Shakespeare in Dublin is a three part educational drama series, produced to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016. Near FM have commissioned three local writers to adapt three of Shakespeare’s most famous works and transport the stories to a modern day Northside Dublin setting.

The plays interpreted for this educational drama series are Larry (King Lear), McBen (Macbeth) and The Ghosts of Priory Hall (A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream). All the plays appear either on the Leaving or Junior school certificate cycle. Near FM have partnered with Mary-Elaine Tynan & Tomás Seale, educational consultants, who have created teaching and learning resources, to be used in the classroom as an educational guide to understanding the themes of each play. The educational component includes a series of worksheets to accompany the finished radio programmes and these materials can be downloaded from near.ie/education

Programme three in the series, McBen, written by Morgan O’Reilly and adapted from the play Macbeth.

Synopsis

Mcben is a very modern take on the classic Scottish play, removed from the castles and courtly chambers to the humble roads of a middle class north Dublin housing estate. Ben is an ambitious young father who cannot resist the lure of power. He may not have a kingdom to battle for, but the princely title of Chairman of the residents’ committee is no less alluring. Set on a path by the unknowing soothsaying of his young daughter and pushed to his limits by his power hungry wife, Ben must choose between his friend and his dream.

Music:
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Shakespeare in Dublin is made with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the television licence fee.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:34 — 74.5MB)

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