A Certain Age: Men's Monologues
Sat, February 24, 2007 at 07:51PM 
A Certain Age: Men's Monologues v. 2 (Radio Collection)
by Lynne Truss
Read by various
Published by BBC Audiobooks
Price: £10.99
This is the second volume of a collection of monologues broadcast on Radio 4 by Lynne Truss. This CD features the six men’s monologues; sometimes sad, sometimes funny and always touching on relationships, and human misdemeanours.
In The father, John is played by Douglas Hodge. A great choice. He has a lilting London accent, sounding like a wide-boy with a soft centre. This is the thing I love about monologues, (Alan Bennett is a favourite of mine) chosen well, the actor sounds like an ordinary person talking directly to you. Personal and brilliant!
John tells us about some records he finds in his collection that, actually aren’t his and must be ones that his wife, Kath squirreled away.
He’s angry about this, and the fact that he can’t cook a dish he’s seen in a cookbook because you have to start the day before. Throughout most of his story, my ears picked up the continuous sound of a cello playing mournfully in the background. This is his son, wracked with grief after the death of his mother.
The Son is played by Robert Glenister, who captures the newspaper photographer’s character brilliantly. Mark gets roped in to working with the cynical Juliet (an ex-girlfriend) taking pictures for a feature she’s doing on Mediums. Each one has a message for him from his dead father; which sends pound signs flashing in Juliet’s eyes. He goes to see two ‘Witch Ladies’ and bombarded with messages from his dad. “Why do you keep airbrushing me out of your pictures? There was never a key to the coal shed. You’re right son she does still fancy you!” Hilarious!
The Married Man is played by Stuart Milligan, whose voice I hated. This actually sits well with the character of Jim Dance, celebrity author of the ‘Jack Scrolls Mysteries’. He’s narcissistic and so arrogant of his self worth, that he doesn’t even notice his wife is having an affair with his publisher! I was definitely disappointed when I came to the end of this CD! I’ll recommend to friends.
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