Episode 3

Edson Burton’s specially commissioned fiction serial is a coming of age story, set in a slightly alternative version of 21st century Bristol, where slavery has never been abolished. Eighteen-year-old Kane is loveable, funny, sunny in nature. He knows he is treasured in his role as a live-in aide to an admired scientist, a man he regards as a father figure, and who is, moreover, a descendant of the renowned anti-slavery campaigner. Kane loves his ordered life, his little luxuries, his expensive clothes in Wilberforce House.

But when a new manager takes on the leadership of the household, Kane’s perspective begins to unravel. He has to face the shattering truth about his position in a society in which enslaved labour is an accepted and acceptable practice and in which he is unwittingly playing a major role. It’s a world close enough to our own to be recognised, and to pose challenging questions about contemporary social values and prejudices. Society is defined by a ‘natural' hierarchy of the races, with 'Greater Whites’ at the top, then Lesser Whites, Freemen (a Black and Brown workforce) and Wretches, who are regarded as degenerate and deserving of enslavement.

Kane finally has to make a choice: should he accept his life with his much-loved mentor, or resist?

Episode 3: Kane is introduced to a world beyond his own, where the rules are being challenged.

The Writer: Edson Burton is a Bristol-based writer, historian, curator, performer and academic who has written widely for radio, stage and screen. His stage plays have been produced by Show of Strength, Trinity Community Arts, and the Bristol Old Vic. He is co-founder of Black theatre company Dip & Fall Back and is Bristol Old Vic Associate Artist. His areas of expertise encompass the Transatlantic Slave Trade as well as other aspects of Black history and culture, and he has worked as a consultant and coordinator for a range of national and regional history based projects. His radio credits include the supernatural trilogy Deacon starring Don Warrington, and most recently, Man Friday, a re-imagining of Daniel Defoe’s classic story. In recognition of his significant contributions to the arts and the community in Bristol, he was awarded an MBE in 2023.

Credits:

Writer: Edson Burton
Performer: Lewis Shepherd (‘Dear England’, ‘10 Swords and the Moon’, ‘Super High Resolution’)
Production Coordinator: Dawn Williams
Producer/director: Mary Ward-Lowery
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
Sound design: Matt Bainbridge

A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4