International literary magazine publishes Clonmel writer's radio play script

A Clonmel writer’s radio play, inspired by the life story of a nursing home resident, has been published in a US-based international literary magazine.

Patricia Cantwell’s script for her play, Kintsugi, is included in the latest edition of The Lowell Review, published in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Kintsugi is a poignant, heart-warming short drama revealing how the main character Annie makes a beautiful life out of the broken pieces, like the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where you repair a crack with a seal of gold.

Also read: 

Carrick-on-Suir writer's journaling book Weather Report is launched at Brewery Lane Theatre

Margaret O'Brien's journal invites you to document the beautiful and positive in your daily life

The play was specially written by Ms Cantwell from Silversprings, Clonmel for the collaborative Keep Well radio plays project during the Covid-19 lockdown in early 2021. It was first broadcast online in March that year and has also been broadcast on Tipp FM.

Kintsugi was directed by Suzanne Dunne and performed by Brewery Lane Theatre actors Maria Clancy and Neill Bourke from Carrick-on-Suir. Pianist Marion Ingoldsby closes the play with a beautiful performance of a John Field nocturne.

Patricia said she was honoured that her play has been published in The Lowell Review and honoured that Margaret O’Brien of the Writing Changes Lives writers collective thought it was good enough to be submitted to the Review’s editor.

The play was inspired by stories generously shared by a wonderful resident of the Sonas Melview Nursing Home in Clonmel, Kathleen Hackett, who sadly passed away on Monday, June 21, 2021 less than three months after the play was broadcast. She was aged in her 90s.

Kathleen was one of several residents from the nursing homes of Greenhill, Carrick-on-Suir; Melview and St Anthony’s, Clonmel who shared stories of how they got through hard times for the Healthy Ireland Keep Well radio plays project that was spearheaded by Linda Fahy of the Tudor Artisan Hub in Carrick-on-Suir with creative writing tutor Margaret O’Brien of Writing Changes Lives.

Patricia said Kathleen’s stories were recorded by Margaret and passed on to her to create a play based on them. She recounted that Kathleen Hackett was widowed at a young age.

Her husband died after undergoing a routine operation in hospital leaving her with three young children to bring up. Her grief was doubled a short time later when her young son also died.

Patricia said the play is based around two characters – Annie (who represents Kathleen) and her deceased husband who appears to her in the nursing home and pays tribute to her in how she overcame such tragedy and successfully brought up her two surviving daughters.

She said the play’s name, Kintsugi, is a metaphor for Kathleen’s life story.

“She was such a brave woman. She put everything back together and made something of her life for her daughters.

“Kathleen lived long enough to hear the play and at her funeral there was a Kintsugi bowl at the altar. Her daughter has told me it (the play) meant so much to them that they had the Kintsugi bowl (at the ceremony). It was lovely.

“I feel I knew Kathleen even though I didn’t know her. She was a woman who made the best of her life.”
Patricia took up writing relatively recently and has worked as a drama teacher, radio presenter and solicitor.

Her poems have been published in various local collections and she was short-listed for the Fish Poetry Prize.

She was an award-winner in the international Bridport Prize after being twice shortlisted in the competition. She is married to Seamus and has two children and five grandchildren.

Kintsugi was one of three radio plays selected to be produced for the Keep Well project from a series of play scripts created by members of the Writing Changes Lives collective of writers.

All the scripts were based on the remotely recorded interviews of nursing home residents’ inspiring personal stories of resilience when their world was turned on its head.

The other two plays produced for the project were What Kind of Blue By David Ryan and The Magical Moon by Eileen Heneghan.

The three plays were performed by actors associated with the award winning Brewery Lane Theatre Group and were recorded during th Covid lockdown using a mixture of online meetings and digital recorders delivered to the actors.