New play inspired by Carrick-on-Suir pirate radio station to premiere at Brewery Lane

A new drama based on a fascinating piece of Tipperary's social history - a 1980s pirate radio station that operated from a garage in Carrick-on-Suir – will be premiered in the town's Brewery Lane Theatre on May 10 and 11.

Radio Rock is a re-imagining of the birth and broadcast of the former Radio Carrick, written and directed by Carrick-on-Suir writer Mary McGrath.

The play will be one of the free cultural events taking place in the town for the annual national Bealtaine Festival.
Copies of another Carrick-on-Suir media organisation from the 1980s – the Carrick Opinion newspaper – will be on display in Brewery Lane’s art gallery as an accompaniment to the play.

Radio Rock’s premiere will mark the culmination of the Tudor Artisan Hub’s latest culture and arts project that began last August with the staging of an inter-active audio visual exhibition about Radio Carrick and the Carrick Opinion in the town’s Seán Healy Library during National Heritage Week.

The play’s inspiration, Radio Carrick, was a voluntary local radio station broadcast from 8am to 6pm daily from August 1980 until October 1981.

The station covered every genre of music and programme type along with local news.

Radio Carrick founder Gerry Gannon and Mary O’Hanlon at work in the pirate radio station’s garage studio in Dunbane, Carrick-on-Suir. The photo was originally published in the former Carrick Opinion newspaper in 1980.

It was founded by Gerry Gannon and its studio was in his garage at Dunbane, Carrick-on-Suir.

At the end of 1981, the station united with Clonmel Local Radio to become CBC Radio.

“Radio Carrick was not just a medium of entertainment and communication but a vital mirror reflecting the unique character and spirit of our town,” recalls Gerry Gannon, who went onto forge a successful career as a journalist, broadcaster, MC and media trainer in Australia where he now lives.

The National Heritage Week exhibition featured recorded interviews with Radio Carrick founders and presenters including Gerry and his wife Maryann, Peg Power, Mary O’Hanlon, Liam Butler, Johnny Irish and Nicholas de Paor.

Carrick-on-Suir writer and director Mary McGrath used the interviews, which she conducted with Tudor Artisan Hub owner Linda Fahy, as inspiration for Radio Rock. This is her third play about her home town’s social history.

Linda Fahy, who is Radio Rock’s producer, described Radio Rock and Mary’s other dramas about Carrick as “heartfelt love letters to the town and its people”.

The cast includes a strong troupe of local actors including Michael Raggett, Sheenagh Raggett, Pat Quinn Bolger, Aileen O’Shea, Jacquie Ahern, Dennis Barry, Enda O’Driscoll, Peter McGrath and Paula O’Dwyer.

Assisting Mary and Linda with staging Radio Rock are drama consultants Maria Clancy and Barry Comerford of Brewery Lane Theatre.

The production is supported by Tipperary County Council.

Three performances of Radio Rock will be staged at Brewery Lane on May 10 and 11.

How to book tickets

Tickets are free but there is a big demand for them so anyone wishing to attend should book their seat as soon as possible. Donations to the Tudor Artisan Hub arts collective will be welcomed at the performances.

The opening performance at 8pm on Saturday, May 10 is booked out but there are a limited number of tickets available for the 6pm and 8.15pm performances on Sunday, May 11.

To book tickets call or message (086) 2560609, call the Tudor Artisan Hub at (051) 640921 or call into the Hub at 42 Main Street, Carrick-on-Suir.

This article is also published in this week's edition of The Nationalist and Tipperary Life magazine, which are now on sale in local shops. 

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