John Kirkmorris: Monk
John Kirkmorris - Monk
BBC Radio 3: Drama Now
Broadcast: Thursday 21st October 1976 @ 9:50 p.m.
They've had no proper Spring with all the rain and if that wasn't enough, Brian's lawn is under two feet of water, slopping over the top of the swimming pool as it seems the outlet valve is plugged with dead leaves. Alone at home, Brian, a 31-year-old Rock guitarist, has got a cold coming and hopes it's the flu. It will make him feel dopey and light-headed so he won't give a monkey's toss. If the rain would let up for a while, he'd go for a run, but it's not going to let up; it's going to rain for another forty days and nights and they're all going to be drowned and dead in their beds.
Brian has been seeing a psychoanalyst for the last little while because of his anxiety attacks. He's been faking it, putting on a show to make him think he was in control of his life, but he's so much in control he only needs eight Librium (Chlordiazepoxide) a day - with a bloody hypo, too. Brian hasn't worked for the past five months. He does have money, but it's tied up in land stuff and not all of it in England. This very minute he's got consultants working on a transfer to Ireland. He doesn't know exactly how much he's worth, not down to the last pound note, but let's say he won't have any immediate financial worries for the next ten years. For a barrow boy, he's done very well.
With all the rain and everyone away, Brian plans to talk into a tape recorder. It's something he does when he's alone, which is more often than not. He speaks to the tape recorder because it doesn't yawn or pick its nose or condemn him. When he finishes, he puts the tape in a box and forgets about it. In ten years time, he'll play it again and give himself a good laugh.
As he talks into the tape recorder, Brian reminisces on his rise (and how he got to be known as B. "Monk" Sims, the sizzling friar") and fall in the music industry....
Special music composed and realised by Ron Geesin.
With Nigel Anthony [Brian "Monk" Sims, 31-year-old Rock Guitarist] and Liza Ross [The Girl].
Directed by Richard Wortley.
Re-broadcast on Friday 10th March 1978 @ 9:30 p.m. on BBC Radio 3: Drama Now. 52min.
Jim.
