Blog

“Last Thoughts” re-broadcast.

Cleverality

Today at 6pm RTÉ lyric fm re-aired my show, “Last Thoughts’, the New York Festivals Award-winning programme about the life and work of Irish composer John Field. A show that was most enjoyable to produce.

“LAST THOUGHTS is a docudrama that I wrote and directed on the life and work of Irish 19th-century composer John Field, the finest pianist of his time, founder of the Russian school of piano playing, and the putative ‘Father of the Nocturne’. Featuring contributions by Una Hunt, Deborah Kelleher, Majella Boland, Turtle Bunbury, Conor Byrne, David Mooney, and Ludmilla Podlesnykh. Produced by Cleverality Productions for RTE Lyric FM. Funded by the Broadcast Authority of Ireland.

Here is some behind-the-scenes footage of the recording of the dramatization at Burbank Studios, Los Angeles, California. It features engineer Brian Wallace, actors Richard Shelton, Alan Smyth, Anthony Skordi, and me doing some directing. The John Field composition is played by David Mooney.

Berkeley Talk for St. Patrick’s Day

Cleverality

“Los Angeles-based Irish artist, Marc-Ivan O’Gorman talks with Catherine Flynn, Director of Irish Studies at Berkeley, 5 PM, March 17, 2021. Working across the genres of fiction, film, theater, radio, and musical performance, O’Gorman has created reinterpretations of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and of the writings of Brian O’Nolan/Flann O’Brien/Myles na gCopaleen, as well as original feature films and shorts. With a career spanning Ireland, India, and the United States, O’Gorman reflects on narrative, genre, and medium.”

Berkeley Events

“Bones of Contention” Gets Another Airing

Cleverality

Delighted that the show I wrote and directed gets another airing this week on Lyric FM.

BONES OF CONTENTION, the radio docudrama on the life and work of Irish writer Brian O’Nolan (aka Flann O’Brien or Myles Na gCopaleen) as told by his various writing avatars is described by The Irish Times as ‘an enjoyably inventive docudrama’ using ‘sharp humour,’ a ‘vivid reimagining,’ and ‘an absorbing portrait.’

It was a wonderful experience interviewing novelists like Julian Gough and Pat McCabe; comedians, BlindBoy Boatclub, Ardal O’Hanlon, Tommy Tiernan, and David McSavage; actor Eamon Morrissey, literary experts Dr. Keith Hopper and Dr. Carol Taaffe, poet Louis De Paor and dramaturge Jocelyn Clarke.

And perhaps, even more fun was directing fantastic acting talents of Jack Lowe, Kevin Marron, and Rachel Rath. Here is some of the behind-the-scenes footage of the production as recorded by sound engineer, Brian Wallace, in his studio at Burbank, California

Dorg Hits the Screen

Cleverality

Dorg Van Dango, the animation series produced by multi-Oscar nominated, Cartoon Saloon, and Canadian animation behemoth, Wildbrain, for US broadcaster Nickelodeon, is currently on air, and I’ve written a couple of episodes!

It seems like an age since I was in the writer’s room in Cartoon Saloon’s hometown of Kilkenny, knocking out ideas like a well pucked sliotars, with Oscar-nominee Nora Twomey (Breadwinner) and Emmy-winner Nick Murphy (Moone Boy) but I guess that is the nature of animation.

The process was fascinating; coming up with storylines, developing scripts, receiving notes, and delivering the final drafts. The workflow was melliferous. Seeing the characters emerge from the stylus of the animators was a thrill but now with the episodes on air I could not be happier with the final results.

A few years ago, I ran a touring film festival entitled, ‘Drawing from our Experience’, celebrating Irish animation successes, what a delight to now be a part of that story. Can’t wait to do another one!