Film from Sebastien Barry’s Radio Drama A Tale with two Joes, Sunday 4th April, 8.00pm

Although it airs on the high holy day of the Christian calendar, Sebastian Barry’s A Tale with two Joes in it is not a play about resurrection or even redemption. Nor, on the other hand, is it the portrait of an atrocity, which would make it a fitting Good Friday drama.

Instead, the story of the aged Padraig, a veteran of the violence which founded the Irish state in the War of Independence and the Civil War, is in a sense the tale of Holy Saturday, of a space between death and life, between lethal memories and the vitality of contrition. It’s also a masterclass with two world renowned radio-actors, Niall Tóibín and Fionnula Flanagan.