BLUE KING PODCAST

The Blue King of Trafadden

 An Rí Gorm Oileán Trá Fada. 

PODCAST HERE]

Sue Healy’s ninth radio play, The Blue King of Trafadden, is a 45 minute, bi-lingual action-drama concerning a troubled Afro-Caribbean dentist, Henry Ryan, who believes he descends from the last king of a Co. Waterford island, a hero exiled during the Cromwellian invasions.

Henry is intent on burying his grandmother’s ashes on this ancestral land, along with his secret drug addiction. Henry lodges with the ferryman Séamus, his partner Eimear and her son, Óg. However, it soon becomes clear that everyone on this island has a secret….

The Blue King of Trafadden was inspired by the little known Irish diaspora on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. Although bi-lingual, the play has been expressly written so as the plot can be easily followed even by those with little Irish.

Directed by Jim Nolan, The Blue King of Trafadden stars: Jenni Ledwell, Michael Power, Nicholas Kavanagh and Eoin O’Brien.

BIO:

Sue Healy’s drama credits in 2016 include a comedy at the King’s Head Theatre, funded by Arts Council England (May); and a play workshopped by Dublin’s Abbey Theatre (October). Sue was a finalist for the Eamonn Keane Full-Length Play Award (June), is currently a finalist for the Nick Darke Award and is shortlisted for the Old Vic 12 (both results TBA).

In previous years, Sue’s radio dramas have broadcast on BBC Radio 4, WLRfm, KCLR96fm; she has also won the Sussex Playwrights’ Award, and presented in the Festival of Contemporary European Drama. Sue has had staged readings of her work in theatres in London, Norwich, Brighton and Cornwall.

A UEA Creative Writing MA alumna, Sue’s prose won seven national prizes including the Molly Keane, BBC Opening Lines, Escalator and HiSSAC awards. She spent eleven years in Budapest, editing Hungary A.M. Presently, she is London-based, researching a PhD on the Royal Court Theatre. Sue is the Finborough Theatre’s Literary Assistant.