Can You Hear Me at the Back?

Brian Clark has earned a reputation for sharp social comment and in his play Can You Hear Me at the Back? he examines the world of architects and town planners who, instead of designing buildings that fit the human scale, seem to succeed only in creating a succession of 'people filing cabinets'

His central character, Philip Turner, Chief Architect of Feltonly New Town, comments wryly: "You can stack flats one on top of the other, and the pre-stressed concrete can stand the pressure. But until someone discovers a way of pre-stressing people, the strain breaks them down"

"I got a distinct charge from Mr Clark's proselytising fervour about urban blight ... the issue of buildings produces some splendid out-front editorialising" ~ Michael Billington, The Guardian

"Brian Clark peppers this old-fashioned social problem play with some bright aphorisms and telling asides ... a complex earnest play..." ~ Milton Shulman, Evening Standard