WLR’s first radio drama in 10 years to be aired in January
It will be the first radio drama that WLR will have run in 10 years. Stock image
Nicola Spendlove and Gayle Corrigan have co-written a new radio drama called 'Mea Culpa' (my fault), a dark comedy about an adult adoptee in Ireland who is devastated to discover that her birth parents are just ordinary people from Waterford.
This story has a particular personal resonance for Nicola, who is an adoptee herself.
Acting in the play is Micheal Power, Greta Rochford, Angie Goma as well as Nicola herself. An early sign of the quality of the drama is that well-known Waterford director Jim Nolan was the director.
It’s the first radio drama that WLR will have run in ten years.
It will be aired on January 4 at 6.30 pm and will run for one hour.
Nicola told the that she had never heard a radio show in her life when she decided to write one.
When a call for radio plays went out from Comisúin na Mean, Nicola and Gale started "obsessively listening to radio plays”.
She realised that, “this is such an untapped market at the moment.”
She told the “We really wanted to make something that was really fresh and exciting and funny on the radio. Not this kind of dry and boring monotone thing but something that was really alive and contemporary.
“We’re trying to breathe a bit of light back into this genre.”
However, learning to work in a completely new medium is not easy feat.
Nicola told the “This was a whole new beast for me.” One of the benefits of a radio drama for Nicola is that she doesn’t have to learn the lines as she does when acting on the stage. However, “Not being able to use your face, not being able to use your body to get the message across” is a challenge.
Having only her voice and sound effects, “Is such a challenge as an actress but so fun.”
It has been so much for Nicola that she intends to pursue audio projects in the future. She told the “I liked it so much, I’ve signed up to do a podcasting course in SETU next year."
