Abstract

We are pleased to share with you our very first radio play: Gravity by Katie Caden. Caden is an alumnus of Soho Writers Lab and has had her work performed at Vault festival, the Bunker Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, Theatre 503, Camden People's Theatre and Battersea Arts Centre. Her last show 'Paper Straws', produced by her theatre company PearShaped, won the Vault Origins award and her first play 'Are You Happy Now' was shortlisted for Lyric Hammersmith's Original Theatre Voices competition. Caden's writing explores contemporary issues, and interrogates the way we live our lives today, experimenting with form and often using humour as a way to communicate serious issues. She writes to understand other people, and herself, exploring why we behave in the way we do? Why do we make poor decisions and repeat our mistakes? And what drives us to hurt each other or conversely express our love? Writing 'Gravity' in response to Unfeeling, the theme for this year's issue, allowed Caden to consider these things and, in particular, how people can express their love through their actions whilst saying they don't care, and conversely how we can tell people we love them and then behave like we don't. All the characters battle with these impulses and the push and pull between feeling too much and feeling nothing at all. Alongside this, Caden has included technology almost as an extra character, interfering with these dynamics, pulling attention away from the situation at hand, and impacting the characters' ability to feel to the fullest extent.

Keywords

emotion, unfeeling, Gravity, Katie Caden, technology, hurt, love, mobile technology, communication, mistakes, familial relationships, modern technology

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