Angst! The Teachings of Smart Town
By Marietta Kirkbride
First broadcast – BBC Radio 4 – 17/08/21
In today’s ‘zeit’ the ‘geist’ is everywhere: environmental catastrophe; conspiracy theories; populism; fake news; the age of the algorithm; nationalism; racism; social exclusion. Not to mention pandemics.
As the world teeters on the edge of various self-made apocalypses, Angst! takes a satirical sideways look at our own naked fears. Five separate but connected half-hour ‘what if?’ stories all told under the watchful eye of the enigmatic Timor Greer.
The inhabitants of Britain’s most advanced “smart town” are forced to confront escalating aberrations in the technology that runs their daily lives. Washing machines in every home spin at once; phones and stereos belt out the same song at the same time. But what is the algorithm trying to tell them? And how can they atone, to be guided once again by its wisdom?
Sian ….. Rose Wardlaw
Malcolm ….. David Carlyle
Interviewer ….. Will Howard
K ….. Sarah Keyworth
Willow ….. Jane Slavin
Timor Greer ……Cyril Nri
Other voices are played by the cast
Sound design ….. Steve Bond & Adam Woodhams
Production manager ….. Anna de Wolff Evans
Executive producer ….. Sara Davies
Series creator ….. Martin Jameson
Produced and directed by Nicolas Jackson
An Afonica production for BBC Radio 4