Once Off Productions with Cork Midsummer Festival presents
The Lost Tapes Of Lydia Howell
The Lost Tapes of Lydia Howell
A listening party for a forgotten musicianEmerging 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 at Midsummer 2026, featuring the voice of Clare Dunne (Kin, Herself, Sure Look It, F**k It).
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
Funded by the Arts Council
Stack Theatre, Cork School of Music
19 - 21 June
(Previews 17 & 18 June, 7pm | 19 June, 7pm ||
Matinees 20 June, 5pm & 21 June, 1pm)
€25 / €20 (Previews €18) | 75 mins
