Bring Me the head of Philip K Dick by Gregory Whitehead
R3 Drama on 3 2009-03-08
A dark, surreal and satirical drama, set in contemporary America,
centres on a deadly futuristic weapon in the shape of the android
head of science-fiction writer Philip K Dick. Invented by a shadowy
research unit inside the Pentagon, the head - which believes it
actually is Dick himself - is wreaking havoc on society and must be
stopped before it finds its body.
Cryptica Scriptura ........... Elizabeth Aspenlieder
Cathy Nebula ........................ Karen Beaumont
Reverend Darkleigh ................... George Bergen
Nancy Robinson ........................ Hilary Deely
Philip Dooley ...................... Richard Jackson
Tiffany Splenda .......................... Karen Lee
The Potato Man ............................ Jon Swan
Perky Pat ............................ Anne Undeland
The Patriot ...................... Gregory Whitehead
Written, produced and directed by Gregory Whitehead
Music by Laura Wiens and Nick Zammuto
Poem by Jon Swan
Replies
Gregory Whitehead
March 8, 2009
Since his untimely death in March 1982, Philip K Dick's work and influence has extended beyond his wildest dreams. Dick's work has been seized upon by Hollywood and his ideas taken up by writers, artists and thinkers.
Now award-winning Gregory Whitehead takes him, or rather his android head, on his most unexpected adventure yet in this dark, surreal and satirical drama.
Inspired by the last novels of Philip K Dick (VALIS, Divine Invasion), Whitehead tracks the lost, frubberized, android head of Philip K Dick as it creates chaos across America. The head's journey takes listeners from the suburbs of Boston to a dark cave in the Holy Land, leaving a number of dead fish and wrecked nervous systems in its wake. It is a darkly disturbing, at times surreal, fantasy exploring shadowy corners of the modern American psyche.
Invented by a secretive research unit inside the Pentagon, the android head, which thinks it is the real head of Mr Dick, uses its ability to slip through tears in the fabric of time in search of the rest of its body, while a unit of the Department Of Homeland Security puts out the emergency message – Bring Me The Head Of Philip K Dick.
Claire Webb, Radio Times reviewer:
Anyone familiar with the world (or 4.00 Xtra Talent Showcasing new DJs. should I say "worlds"?) of sci-fi writer Philip K Dick will enjoy this tribute. Inspired by his last novels, it follows the progress of an escaped android head across America. The head, which has the ability to fry nation states and unravel time, is codenamed PKD, because its inventor was a Philip K Dick devotee. He's not the only one. Since the author's premature death in 1982, his reputation has soared, largely thanks to film adaptations like Blade Runner and Minority Report. Writer/director Gregory Whitehead has fun here with "phildickian" preoccupations: secrets born in the shadowy corridors of the Pentagon, a mysterious Quizmaster and suspect Homeland Security. Best of all are the ordinary folk whose lives are changed by the unstoppable Head, like lonely "golf widow" Tiffany Splenda with her passion for silk pyjamas.