This weekend Newstalk continues our Drama on Newstalk Summer Season with ‘Remember to Breathe’ written and directed by Orla Murphy.
Winner of the ‘Lustrum’ Award for best festival moment at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016, ‘Remember to Breathe’ was also nominated for Fishamble Best New Play in 2015 and the BBC International Radio Playwriting Award.
‘Remember to Breathe’ is a play about three ordinary people on different sides of the world trying to survive the ‘aftershocks’ of world events in challenging times.
A deeply moving play about moving home and moving on, ‘Remember to Breathe’ opens in New Zealand. Recent emigrant Maeve is learning to swim. Her ‘swimaholic’ coach Doreen, spurs her on. But while Maeve’s body may be in New Zealand, her heart is calling her home – to an unresolved dilemma with her much-loved father Johnny.
Using the magic of radio we journey with Maeve across time and space, from the hayfields and hay barns of her youth, through the boom of the celtic tiger, to her contemporary post-earthquake landscape in Christchurch, New Zealand. We weave in and out and under the water, through Maeve’s past, but always return back to the pool, where Maeve struggles to swim free of the ties that bind...
Following sell-out tours in Dublin Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe and at theatres across Ireland, this play has now been adapted for radio with the original cast. Abbey theatre regular Liz Fitzgibbon plays the lead role of Maeve, the multi-award winning Raymond Keane is her father, Johnny and ingenious comic talent Julie Sharkey embodies quirky swim coach Doreen.
LISTEN BACK TO REMEMBER TO BREATHE:
BROADCAST TIMES: ‘Remember to Breathe’ will be broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm on Sunday August 27th 2017 at 8am, with repeat broadcast on Saturday September 2nd at 10pm.
LISTEN LIVE: ‘Remember to Breathe’ can also be listened to online at: www.newstalk.com
PODCAST: Podcast available at: www.newstalk.com/documentaryonnewstalk after the broadcast.
CREDITS: Remember to Breathe was written, directed and produced by Orla Murphy. The production was supported by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, through the television licence fee. Photo of Liz Fitzgibbon as Maeve by Patrick Redmond.
ABOUT THE WRITER-PRODUCER: Orla Murphy has previously written and directed short pieces for theatre, film and radio. Her radio drama Indieworld was Irish Times ‘Radio Moment of the Week’. She adapted and directed six short stories for radio in the BAI funded series Tales of Our Times, then developing them into sold-out shows with live foley in Bewley’s Theatre. Other work was shortlisted for BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Award and for Pinewood Studio’s backed the pitch competition. Remember to Breathe won the Lustrum Award for Best Festival Moment in Edinburgh, and was nominated for Fishamble Best New Play in 2015 and a BBC Internatioal Radio Playwriting Award. Orla holds an MA in Scriptwriting from IADT and teaches creative writing in NUI Maynooth.
REVIEWS FOR STAGE PLAY
Three hander about learning about life through learning to swim is spellbinding. The Stage ****
High quality debut...Murphy’s prose is delicate and haunting... mesmerising performances.... Broadway Baby ****
Powerful...wonderfully crafted and delivered...beautifully transcendent...left the audience breathless. Three Weeks ****
The aftershocks of the Christchurch earthquake create physical and emotional tremors for the young emigrant whose past and present lives blur. Learning to swim becomes the metaphor for survival in this fine, understated play through the subtle clarity of the writing. Irish Times ****
A multi-layered father-daughter tale. Intelligent, captivating and deeply moving. The Irish Examiner ****
Beautiful. Profound. Uplifting. Draws you in and holds you until the end **** The Red Curtain Review
Powerful and passionate. Will steal your breath away **** The Public Reviews
