The Department of Distractions

Third Angel ., Third Angel

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781786828637
• eBook ISBN: 9781786828620
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

The Department of Distractions, an organisation so clandestine you
won't have heard of them. Until now. They say their job is to plant stories in the world 'to make life more
interesting.' Others would argue that their job is as much to stop us
looking in certain directions. But a story they started has got out of
hand, they've lost control of it and now they're in danger of being
exposed. How far will they go to maintain their anonymity? Third Angel brings you a conspiracy theory documentary-exposé
detective story for the 21st century that asks: What aren't you
looking at? #TheDepartmentOfDistractions

DETECTIVE STORY

PART 1: AT THE RADIO STATION

LOCKHART: Right. Let’s get on with some actual casework.

LOCKHART, PALADIN and FREYA busy themselves. DAPHNE is lost in thought for a while. Then seems to remember where she is.

During this preamble, The Department team set the space for the Detective Story, handing out notes, picking up props.

LOCKHART: Daphne, we’re going to bring you up to speed on a story we have in progress, The Case of the Missing Traffic and Travel Announcer. Here are briefing notes on Laura Pacheco for you to refer to as we go.

…

DAPHNE: Laura Pacheco? This is the story that was all over local news a few months ago?

LOCKHART: Briefly, yes. Just like the 500 people that go missing every day in the UK, and don’t make the news, she wasn’t in the public consciousness for long and that suited us. But it looks like Laura’s friend, Juliana, is about to kick up a fuss, so we need to take control of the story and get our version out there.

Laura Pacheco was already on our Watch List before she went off radar, and we knew there was a possible situation. Fortunately, we had Paladin preparing to go in undercover. In the end he was ready just in time. Our information comes largely from his notes and transcriptions. So, he’s playing his own character David.

PALADIN: I like to think of him as my alter-ego.

DAPHNE: Hang on – you were really there?

PALADIN: Yup. Incognito.

LOCKHART: The rest of us will have to read in.

Freya will be playing this Juliana woman.

Daphne, you’re going to be Laura Pacheco herself. The rest of us have all had a bit more preparation time, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.

DAPHNE: Oh, er, OK.

LOCKHART: And I’ll be playing everyone else.

PALADIN/DAVID: Where is she?

LOCKHART: Hang on.

So, we start at the radio station where Laura worked. This is David. We needed him to be seen to have been inconvenienced by Laura’s lying on air. We also needed to know how much the radio station were aware of the situation.

Detective theme music plays. PALADIN puts on DAVID’s jacket then returns to LOCKHART’s table.

Throughout the DETECTIVE sections, LAURA has to ‘read in’ as DAPHNE, from the text that LOCKHART has given her. The others refer to their texts but appear to be much more familiar with their roles. PALADIN plays DAVID, FREYA plays JULIANA, and LOCKHART plays the RECEPTIONIST and all the other characters.

As part of the telling of this story, they all take turns to use the photographic cards and projection device to add visual elements to the scene; for example, at this point they project a photograph of an ‘ON AIR’ sign.

DAVID: Where is she?

RECEPTIONIST: I’m sorry sir?

DAVID: Where is she?

RECEPTIONIST: Where is who, sir?

DAVID: The woman on the radio.

RECEPTIONIST: I’m sorry sir, you’ll have to be more specific.

DAVID: The woman who does the traffic.

RECEPTIONIST: The woman who does the traffic?

DAVID: Yes! This is a radio station isn’t it?

RECEPTIONIST: Yes sir. This is

RECEPTIONIST plays a jingle: ‘Bay & City Radio. The Soundtrack To Your Day. And Your Night.’

DAVID: OK. Well then. There’s a woman. She does the traffic news in the mornings.

RECEPTIONIST: Ah, you mean she’s the traffic and travel announcer?

DAVID: Yes. The traffic and travel announcer. What’s her name?

RECEPTIONIST: If it’s the lady who is doing the morning shift this week, then you mean Lau...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• The Department
• Detective Story
• The Department
• Appendix: Two Blogposts