The story behind An Open Verdict, the award-winning Documentary on One on tragic author Marsha Mehran from programme maker Jason Murphy.
Early on the morning of April 22nd 2014, Gardai from Westport made their way out the West Road to Lecanvey, a village nestled beneath Croagh Patrick. When they entered the holiday chalet a scene of desperation met them. Inside scattered amongst the rubbish, lay the body of Marsha Mehran, 36, a successful author.
I read of her death in the local press and to me the parts didn’t sit right. How does a young, successful, global author come to die alone in an Irish village in such awful circumstances? That question is what drove this documentary.
We began with very little.
I traveled to the area and ran into silence – no-one knew her or even saw her apart from the landlady at the pub and a neighbhour who glimpsed her through a kitchen window. Her father traveled from Australia to Ireland for her inquest and through him I got in touch with her ex-husband, Christopher who lived in New York. Initially we had to overcome a reluctance of anyone to speak with us. Trust had to be built.
Marsha Mehran at home
Each person I met seemed to unlock a different piece of Marsha. From her father I learned of an early life marked by impermanence and upheaval. From Christopher a picture emerged of a talented woman wholly devoted to her art as a writer and also her deep love of the West of Ireland. It was this devotion to her art that would later prove fateful.
Each person I spoke to only went so far. They could only offer me what they knew of Marsha. This makes sense of course in that we all present ourselves differently to those of us we know, friend, brother, wife, employee, tenant – but with Marsha it seemed more pronounced. What each person did reveal however was who I should speak to next.
With each person I spoke to a fuller picture emerged of a woman seemingly at sea in this world. Her family were scattered to the four corners of the planet following an earlier period of unrest in the middle east in the 1970’s forcing them to claim asylum in Argentina. This act of fate when Marsha was just two years old foreshadowed a lifetime of movement and impermanence. One that ended in tragedy underneath Ireland’s holy mountain, Croagh Patrick.
Marsha Meeran's bungalow in Mayo
Once we came to edit the final programme we had as full a picture of Marsha as anyone ever had. Initially what struck us as odd was that none of the contributors were close to one another, most in fact were strangers.It was clear Marsha had suffered a serious decline in mental health over perhaps a 10 year period, brought on in large part by the incredible pressure to live up to the success of her first book. That’s what drove her to seek seclusion and inspiration in Mayo and it is what perhaps kept many people away. Emer Martin herself a writer and someone Marsha knew pointed out in the programme that art alone cannot sustain us, community and love are what sustains us spiritually and that’s what Marsha lacked so totally.
This radio documentary drew on contributors from as far a field as Southern Australia, New York and all over Ireland. It tells Marsha’s story from those closest to her and in doing so explores themes of belonging, dislocation, mental health and the creative process.
Listen to Documentary on One An Open Verdict here.
