The second series of audio drama from women writers started broadcasting in 2020, but unfortunately production was halted due to Covid-19.

The first 4 audio dramas are available now. 2 more have been recorded remotely and currently I’m currently hard at work on post production for them. A final episode is still to be recorded.

We’ve secured funding for a third series and the scripts are currently being finalised and we hope to go into production on them early in 2022.

“All Honey” by Ciara Elizabeth Smyth

All honey is a dark, modern day farce about a group of friends forced to face each other’s deadly sins. The play takes place in the apartment of Ru and Luke, a couple in their early 30’s, who are throwing a housewarming party. However, their guests seem more interested in whispering in the box room than joining the festivities. Infidelities, secrets and an uninvited guest mean that Ru & Luke will have to clean up more than red wine stains and glitter. This piece is strongly concerned with people indulging in their sexual desires and letting their egos take over. All honey is about seeing your closest friends for the depraved individuals they really are.

Featuring: Finbarr Doyle, Clodagh Mooney Duggan, Maeve O Mahoney, Keith Jordan and Ashleigh Dorrel

Directed by Jeda de Brí

“Kipper” by Gemma Doorly

Tormented by an unjust past and reeling from past experiences Kerry seduces drunken Sam at a wedding. It seems like an innocent one night stand but Kerry has other ideas which will implicate Sam in a serious allegation. Will the police believe her story?

Directed by Nicola Murphy

Cast – Ciara O’Callaghan, Mike Sheehan, Fiana Toibin, Kwaku Fortune

“Allie Down the Boghole” by Megan McDonnell

The story follows Allie, a young girl in rural Ireland who is something of a latch-key child. She is, more often than not, left alone by her noticeably absent Mam and joined by her one friend, Jo, who keeps her company and tries to get Allie out of her comfort zone. Through Allie and Jo we meet the sometimes strange characters of the village and we discover the darker undertones of this isolated life. Mam’s presence is always looming in the background and there is a growing sense of unease which turns quite sinister as Allie grows closer to finding out certain truths about her life.

NOTE: Contains scenes some listeners may find distressing.

Directed by Jeda de Brí

Cast: Megan McDonnel & Bláithín Mac Gabhann

The Celtic Media Festival is an annual 3 day event that promotes the languages and cultures of the Celtic Nations and Regions in media. It combines a major conference of seminars and master classes with  presentation of  coveted prizes in an international competition across all the main content genres in TV, radio, film and digital media. This year due to the COVID-19 outbreak the awards were held online.

The Torc Award for Best Radio Drama

“Hugely ambitious, hugely captivating and hugely original. The prospect of an hour long monologue in the form of prose didn’t seem particularly compelling on paper but on radio it was fantastic. The winner unfurled itself like a book, we were brought on a humorous, sad day long story that was a joy to listen to and that was tough to listen to.

This years winner of the Celtic Media Festival’s Radio Drama Category was one of the best things I’ve heard on radio in a long, long time.”

Rónán Mac Con Iomaire

Petals is the story of one girl and her journey towards the night of a lifetime along with the trail of lust, longing and loss she finds on the way. Written entirely in verse, Petals takes a vibrant look at what it means to be sexually awakened in a city where school nuns shame, school boys leer; where less is more, no means yes and the beer-soaked nightclub is sanctuary.

Last year it was featured as part of the series of new audio drama from women writers I worked on. It was written by Gillian Greer with script consultancy by Lisa Tierney-Keogh. It was directed by Jeda de Brí and starred Kate Gilmore.

Petals was supported by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland Sound and Vision scheme with the television licence fee.

Listen to Petals

The full anthology series is available online here: https://soundcloud.com/nearfm/sets/audio-drama-2019

And you can hear the first 3 plays from series two here:
https://soundcloud.com/nearfm/sets/audio-drama-2020

‘Double Dealing’ is a new audio drama I produced broadcast recently. This is another new play in the ongoing series from women writers. There are 2 more episodes still to air and we’ve just received news that we’ve been funded for a second series which will air in 2020.

‘Double Dealing’ by Rose Byrne
Arthur Muldoon is an Irish hypnotist and con-artist, who use his powers to con people. He has a very professional approach to his work. After working in England for a number of years conning rich women, he returns to Dublin because the police are on his trail. His English apprentice, Jamie Watson, joins him from England. Jamie is still learning the ropes but thinks he has it all sussed.

Arthur devises a plan to con the local Bingo hall so he can win the jackpot. But, at Friday’s bingo night all does not go according to plan. It seems Arthur is not the only one playing a double role.

‘Double Dealing’ by Rose Byrne

Cast & Crew

Arthur Muldoon & Archibald Mulhern played by Michael Sharp
Olivia Cromwell, Bernie and the senior undercover Garda performed by Mary McNamara
Taxi driver by Tom Blake
Nellie (receptionist) played by Niamh Murphy
John by Joe Murphy
Ellen by Carol Dempsey
Louise by Niamh Murphy
Voices in bingo hall played by
Rebecca Blomfield and Tom Blake
Garda by Declan Cahill

Written by Rose Byrne
Directed by Declan Cahill
Script advice by Lisa Tierney Keogh

Made with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the television license fee.

Over the past few months I’ve busy working away on more new audio drama. These 3 new plays are part of the project I spearheaded looking for scripts from women writers to try and address the huge gender balance issue we had with the scripts that we were producing. The quality of scripts is very high and I’m very proud of how they all came out.

First up is ‘Buckle‘ by Christine Madden

‘Buckle’ by Christine Madden

Lily Albright’s teenage son is dead. The man who pleaded guilty to his murder is in prison. What compels Lily to visit her son’s killer in prison? Yet she does, repeatedly, searching for answers to questions she can’t articulate, questions she dreads.

Shane, who is responsible for Billy’s death, does not welcome Lily’s visits, nor does he oblige her with any information. What he withholds, though, is more than the specifics of a kill: it’s a life laced with fear and anger, pain and guilt. Bit by bit, Lily draws him out, and they form an unlikely bond over a tragic death that devastated them both.

First broadcast: 31st May 2019

Written and Directed by Christine Madden
Featuring:
Ali White, Lloyd Cooney, Darragh Kelly and Sarah O’Rourke
Script Consultant: Lisa Tierney-Keogh

Next was ‘The Love of Small Appliances’ by Maura McHugh

An audio drama set in an apartment of the near future, owned by Sive Chand, a futurist working in Galway. Sive is in a relationship with Jahzara Dunne, who is a chocolatier in the city. Sive’s home AI (Artificial Intelligence), Tara, offers organisation support for Sive, and monitors all the devices attached to her network, including Mary, the opinionated fridge and Ita the slow-witted vacuum cleaner. When Tara, Mary, and Ita discover that Sive is considering a job offer in London, the three end up involving themselves in the relationship between the two women (and even Jahzara’s fridge), in order to keep the couple together, and ensure that they don’t end up on the scrap heap.

First broadcast 28 June 2019

Cast
Siobhan Callaghan: TARA
Ashleigh Dorrell: MARY
Julie Maguire: ITA
Donna Nikolaisen: JAHZARA
Suzie Seweify: SIVE
Production
Director – Nicola Murphy
Series and script advisor – Lisa Tierney-Keogh

And the most recent one was ‘Plain Speak’ by Dorothy Cotter

It’s a Saturday night in Soho and Siobhán and Danny are on a doomed first date. Tinder virgin Danny has a serious case of foot in mouth while Siobhán, weary of the London dating scene, already has one foot out the door.

Awkward turns to tense, tense becomes outrage and common decency makes a run for the exit. With their mischievous, mouthy Inner Voices constantly berating them, it’s hard for the pair to think straight. It’s only when they decide to give up that there is a glimmer of hope.

Plain Speak is a short romcom about modern dating and miscommunication – First Dates meets Peep Show with a nod to Brian Friel.

First broadcast 28 June 2019

Cast:
Siobhán – Emma Moohan
Siobhán’s Inner Voice – Dorothy Cotter
Danny – Stephen Bradley
Danny’s Inner Voice– Cillian O’Donnchadha

Production:
Director: Nicola Murphy
Series and script adviser : Lisa Tierney-Keogh

And that’s all of them for now. There are 3 more currently in pre-poduction and I did another call out for scripts earlier in the year so hopefully we’ll have another season of these plays for 2020.

All of these audio dramas are made with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the television license fee.

Haven’t posted on here in a while. So here’s an update on what I’ve been working on.

Last year on International Women’s Day I tweeted out a call for scripts from women writers. The bulk of plays (Maybe 95%) I’ve produced over the years had been by male writers, so I felt it was important to finally address this imbalance.

I’m looking for new Irish audio drama scripts. Majority I’ve made are by older male writers, so I’m hoping to produce more plays by women this year. If you have a script you think would work as an audio drama then please get in touch & we’ll look at getting it funded & produced.— Gavin Byrne (@monkeyfudge) March 8, 2018

The tweet got a great response and I had a large number of submissions. And we started to pull together a funding application for the Sound and Vision Fund run by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. This fund is made up of 7% of the television license fee that anyone can apply for as long as they have a licenced broadcaster who will carry it.

A lot of the scripts weren’t written for radio and were previously stage plays, so we brought playwright Lisa Tierney-Keogh in to act as a script consultant and help develop the plays for an audio-only format.

The project was successfully funded and we’re currently deep into production with one play broadcast and 2 recorded and 4 more to come. The plays are broadcast on the last Friday of each month at 6pm on Near FM 90.3.

We kicked off the series on March 8th, International Women’s Day 2019 with another play by a woman writer that had received funding in a previous Sound and Vision round. This play was called ‘These Lights” and was written by Jessie Doyle who I’d previously worked with on my own audio drama ‘Polly’

This play was originally staged in the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2017 and I felt it would work well for audio.

Set in the not so far future and taking place in a very different but at the same time very familiar Dublin where the entire population are implanted with computer chips that control our information, control our emotions, regulate how we behave and control how we feel. The Government takes responsibility for our security. They isolate threats to keep us safe. The important decisions are made by people who know better than us.

The story follows two sisters. One who rejects the controls put in place and craves freedom, the other finds comfort and security within these systems that she feels she can trust and depend on.

But Strange Lights are appearing over Dublin and these two sisters are about to experience the end of the world through an explosion of spoken word, sci-fi drama featuring futuristic music and audioscapes.

You can hear it here:

Featuring Clodagh Mooney Duggan and Jessie Doyle
Directed by Davey Kelleher
Music by Fionn Foley

The first of the Women’s Audio Drama Projects just broadcast. This first one in the series was ‘Petals’ by Gillian Greer.

Petals is the story of one girl and her journey towards the night of a lifetime along with the trail of lust, longing and loss she finds on the way. Written entirely in verse, Petals takes a vibrant look at what it means to be sexually awakened in a city where school nuns shame, school boys leer; where less is more, no means yes and the beer-soaked nightclub is sanctuary.

Written by Gillian Greer
Directed by Jeda de Brí
Featuring Kate Gilmore

In addition to all this I also did another call out for scripts on International Women’s Day this year. The current round of Sound and Vision funding even has a particular emphasis on promoting women’s voices this time around. We’re currently busy going through the submitted scripts and preparing an funding application.

Because of the papal visit this weekend I’m reposting this audio drama I worked on some years back that deals with the papal visit of 1979 and the hypocrisy of the catholic church.

Synopsis:

September, 2009. Mary and Sarah have been friends for years. Both are spinsters. Mary is seventy-three, ill and housebound. Sarah is sixty-four. She visits Mary every day. Mary is about to reveal a shocking secret about her past.

First broadcast: Oct 24th 2012 – 6pm

Airing next week as part of the Shakespeare in Dublin series is ‘The Ghosts of Priory Hall’ which is a modern day Dublin based retelling of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ written by my Board Games Ireland Podcast co-host Frank O’Connor.

It airs next Thursday at 3pm on Near FM and will be available online shortly after.

Here’s the promo:

‘The Last Resort’ by Aoife Leonard is the latest audio drama project that I’ve been working on and it broadcasts at 3pm on Near FM on the 18th and 25th of January.

This project is a result of Aoife attending the Audio Drama Workshop I ran in December 2015.

Promo:

Been pretty busy lately. Trying to finish off a few different audio drama projects while also prepping some new ones.

A new one did broadcast this week though.

The first part of a series of dramas based on plays by William Shakespeare.

Henry Hudson wrote this contemporary adaptation of King Lear for us.

Coming soon we’ll have modern adaptations of ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ and ‘Macbeth’.