X-Nico

5 unusual facts about Radio Éireann Players


Doireann Ní Bhriain

She made her broadcasting debut at the age of eight, in a radio play with her mother, who was part of the Radio Éireann Players.

Radio Éireann Players

After the depredations of the war-time years and a devastating fire in the Abbey Theatre in 1951, the Radio Éireann Players' powerful weekly performances inspired interest in drama throughout the country.

The founding actors (plus three who joined the following year) were: Tom Studley, George Greene, Éamonn Kelly, Joe Lynch, Arthur O'Sullivan, Laurence O'Dea, Frank O'Dwyer, Christine Spencer, Ginette Waddell, Marie Mulvey, Gerard Healey, Leo Leyden, Charles McCarthy, Deirdre O'Meara, Una Collins, Seamus Forde, Charles Davis, Ronald Ibbs, Florence Lynch, Mairín Ní Shuilleabháin, Joseph O'Dea, Christopher Casson, John Stephenson and Aidan Grennell.

The cast was: Frank Dwyer (story-teller), Eamon Kelly (nailmaker), Thomas Studley (stone-breaker), Peggy Monahan (weaver's widow), Brendan Cauldwell (grave digger), Henry Comerford (grave digger), Arthur O'Sullivan (cooper), Maura O'Sullivan (weaver's daughter).

The Radio Éireann Players (RÉP) were a repertory company for radio in Ireland, formed in 1947, which performed in regular drama productions for Irish broadcaster, Radio Éireann.


Christopher Casson

He was part of a Jacob's Award winning production in 1982, as a member of the RTÉ Players, when he acted the part of Virag in RTÉ Radio's unabridged, 30 hour, marathon broadcast of James Joyce's novel, Ulysses.


see also