Another 1916 project I worked on this year was a series of talks that took place in Coolock Library dealing with the role of women in the 1916 Rising. There was an impressive turnout at these talks.
Haven’t done an update in a while. But first off the entirety of “Lost Easter Voices” is now available online:
We got a pretty good response from the series with people even calling up the National Archive to ask about the cylinders.
We just finished up recording parts 5 and 6 of “Rivitin’ Histoy” and I currently have it in post prodcution and they should be ready for broadcast late August or early September.
You can listen to parts 1-4 online now:
We also just got 2 new drama projects successfully funded under the Sound and Vision Scheme. One is a 2 part comedy series called “Shopping for Beginners” and the other is an anthology series of 3 Shakespeare plays updated to take place in contemporary North Dublin. More updates on these soon.
The new radio series I’ve been busy working on for a while starts broadcasting on the 21st March at 1pm and runs every day at the same time up to Easter Sunday.
You can hear the promo here:
Near 90.3fm will broadcast a unique 1916 series during Holy Week (21st to 27th March). This series, titled ‘Lost Easter Voices’ offers listeners a chance to hear what is purported to be the last interviews recorded with the executed proclamation signatories, starting with Patrick Pearse and concluding with James Connolly.
At the time of the 1916 executions, social historian, Richard Maxwell, a nephew of General Sir John Maxwell, Commander in Chief of British Forces in Ireland, obtained permission to bring his early Edison recorder into Kilmainham jail to record interviews with the seven Proclamation signatories shortly before their capital punishment. During the turbulent weeks that followed the executions, Richard Maxwell returned to England with his recordings. Eventually, in ill health, he moved to Estuarios in Spain to live with relatives. Apparently, these unique recordings have lain in an attic in Spain for one hundred years. Now a great-granddaughter of Richard Maxwell, Senora Maxwell-Hogan, has returned to Ireland with these historic recordings and has offered to donate them to the National Archive. But first, she has permitted Near fm to digitise and clean these unique recordings and the community station now presents them as part of the centenary commemorations. Each programme will be followed by a panel discussion expanding on the topics raised by the rebels. The entire production was handled by the Near Drama company. Are these authentic recording? Are these the final words of such iconic figures? Listen and make up your own mind. The series will be broadcast Monday 21st March to Sunday 27th March each day at 1 o‘clock.
With the general election coming up I’ve made a micro site focused on Dublin Bay North that gathers together all the content relating to the election that Near FM generates. Near FM is perfectly located to deliver a huge amount of local content for the constituency and will provide a unique perspective that you won’t find elsewhere.
The site is live now at:
All three episodes of environmental audio drama ‘Rising Heat’ are now available online.
So that’s all my audio drama work over and done with for 2015. So far planned for 2016 is a 1916 centenary drama that is pretty large in scope and will be broadcast Easter week. And then at some point in the summer we’ll have 2 more episodes of Rivitin’ History.