RTÉ Lyric Feature ‘Building a Ballet’: Listen Together

Join us to listen to the recent award-winning RTÉ Lyric Feature audio documentary Building a Ballet by Joanna Marsden, presented by the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Heritage Office in partnership with RTÉ Lyric FM.

Building a Ballet tells the story of the unconventional women behind Dublin's forgotten National Ballet Company in the years 1957-1964, including teacher & choreographer Patricia Ryan, a long-term resident of Monkstown/Sandycove. The documentary includes dramatized excerpts from Ryan’s unpublished memoirs, letters from figures such as Samuel Beckett and artist Patrick Collins, and recently discovered archive audio of an original Irish ballet written by Patrick Kavanagh.

A 52-min collective listening experience will be held in the dark with the words running on screen. Afterwards there will be a 30-min conversation on bringing lost social & local history stories to life with documentary-maker Joanna Marsden and Heritage Officer Deirdre Black.

Credits:

Building a Ballet (IMRO Award 2024; New York Radio Festival Finalist 2025) was presented & produced by Joanna Marsden, and the Series Producer was Eoin O Kelly. It was funded by RTÉ Lyric FM and Coimisiún na Meán's Sound & Vision scheme. Original letters & memoirs were reproduced with the kind permission of The Penelope Collins Collection. Patricia Ryan’s memoirs were voiced by her granddaughter Simone Collins. The other actors were Ingrid Craigie, Jonathan White and Mark Doherty, and sound was by Tinpot Productions.

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