#clay smeddum and greenden

[mariocki]

Play for Today: Clay, Smeddum and Greenden (BBC, 1976)

"What ails you?"

"Ails her? You would greet yourself if you saw your life ruined."

"Well, I'm right sorry you're taking it like that. But, losh, it's a small thing to greet over."

#play for today #clay smeddum and greenden #single play #classic tv #bbc #1976 #lewis grassic gibbon #bill craig #moira armstrong #victor carin #anne kristen #gerda stevenson #fulton mackay #bill fraser #joan fitzpatrick #eileen mccallum #maev alexander #fiona knowles #brian cox #claire nielson #isobel gardner #a trilogy of connected plays based on the short stories of celebrated Scots writer Gibbon; this got a repeat on bbc4 a few months back and #im using a brief visit home to catch up on stuff I'd recorded off the tv. i think this is on iplayer for the rest of the year and it's well #worth looking out (tho I'd recommend subtitles; the heavy accents and scots dialogue can be difficult to parse). an atypical example of a #PfT‚ but an excellent example of the series' occasional forays into more regional work. Clay‚ the first (and perhaps best) of the three #short plays concerns a man's obsession with the land he works‚ to the detriment of his family and his health. shot with an almost folk #horror sensibility‚ it's a subtle beast; quite unlike the second‚ a broad comic piece about a tough matriarch and her various children. the #third has a more overt sense of the supernatural again‚ or at least a kind of psychological horror (very much subtextual) in its study of a #sensitive urban woman driven slowly out of her wits by dual isolations of a new home in the country and a cruelly distant husband #all three plays benefit from centering strong female characters‚ all three rewarded by excellent casting. as i said‚ watch if you can