For the eighth of the series of Placeprints, author David Rudkin takes us to the Solway Firth in Scotland, and to the community of Wigtown in 1665.
This is a monologue, read expertly by Frances Grey, and tells the haunting story of how the community, torn between religious freedom and the rulings of King Charles, pass sentence on their own villagers for not renouncing religion and saying thsoe all important words, "God Save The King" which in turn would save them from their fates and give them their lives back.
One such condemned, a young lady named Margaret is sentenced to be tied to a post stuck out in the tidal bay of the firth; death by drowning. And even right at the end, they send a boat up to her, as her whole body save her head is now submerged, they still plead with her to renounce her religion and say the words. She refuses, so they push her head under.
Spoken from the perspective of a contemporary woman trying to get into the mind of Margaret and visualise her final hours, it becomes a little more obfuscated than perhaps a simple narrative from the actual time would have been, but it also adds a different dimension to the story too, making it more interesting. Sometimes though the language used gets in the way. The writing is thick and highly descriptive; and although I admit that for radio, that is helpful, it did sometimes get in the way of the narrative.
An interesting listen nevertheless.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 10/7/20
No comments:
Post a Comment