RTÉ Drama On One will broadcast Bloody Writers, a new play written and directed by Charlie McCarthy, on Sunday, 19th March on RTÉ Radio 1.
The story tells of a young writer, Niamh, who wins a residency at a writer’s retreat. The residency brings her into contact with the American writer, LD Power, and into the company of the retreat’s manager, David, a failed novelist. Niamh receives feedback on her short story, The Purple Hoodie - and we learn more about the inner monster within the young, aspiring writer...
Below, Charlie McCarthy shares some of the thoughts that haunted his residency in the drama studio.
13 Random Thoughts
-Bloody Writers? I have nothing but admiration for what (good) writers do, so I was a little nervous about that title. But it has a doubleness that I like. And it makes me laugh.
-I have been listening to radio drama since forever. I can still remember voices from the radio soap, The Kennedys of Castleross, the marvellous Marie Keane’s in particular. But there are others: Eamonn Keane, Daphne Carroll, Seamus Forde and (a firm favourite) Rosaleen Linehan and Aidan Grennell in the comedy series, Get an Earful of This.
-Radio is the perfect medium for getting deep inside a character’s head. No wonder Beckett was attracted to it.
-A lot of my work as a director has been in television drama; this was my first time directing for radio. Throughout the process, I was dizzy with delight at the fluidity of the medium. In the recording studio, we moved in seconds from the bottom of an Irish lake to the side of a Hollywood swimming pool. No lights. No camera. Plenty of action.
-To say the obvious: in radio voice is everything. So, in terms of casting, I had to think about actors solely in relation to their sound and how that sound would contrast with that of the other actors. I was blessed that Aileen Mythen, Lesa Thurman, Risteard Cooper and Patrick Ryan came on board. A perfect quartet. A Fab Four.
actors Patrick Ryan and Aileen Mythen
-I had worked with Risteard and Pat before, not with Aileen and Lesa. They all blended and bonded instantly in that easy shorthand that most actors have. And they did what you hope, as a writer, they will do: they made it better.
-I’m still thrilled and somewhat amused at the playful seriousness and the serious playfulness that occurs when grown-ups set about making drama. We are a species that likes to play. Homo sapiens is also homo ludens.
-I wanted to write a movie for the radio. I have no idea if I have succeeded but I do know that Denis Clohessy has written a score that would have Max Steiner's and Bernard Herrmann’s ears turning green with envy.
-This is a play about three different kinds of writer: a renowned American novelist, a deluded un-published writer, and a chancer. I focused on the chancer because she’s got the best story to tell.
-In addition to the music the play needed a layered soundscape, which Damian Chennells created with his box of audio tricks. But of course, it is way more than trickery. He has the ears of a bat, a very artistic bat at that.
-Our producer Kevin Brew was clever enough and generous enough to let me think I was the sole director of the play. He was a guiding, hard-working, presence throughout.
-I was amazed to learn that Drama on One has a listenership of approximately 20,000. That’s a 7-week run in the Abbey Theatre. No new plays, few old plays, get that.
-In my view, the towering achievement of RTÉ Radio Drama is the 1982 recording of Ulysses. It throbs with life and oozes atmosphere. And Joyce of course was some bloody writer.
Drama On One: Bloody Writers, RTÉ Radio 1, 8pm on Sunday, 19th March - listen to more from Drama On One here.
