Ⅰ

Plays With Contemporary Themes

For BBC Radio 4 Dazzled By The Dark

Explores the hurt and trauma of infertility. Faced with her twin sister’s fecundity a woman tries to come to terms with her own inability to have children.

for rté radio drama Danny’s Girl

A teenage father struggles emotionally and socially against a system that locks him out of his daughter’s life. Emotionally, he doesn’t understand how he can be drawn to this tiny infant. Socially, he must set aside a life of petty vandalism in order to persuade the authorities, as well as his former girlfriend, that he has a right to be in his daughter’s life.

Read Extract

for bbc radio 4 The Day Daniel O’Donnell Got Married

Set in the north of England and the West of Ireland, this is a fictional drama about two women, Doreen and wheel chair-bound Trish who share a passion for Irish country-music star Daniel O’Donnell, and plan a trip to celebrate their idol’s wedding in Kincasslagh County Donegal.

Read Extract


For a full list of Rebecca's other plays click here

Ⅱ

Plays With Historical Themes

For BBC Radio 4 The Curragh Wrens

A play about the community of prostitutes who lived in the furze bushes outside the military barracks of the Irish army in the 1850’s. When they shelter a pregnant girl, who has been ostracised by her middle class family, these women offer loyalty and companionship in the face of terrible hardship. But a local doctor takes an interest in the new comer, and the women allow themselves to hope that she will escape the life they themselves are caught in.

For RTÉ Radio Drama The Singing Clown

Is the second in a series of two plays inspired by the paintings of Jack Yeats, during a period in his life when he was fascinated by the colour and energy of circus life. This radio drama explores the career of Johnny Patterson, the ‘Irish Singing Clown’ whose family life was marred by unhappiness and tragedy. Yet Johnny became an internationally renowned circus performer adored by American audiences, making famous songs such as: ‘I met her in the garden where the pratties grow’.

For Theatre Shalom Belfast

Fleeing from persecution in their Lithuanian homeland, Jews, Miriam Kozetski and her son Yitchak come to Belfast in 1896 to build a new life. Miriam fervently guards her Lithuanian-Jewish identity while Yitchak longs to be at ease with his peers and in his new life. This play was nominated for the Stewart Parker Award.

Read Extract

Ⅲ

Works For Young Audiences

For RTÉ Radio Drama Finding Hans

A drama in 4 parts commissioned by RTÉ Radio Drama to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen. An evil spirit-woman Salengra launches a computer virus in a bid to destroy the world’s favourite fairytales. Two intrepid Dublin teenagers, Freya and Finbar, find themselves entrusted with the mission of saving the characters of these stories from obliteration, and thwarting Salengra’s malicious and deadly intentions towards themselves.

Read Extract

For BBC Radio Ulster Brig Union

Devised in classroom sessions with primary school children, this is the story of a young widow and her two young children who must leave post-Famine Ireland and make the journey across the Atlantic for a new life. The 15 minute drama was performed and recorded in the Ulster American Folk Park.

For Theatre The Hungry Road

One Of A Series Of Four 15 Minute Dramas About Life In Victorian Times, The Hungry Road is set during the Irish Famine.

Faced with famine fever and the imminent death of his wife, a father sends his daughter out alone on the road to the workhouse. She meets a blind woman and they walk the road together. The child describes all that she sees and hears. This episode was loosely based on a true story told as part of an oral history project.

For RTÉ Radio Drama That Wonder Place

A fast paced drama in four parts: Lily lives beside one of Ireland’s biggest ferry ports. At night she has dreams that upset her. When she hears sounds from a container and finds two undocumented children hiding inside, she fears for their safety and decides to help them elude capture by the authorities and work with them to find their father.