The Hazard of the Die by Michael Patrick and Oisín Kearney on BBC Radio 4
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Aired on BBC Radio 4 inOctober 2024
Written by Michael Patrick and Oisín Kearney
Presented by Michael Patrick
Produced and Directed by Conor McKay
“I have set my life upon a cast, and I will stand the hazard of the die”
Michael Patrick has a limp – and it’s getting worse. The young actor is in the middle of writing a radio drama about an experimental drug trial when he receives a diagnosis – he has Motor Neurone Disease.
Average life expectancy is four years.
Should he sail around the world with his fiancé? Buy a pub with his mates? Of course not. Michael decides to stage a major production of Shakespeare’s longest history play – Richard III –
with himself in the lead role, directed by best friend and writing partner Oisín.
At the same time, Michael gets a chance to join an experimental drug trial that could offer a promising new treatment for MND. Can the drug turn care into cure?
Now, he and Oisín just have to convince the Lyric Theatre in Belfast to stage their ambitious production of Richard, while Michael wonders if the drug can offer any hope against the disease’s relentless progression.
Michael Patrick after a dosing of the potential life saving drug