Older People from County Cork Write and Record Radio Soap Opera ‘The Estate’
A ten-part radio soap opera, written, developed and voiced by older people in County Cork is now available online following a successful run on community radio.
‘The Estate’, funded by Cork County Council and Creative Ireland, was facilitated by writer, director and producer Katie Holly. It was written and recorded by ten participants from Carrigaline, Fermoy, Baile Bhuirne, the Beara Peninsula, Blarney, Kinsale, Ballyhea and Charleville. The participants who range in age from 55 to 75 years old were invited to take part in the project through the Muintir na Tíre Cultural Companions programme, open calls in Cork County Libraries and Age Action groups.
‘The Estate’ follows the challenges of the Dillon Family, a fictional group of people in the throes of change and disruption. Widowed matriarch Lily is failing physically and mentally; her grown children Barbara, Mags, Molly, Sean and James struggle to find a way to care for her, while still serving their own desires. Power shifts, secrets are revealed, and personal failings lead to some truly abysmal decision making in this family that ultimately wants the same things for each other - safety, contentment, and love.
The core aim of the Radio Soap Opera Project was to platform older people’s voices and life experiences to their peers and the wider community. To achieve this, the participants who had never made a radio soap opera before, met weekly with Katie Holly in Cork County Hall, and explored different aspects of storytelling through the radio soap opera format while devising and developing ideas for their own series, ‘The Estate’.
As part of the weekly meetings, the group listened to excerpts from classic Irish radio soap operas such as the Kennedys of Castleross which aired on RTE radio for 18 years and discussed the issues they felt were relevant and interesting enough in the 21st century to be included in a modern story.
Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr. Joe Carroll applauded the participants, saying
Méara
It can be daunting developing a new skill, and I commend the group for their creativity and dedication to this project. ‘The Estate’ is a heartfelt and often times humorous portrayal of family dynamics and retaining autonomy while living with dementia.
Director, writer and producer Katie Holly said “We began the writing process as a group by developing archetypes that people recognise to base our characters upon, with the individual writers creating each role with believable character traits and personalities. This progressed into group decisions about where we wanted each of the main characters to end up, and how to get them to that point by the tenth episode. I was humbled and honoured to work with this group of writers on a soap opera that I'm happy to say I am entertained by and which I enjoy listening to immensely.”
Upon completion of the writing process, the participants worked with producer Naomi Daly director John O’Brien to record and voice ‘The Estate’ in Kitten Lane Studios, Cork City to produce ten thirteen-minute episodes.
‘The Estate’ has been broadcast on CUH FM and on Bere Island Community Radio and is now available on Cork County Council’s SoundCloud channel which can be found by clicking the link below.