Lucy Caldwell’s new play for radio, “Mayday”, premieres on BBC Radio 4 on Monday, June 12. After broadcast, it will be available for a time on BBC iPlayer. For more information, and to listen, click here.

Synopsis

Coralie is a nineteen year old student. It’s the morning of the 30th April and she had just taken a Mifepristone pill, the first stage of a medical abortion. As she waits the 24 hours until she is due to take the second set of pills which will complete the procedure, she relates and reflects on the events and circumstances which brought her to this moment.

Set in Northern Ireland, the only part of the UK in which the 1967 Abortion Act does not apply, Mayday takes us into the mind of an increasingly isolated, conflicted, and terrified young woman who, having ordered the drugs online – illegally – fears that she, and anyone she might confide in, could face prosecution and jail if her actions are discovered.

Starring Eileen O’Higgins (Brooklyn, My Mother and Other Strangers) as Coralie, the cast also includes Anthony Boyle (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Sophie Robinson (Rebellion, Fifteen) and Imogen Doel (The Importance of Being Earnest, Whisper). Production is by Heather Larmour.