 | ||
Ist das Ihr Fahrrad Mr O’Brien? (Is this your bicycle, Mr. O'Brien?) is a German biographical radio play about life, works and legacy of Irish modernist writer Brian O'Nolan (Irish: Brian Ó Nualláin; 5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966).
Contents
Plot summary
Irish novelist Brian O'Nolan uses numerous pseudonyms for his literary works. In this radio-drama, these pseudonyms meet and argue with characters from O’Nolan’s novels and narrations. The plot roughly follows O’Nolans real life as a student in Nazi-Germany, his return to inter-war Ireland, unemployment and career in the civil service, his declining health, dislike of James Joyce and constant financial troubles.
In the German original the drama was subtitled ‘’Eine Hörspielcollage aus der Welt der Wissenschaft und des Suffs’’ (A radio play patchwork from a world of science and booze), a claim that was brought to life by creative use of sound footage, music, audio-gags, and music by The Dubliners and other celtic folksingers.
Characters and performers
In the play, a number of writers, historic, literary or public figures, and scientists are mentioned to illustrate O’Nolan’s colorful and over-populated universe, such as Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde, Graham Greene, James Joyce, Fionn mac Cumhaill, Harry Rowohlt, Homer, Jonathan Swift, George Bernhard Shaw, the Marx Brothers, Brendan Behan, Éamon de Valera, Karl Kraus, Sherlock Holmes, and Erwin Schrödinger.
Awards
Soon after the play was first aired, the first nominations for German radio awards were announced. Later that year it won the prestigious ‘Radio Play of the Month Award’ by the German National Academy of Performing Arts.
Current ownership
Since most radio shows and plays aired by German national broadcasting companies are not accessible online, current owner and sole distributor is the Saarländischer Rundfunk. The play has been regularly re-broadcast by federal Deutschlandfunk, and regional stations like Bayerischer Rundfunk, Norddeutscher Rundfunk and Suedwestrundfunk.