LifeAfter comes with great audio drama credentials – the writer, Mac Rogers, also wrote The Message and the director is John Dryden, creator of Tumanbay.
It’s the story of Ross, whose wife Charlie died a few months ago. (Eight, as everyone keeps reminding him.) He is struggling with his routine desk job at the FBI, and with the rigours of convincing his friends he is alright (he isn’t). He feels isolated from everyone, even the people who mean well, who think he should be moving on.
The only comfort is the recordings of Charlie which she left on a social media site, which he plays on a loop. One day, the service is interrupted and when it’s resumed, something has changed. He is no longer listening to a recording, he is interacting with Charlie. And Charlie wants something from him.
It’s a great set up for a fast-moving plot with some clever twists. There is a large and interesting cast of characters, clever dialogue and a great soundscape. Most of all, this is drama that treats you like a grown-up and doesn’t over-explain.
Underlying the plot are some profound questions. Ross isn’t a fool. He knows that he isn’t really speaking to his late wife, that her voice posts have somehow been digitally engineered to create the illusion, but he still can’t let ‘Charlie’ go.
As the drama escalates it raises further questions about what it is to be human and how we relate to one another. LifeAfter is both entertaining and thought provoking. Now all the episodes are available I highly recommended it for binge-listening!
LifeAfter is available on iTunes and other podcasting apps and from Panoply
Kate Vane 
Reblogged this on What Big Ears.
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