The Enclosure

BBC Radio 3 – The Wire

Against the background of the War on Terrorism, Fiona Padfield’s remarkable play draws us into the dizzying madness of one woman’s quest for peace of mind.

  • THE ENCLOSURE BY FIONA PADFIELD

    SCENE 1:

    The sounds of the Welsh hillside: of blackness and
    stars. The silence is loud. No hum of energy from a
    distant town. No drone of cars, a total absence of general noise.
    Each sound is isolated and particular, exaggerated in the stillness.

    Worn blunt teeth tearing grass from turf. Far off lambs bleating
    for lost mothers. The flicking and twitching of bat wings through
    air. An occasional terrtfi/ing shriek; an owl? A rabbit?

    Close up: Breath being forced into short gutteral grunts as the base of
    Maggie’s throat contracts and releases.

    A hum of vehicle below in the distance. A barely audible gear change.
    Tyres leave tarmac. Acceleration. The sound climbs then disappears
    abruptly; clears a bend and returns. Louder this time as the track
    twists and turns through rock.

    Thick tyres through mud. A 4x4. Spray. Wheelspin. Brakes. Wet
    skid. High peal/chink of stainless steel. Bolt rammed home. Revs.

    Maggie dashes inside and slams the door.

    Cut to interior, Maggie 's front room. Key in lock.

    Bare feet skim across wooden floor. TV on. Lunge for sofa.

    Tyres hit gravel. Chippings scatter. Handbrake. Engine switched off.
    Car door opens. Feet find gravel.

    News Bulletin: Tony Blair.... you cannot reason with the
    unreasonable

    Knock of knuckles on a pane of glass.

    Tony Blair: pre-war speech continues...

    Knock of knuckles on glass again. Blair ‘s voice dims as Maggie cuts
    away to window.. Window opens. The night enters the
    room.

    Blair and the Welsh night hang behind the following conversation :
    strategic sentences/sounds pointed through the holes/pauses in text.

Before Lambing

BBC Clyfe – S4C

This is a love story depicting the slide from love to obsession. Clare is stalked by Terry. He controls her with information. She’s living a half-life. Through an unlikely union with Nathan, a young Welsh farmer, half her age, she is freed from Terry’s threat only to succumb, unwittingly, to her own obsession for Nathan. The fragility and intensity of a woman’s sexuality as she starts to age become all-consuming. In a bizarre reversal Clare the victim, becomes Clare, the predator.

Set on a hill farm in rural Wales the farming calendar and isolation dictate events. In a bid to secure Nathan within her orbit forever Clare sets out to seduce and marry Nathan’s crippled father - only to be brought up short, by love. On this Welsh hillside, it is with searing pain and exquisite joy that Clare is transformed from victim to murderer.