The Monument, by David Cregan
David Cregan - The Monument
BBC Radio 3: Drama Now
Broadcast: Sunday 12th February 1978
This comedy (taken very seriously) is a re-construction of the chronicle of events concerning the recent revolt at 'The Royal Fredric Engles
Museum of Fine Arts' in Chelsea. There are two main protagonists in the revolt: Representing the Left (the 'Fredric Engles' side) is Dr.
James Short, the new Director who was once a bourgeois intellectual but now believes Art is a form of Socialism and wants to do
everything democratically - by committee. That will clash with members of the uncommitted Right (the 'Royal' side) led by Mr. Sloane, the
Chief Warden, especially when the Free Greece Restitution Committee of Great Britain decides that they're going to take, by force, the
Harbottle Caryatids back to Greece.
It all began in the museum's Gallery 3, among the Harbottle Caryatids, in the early morning of the day the new director was appointed....
It should be noted that this broadcast comes to you by courtesy of the Free the Royal Fredric Engles Museum from its Bourgeois State
Capitalist Bureaucratic Stranglehold Committee.
With Timothy West [Dr. James Short, the New Director], Timothy Bateson [Mr. Sloane, the Chief Warden], Manning Wilson [Dr. Timothy
Leewood, the Deputy Director], Elizabeth Proud [Doris Dulshaw, Keeper of South America Studies], Gerald Cross [Hugh DeCorsi,
Keeper of Italian Renaissance], Douglas Storm [Dr. O. H. Hawthorne, Keeper of Antiquity], Sheila Grant [Isabel Marsh, Keeper of
Industrial Archaeology], Denys Hawthorne [Jack Sargeant, Keeper of Chinese Porcelain], Elizabeth Bell [Lydia, Keeper of Books], Jane
Briers [Laney Luke, Assistant Keeper of Books], James Thomason [George Appleyard, Assistant Keeper of Egyptology], Anthony Hall
[Haydn Hall, Assistant Keeper of Italian Renaissance], Jonathan Scott [The Museum Secretary], Michael Deacon [Leader of the Free
Greece Restitution Committee of Great Britain], Peter Wickham [No. 9 / The Man from the Department of Education and Science],
Michael Goldie [Sir Hurbert / The Chief Electrician], Malcolm Gerard [Control], John Curl [The Chairman], and Margot Boyd [Presenter].
Directed by John Tydeman
60 minutes
Notes by Jim
Diversity website
