Oneira

Oneira is a science fiction comedy written for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Robert Easby. It tells a surreal story of the encounter between a young museum guard, called Oneira, and a 400-year-old alchemist calling himself Nikolai. Nikolai claims to be the artist who painted one of the pictures hanging in the museum. The painting includes a figure who resembles Nikolai himself. He also tells Oneira that he and she are destined to search for a book of alchemy called the Lux Ata or "Book of Black Light". The resulting quest involves aliens, string theory, a sinister official from the electricity board called "Mister Resistor", a TV cooking show, a cappuccino bar, a comedian travelling by flying saucer, and a dead science fiction author. Oneira's boyfriend Pete is transformed from an up-and-coming young financier in the City into a bucket of water and a pair of Argyll socks while their expensive penthouse flat is destroyed by a ravenous refrigerator.