Country and Irish
Play broadcast by BBC RADIO 3, Saturday 1 Mar 2014. 1 Hour
Welcome to the Irish Midlands - where sentiment and psychopathy do an old-time waltz, and no-one gets out of the ballroom alive.
Donie 'Jellybelly' Burris's life is in free-fall. When one of his deepest, darkest secrets is revealed and he is betrayed by those closest to him, Donie decides its time for revenge, and revenge the old-fashioned way! Calling in a favour from ordnance expert Rafter Coulson, Donie sets out on a dangerous plan of reprisal, but will everything go as he intends?
As he records his last will and testament, charting the catalogue of events that sent his life spiralling into chaos, it seems Donie's legacy will be nothing short of explosive.
Savagery and sentiment collide in an anarchic story of revenge set in the Irish Midlands from one of the most distinctive voices in Irish literature: Patrick McCabe. Often referred to as the 'king of bog gothic' owing to his characteristic blend of dark horror and humour set in small-town contemporary Ireland, his novels include 'The Butcher Boy', 'The Dead School', 'Breakfast on Pluto', 'Winterwood' and 'Stray Sod City'. Both 'The Butcher Boy' and 'Breakfast on Pluto' were shortlisted for the Booker Prize and both were subsequently made into successful films directed by Neil Jordan. For Radio 3 he has most recently written 'All the Colours of Love' (2008) for Drama on 3.
Starring Stephen Rea and with original music by Gavin Friday.
Produced in Belfast by Heather Larmour.
CREDITS[]
Writer...Patrick McCabe
Donie Burris... Stephen Rea
Music...Gavin Friday
Producer...Heather Larmour
Telka...Wanda Opalinska
Munro...Sean McGinley
Rafter...Frank McCusker
Toots and Meredith..Miche Doherty
Mammy and Nun...Marion O'Dwyer
Sister Caius and Toots' Wife...Julia Dearden
Bolek...Silvio Ben
Muron's Henchman and Policeman...Aaron Heffernan
Munro's Henchman...Mark Asante