BBC Radio 4, October 3, 2023 and on BBC Sounds

Mason has to get to Glasgow – but it seems like he never will…

This one-off play by Pilgrim creator Sebastian Baczkiewicz is one that has to be reviewed very carefully so as not to give away too many of the reveals that are doled out as the story unfolds. It all starts normally enough for anyone with experience of the British rail network – everything is suspended, and a group of passengers who have to get to Glasgow and elsewhere are basically left to their own devices, since the man from Amity (the railway line, not the shark-infested town in the US!) doesn’t really have any answers. One man who does seem to know what’s going on – or rather, seems to know a hell of a lot more about what’s going on than he should, both in terms of the situation and the people caught up in it – is Mason who is desperate to get to Glasgow, but for reasons that become evident, can’t.

It’s a cleverly written piece, reminding me at times of Nigel Kneale’s style – putting very ordinary people, going to a celebration of their relative’s life, in the midst of a rather outré situation – and presenting sufficient answers, without hammering home every last detail. Adam Gillen’s Mason walks a tightrope (metaphorically – although given some of the character’s other skills, it wouldn’t surprise me if at some point he has paraded between the girders holding up the ceiling!) between desperation, madness and utter, cold sanity, someone who thinks he has learned the rules of the game he’s caught up in but can still be surprised. Deborah Findlay’s June and Ruth Everett’s Sooz are his focus, while Asif Khan’s JJ approaches the problem from a rather different direction.

Keith Graham’s sound design and Toby Swift’s direction counterpoint the banal normality of the setting with the less than normal events well, providing an intriguing drama.

Verdict: An enjoyable and unusual play. 8/10

Paul Simpson