Sue Healy is an Irish writer and playwright who has a number of audio dramas available to listen to online.
A quirky fable casting a wry eye on contemporary vanity and inter-community prejudice.
Siobhan, a 38 year old Dublin teacher disenchanted with her dull existence in Portmarnock Primary School opts to chase Internet fame as a vlogger. In this pursuit, she travels to Trafadden Island, Co. Waterford, to vlog the wake of Fabiola, a woman of ill-repute who has apparently died twice. However, Trafadden island's Mayor Daly is keen to have her focus on his legacy rather than the antics of the rougher elements of the local population. Mayor Daly's attitude and behaviour at the wake enrages Fabiola's corpse, chaos ensues and the fable takes a surprising turn…
Radio drama Cake is set during the turbulent period of Irish history incorporating WWI, the Easter Rising and the Anglo Irish War. The play is a fictionalisation of the playwright's great-grandparents' story and concerns a family torn by opposing allegiances. Cake focuses particularly on the impact of events on women.
Made with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, 'Cow' tells the story of Agi, a beautiful Hungarian woman with a secret who arrives on Damien and Marie Cleary's farm in Glenmore to work as a mushroom picker. The Clearys' already strained, childless marriage appears under further threat by her presence. An unlikely friendship develops between Marie and Agi however, leading both women to a new world view.
In a light hearted fashion, 'Cow' views the rural South East through the eyes of a foreigner bemused by cultural mainstays such as hurling and camogie, D.J. Carey, pub culture and the power of Smithwick's beer. The forty-minute drama also explores contemporary issues such as Eastern European immigration into rural Ireland and social perceptions of women, both immigrant and native.
Approaching middle age, café owner Liam Egan realises he has won every talent competition, pub quiz and novelty race on Trafadden Island, a holiday destination off the Waterford coast. Liam wonders if it's time to set his sights higher. Moreover, he is nostalgic for his teenage years spent in a local boy band, and his close friendship with their lead-singer Martin O'Rourke, now a famous songwriter living in Dublin. A picture of Martin in the celebrity pages prompts Liam to go for Eurovision glory and he hires a former Eurovision winner, Banba, to come to Trafadden Island to coach him in this endeavour. However, Banba is rather fond of Trafadden whiskey and what's more, is having an affair with Liam's old friend Martin – a fact which raises an uncomfortable truth for Liam. In five short episodes, 'The Daffodil' features music and comedy but also explores more serious theme of denial.
Budapest, Hungary, 2015. Nursing a broken heart, Mar Walsh travels from Waterford to Hungary to stay with her sister Brigette Walsh Cooney and family. Mar is impressed by her sister's seemingly idyllic expat existence. Brigette simply 'does not do negativity' and her days are full of champagne and yoga. All is not how it seems, however, and cracks are soon evident in the Cooney's perfect veneer. A mistress, a graffiti-obsessed son, an anarchist and a gay minister focused on change, all combine to shake the Cooney's world and expose its fragility as the country's political problems arrive on their doorstep in the form of a revolution.
Set in Brennan's Bar, a peculiar pub on Waterford's O'Connell street, Strongbow's Clock is a comic ghost story concerning a pair of barflies, an immigrant Hungarian barman and the events that ensue when the pub's clock stops working and a mysterious young woman is swept in the pub door.
Nick and Angela have met at the same time in Brennan's Bar every evening, for years. They are served by Gabor, a Hungarian who has become 'more Irish than the Irish themselves', and who is a keen, if confused orator of Irish history. On this particular evening however, the antics of a Hallowe'en circus in town delays both Nick and Angela's arrival and interrupts Gabor's daily ceremony of winding the grandfather clock. The regular flow of events is thus unsettled, jovial banter turns nasty and the exposure of a dark secret looms. Then, the evening takes a further surreal turn with the arrival of a dazed young woman from Ferrybank…
Strongbow's Clock is a comic ghost story. It is also a study of the consequences when unrequited love is toyed with carelessly, and the violence such passions can stir.