This Solomon is arrogant in her power to make ethical decisions. It is what she does for a living, she is a pro at telling people what is the right, ethical, thing to do. She has no trouble with it, not a sense of doubt as we hear her working in a very flip and easy way as a commentator on a modern, speedy, crass, radio phone-in chat show. In the first scene she is presented as a bit of a know-it-all, on top of the world and her field, with a perfect life. But soon we see that all is not well. Her aging father is failing, his mind is going, and she is being harassed by someone unknown through disturbing emails and phone messages. She is also to become the first "ethicist" to testify in the British court. She is preparing to be an expert witness in a Terri Schiavo sort of life-or-death court case.
There is a lot going on in this tidy, brisk, little melodrama. It is chock full of socially and politically relevant issues. But Peter G. Morgan manages to squeeze it all in. The only bump I felt was early on with the introduction of the husband of the hospitalized woman. He seems to switch tones all too abruptly from a position of the need to let his dying, or dead wife go to someone who wants to keep her living. Clearly the character would have such a conflict but as it unfolded I was so taken aback I wondered if I was listening to someone altogether different talking, but this could also be the fault of the choices that the actor took in his reading of that section.
The questions of ethics, death, and torture really hit home for our Solomon as we hear her change, and become less know-it-all and brash by the ending.
The Friday Play BBC Radio 4
On Listen Again Oct 12 through Oct 18, 2007
