Transparency

Available for over a year

A new play by Mark Lawson. Emma Eaves, a journalist and author, is invited to meet the Prime Minister. She tells her that that the new government has decided to declassify the records on Operation Buffalo, a top secret security operation from the past that has long been regarded by conspiracy researchers as the holy grail of covert state activity. In the interests of “transparency”, Emma will be given all access - “apart from a small amount of redacted information” - and participants will be freed from the official secrets act to speak to her. Though it could transform her career and give her a bestseller, Emma is increasingly psychologically and emotionally affected by exploring something the state once wanted no-one to know about but now wishes everyone to share. Why are they doing this? Some of the sources she is put in contact with seem surprisingly willing to break their lifelong habits of secrecy while others still refuse to engage. And what is in the “small amount” of redacted information? She even comes to wonder if Operation Buffalo ever existed or has been invented purely for the purposes of revelation now. But, if so, why? CAST EMMA EAVES - Emily Beecham HELEN DORCHESTER, PM - Jane Slavin JACK CADE. - David Horovitch DAN STOCKTON - Tom Glenister WITNESS C - Nicholas Murchie POLITICAL EDITOR - Mark Lawson Producer/Director: Eoin O'Callaghan A Big Fish production for BBC Radio 4