The first radio drama from the ILBF & BBC Gaeilge to air on BBC Radio Ulster
Date Posted: October 25, 2022
An Eachtra is a new Irish Language Broadcast Fund radio drama about four friends celebrating their graduation. The four-part series produced by Aisling Ghéar Theatre Company will be available on BBC Sounds from Monday 24th October and the first two episodes air on BBC Radio Ulster on Tuesday 25th October at 7pm. The final two episodes will broadcast on Thursday 27th October at 7pm.
Mary, Séamus, Noleen and Antaine are alone on a desolate island for a supposed weekend of fun and adventure. However, secrets and strained relationships surface, a murder is committed and the ‘family’ decide to cover it. The decisions they make on the island will haunt them for the rest of their lives.
The four became friends through necessity, being the outcasts of their class. There are complex relationships between them and they bring their own personal baggage along to the island. They have decided to blow off some steam and on the way there, a very drunk Mary invites Joe, the captain of the boat taking them to the island, to join them.
Séamus and Noleen are getting married in a few months but he’s also been having an affair all year with Mary. Mary, meanwhile, has a strained relationship with her father resulting in a breakdown when she was a child. When she starts getting advice from the others about how she should solve her problems, Mary has heard enough and decides to leave, telling Joe to come too. Joe is only there for a bit of fun and says he’s going home…but he won’t leave the island alive – Mary’s anger at the way she’s being treated gets the better of her and she hits Joe with a hammer, killing him.
Making the gruesome discovery, the four friends make a decision that will have repercussions for their futures. Rather than alerting the police, the four decide to make a pact and cover things up – Joe is thrown into the sea and his boat set adrift.
As time passes, the four friends may have left the island but their secrets remain with them. Mary finds it impossible to live with what she has done and her three ‘friends’ conspire against her and she is hospitalised with another ‘breakdown’. As the years go by, affairs, drug debts and lies put a strain on the ‘family’ and on their ‘pact’. Will Mary have the final say?
Writer Nuala Ní Néill said: “I was asked by Aisling Ghéar Theatre Company to come on board with their four part ‘whodunnit’ radio play during the initial development stage of the process. It was an honour and delight to not only work with Aisling Ghéar again, but to be trusted with such an important piece of work for the company.
“Friendships have many different forms and relationships have many different guises. We follow how a group of friends react to, work together and ultimately work against each other when the repercussions of a terrible event impacts on their own futures.”
An Eachtra is the first radio drama for BBC Gaeilge that has been funded by Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund.
An chéad dráma raidió de chuid an CCG agus BBC Gaeilge le craoladh ar BBC Raidió Uladh
Dráma úr raidió é An Eachtra, de chuid an Chiste Craoltóireachta Gaeilge, faoi ceithre chara ag céiliúradh á bhronnadh céime. Beidh an tsraith ceithre chlár, arna léiriú ag Compántas Drámaíochta Aisling Ghéar ar fáil ar BBC Sounds ón Luan 24 Deireadh Fómhair agus tosaíonn sí ar BBC Raidió Uladh, Dé Máirt 25ú Deireadh Fómhair ar 7.i.n. Craolfar dhá chlár Dé Mairt agus an dá chlár deiridh Déardaoin 27 Deireadh Fómhair ar 7.i.n.
Tá Mary, Séamus, Noleen agus Antaine i ndiaidh céim ollscoile a bhaint amach agus tá siad ag ceiliúradh. A fhad is atá siad ina n-aonar ar an oileán, áfach, tagann rúin agus caidrimh chasta aníos, déantar dúnmharú agus socraíonn an ‘teaghlach’ é a cheilt. Ach beidh siad céasta ag na cinntí a rinne siad ar an oileán an chuid eile dá saol.
Is éin chorra iad an ceathrar i measc a gcomh-mhic léinn agus is mar sin a cothaíodh an cairdeas eatarthu. Tá caidrimh chasta eatarthu agus tugann siad leo a dtrioblóidí pearsanta chun an oileáin. Socraíonn siad dul ar ragairne agus ar an bhealach chun an oileáin, tugann Mary, agus í ar deargmheisce, cuireadh do Joe, captaen an bháid, a bheith leo.
Tá Séamus agus Noleen le pósadh i gceann cúpla mí ach bhí caidreamh bradach le bliain idir Séamus agus Mary. Foghlaimíonn muid faoin chaidreamh ciotach atá ag Mary lena hathair agus go raibh cliseadh néarógach aici mar gheall air agus í ina páiste. Nuair a thosaíonn an chuid eile ag tabhairt comhairle a leasa di, socraíonn Mary go bhfuil a sáith cloiste aici agus socraíonn sí ar imeacht agus deir sí le Joe a bheith in éineacht léi. Is cuma le Joe ach beagán craice a bheith aige agus deir sé go bhfuil sé ag dul abhaile… ach ní fhágfaidh sé an t-oileán agus é beo – ní thig le Mary srian a choinneáil uirthi féin ar mhéad atá d’fhearg uirthi faoin dóigh a bhfuil an chuid eile ag caitheamh léi agus buaileann sí Joe le casúr agus maraíonn é.
I ndiaidh teacht ar an chorpán, déanann an ceathrar cairde cinneadh a imreoidh tionchar ar an chuid eile dá saol. In áit fios a chur ar na póilíní, socraíonn siad gach rud a cheilt – caitheann siad Joe amach san fharraige agus cuireann siad an bád ar an snámh.
Le caitheamh ama, tá an t-oileán fágtha ina ndiaidh ag an cheathrar cairde ach tá a gcuid rún ceilte go fóill. Ní thig le Mary a bheith beo leis an rud a rinne sí agus socraíonn a ‘cairde’ dul i mbun comhcheilge ina héadan. Tagann ‘cliseadh’ eile uirthi agus cuirtear chun an ospidéil í. De réir mar a théann na blianta thart, tagann brú ar an ‘teaghlach’ agus ar a ‘socrú’ mar gheall ar chaidrimh bhradacha, fiacha drugaí agus bréaga. An ag Mary a bheas an focal scoir?
Arsa Nuala Ní Néill, scríbhneoir: “D’iarr Compántas Drámaíochta Aisling Ghéar orm teacht ar bord lena ndráma raidió ceithre chlár ‘cé a rinne’ le linn chéim forbartha an phróisis. Ba chúis onóra agus áthais é, chan é amháin a bheith ag obair le hAisling Ghéar arís, ach go raibh muinín acu asam plé le píosa tábhachtach oibre don chompántas.
“Is iomaí cineál cairdis agus caidrimh ann. Breathnaímid ar ghrúpa cairde ag obair ar son a chéile agus, ar deireadh, in éadan a chéile nuair a théann eachtra uafásach i gcion ar a bhfuil i ndán dóibh.”
Is é An Eachtra an chéad dráma raidió do BBC Gaeilge a mhaoinigh Ciste Craoltóireachta Gaeilge Scáileáin Thuaisceart Éireann.
