusual way, courtesy of sound designer Eloise Whitmore.

Polly Thomas elicits strong performances from all the cast – both those involved with the primary plotline and those in the background material – and moulds all of Rebellato’s ideas together into a thoroughly engrossing drama.

Verdict: A thought-provoking tale that rewards a second listen. 9/10

Paul Simpson