The Lost Tapes Of Lydia Howell

Emerging post-lockdown, creatively blocked, Stanley moves into a Victorian split-level in a Dublin square. He discovers a discarded shoebox filled with cassette demos, disposable photos and journal recordings belonging to Lydia Howell (of the also-ran shoegaze trio No!-No!).

As Stanley reconstructs Lydia’s unfinished life through her artefacts and solo recordings, preservation becomes collaboration. Haunted by the work that never left the room, he finds an antidote to his own stagnation, culminating in a duet between the living and the dead.

But does preserving an artist’s lost work inevitably reshape it — or even steal it?

Following festival hits Mimic (2007), Deep (2013), and The Bluffer’s Guide to Suburbia (2019), writer/performer Ray Scannell reunites with director Tom Creed to premiere this new work, featuring the voice of Clare Dunne (Kin, Herself, Sure Look It, F**k It).

Funded by the Arts Council

Written, composed and performed by Ray Scannell
Featuring the voice of Clare Dunne
Directed by Tom Creed
Sound Design and Additional Composition by Rob Moloney
Lighting Design by Stephen Dodd
Image photography by Ros Kavanagh
Rehearsal photography and videography by Nathan Snow