Against a background of rising fascism, sometime in the near future, a disillusioned cabaret singer falls in love with the radios of our past…
Radio Rosario is a new one-man show by writer, performer, story-teller and musician Little John Nee which will be on in Dublin with performances at axis: Ballymun 28th& 29th September for Dublin Theatre Festival, following its premiere and sell out success in Galway.
Little John Nee is widely regarded as one of Ireland’s leading solo theatre performers, a writer and performer, whose style of storytelling theatre with music and song has won him international recognition.
Radio Rosario’s narrator Valve Hegarty is a weekend cabaret singer who does jingles to pay the rent; a drudgery that weighs heavily on him. He has a hankering for something of substance and is drawn to 20th century valve radios – beautiful contraptions that shaped the events and the consciousness of the twentieth century. A chance meeting leads him to the site of the Connemara Marconi Wireless Station, built over 100 years ago. A soundscape of ghostly broadcasts begins. The music of a dance orchestra transforms Valve’s kitchen; vintage advertisements try to sell us products from the past; Franklin D. Roosevelt invites us to join him for one of his legendary fireside talks; Winston Churchill declares, “We shall fight on the beaches…”
In Radio Rosario, Little John Nee brings his mesmeric musical storytelling to another dimension through his collaborationwith long time associate,musician, visual artist and director Laura Sheeran – who he also worked with on the critically-acclaimed The Mental at axis in 2006. In Radio Rosario Sheeran assumes the role of Co-Director. She has also created video art content, photographic images, and contributed to the sound design of the show.
They are joined by a multi-award winning team, including recording engineer and producer Tommy McLaughlin (Villagers, SOAK), designer Triona Lillis (An Klondike), and lighting designer Sarah Jane Shiels (WillFredd Theatre).
Radio Rosario is about the hijacking of imagination for nefarious purpose, and the subsequent deficit in imagination to create a better world – a serious comedy about frustration and foreboding and the search for fulfillment, and an ode to “the magical wireless” / “that radio yoke”.
but really i’m a singer
ifi don’t sing i grow sick” – Valve Hegarty, Radio Rosario
PERFORMANCE DETAILS
Venue: axis: Ballymun
Dates: 28th& 29th September Time: 8.00pm Tickets: €16/€14
Tickets may be purchased through either:
Dublin Theatre Festival Box Office
Online: www.dublintheatrefestival.com | Tel: +353 1 677 8899| In person: DTF Box Office, Festival House, 12 Essex Street East, Dublin 2
OR
axis: Ballymun Box Office
Tel: 01 8832100 | E-mail: info@axis-ballymun.ie | Online: www.axis-ballymun.ie
Duration: Approx. 60mins. No interval.
Credits
Co-Directed by Little John Nee and Laura Sheeran
Consultant Director: Raymond Keane
Written & performed by Little John Nee
Lighting Design: Sarah Jane Shiels
Music and Sound Design: Tommy McLaughlin and Little John Nee
Set and Costume Design: Triona Lillis
Video art created by Laura Sheeran
Production Manager: Mike O’Halloran
Producer: Neasa O’Callaghan
Stage Manager: Jane Talbot
All photos by Laura Sheeran
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