Activities per year
Abstract
The Silence and The Scream, Documentary for BBC Radio 4.
Donegal is an Irish county where silence is a virtue. You can find it in the desolate landscape, the big skies and far horizons - but silence can be found in the people too. Maybe it's discretion or reticence. It could be shyness or a kind of wisdom.
So when radical free-thinking commune, The Atlantis Foundation, set up home in the remote Donegal village of Burtonport in the mid-1970s, it seemed like an unlikely choice of location. Led by charismatic Englishwoman Jenny James and inspired by an experimental brand of counter-cultural psychology, the foundation practised 'primal scream' therapy. This was about letting it all out, yelling; shouting; shrieking to release deep rooted fears in the most challenging and visceral way. The locals simply called them the Screamers.
Author and Donegal native Garrett Carr was a boy when he first heard of the Screamers. His family would lower their voices when mentioning them. While he found the name unnerving, Garrett was intrigued. On the coast near his home, he liked to imagine he could hear their cries echoing across the water.
Now Garrett is returning to Donegal to find out who the Screamers were, what they wanted and if they ever managed to find it. Most of all he wants to know what happened when the quiet restraint of his local community was confronted by the outward abandonment of the Atlantis Foundation.
Garrett is going home to discover what happens when silence meets scream.
Donegal is an Irish county where silence is a virtue. You can find it in the desolate landscape, the big skies and far horizons - but silence can be found in the people too. Maybe it's discretion or reticence. It could be shyness or a kind of wisdom.
So when radical free-thinking commune, The Atlantis Foundation, set up home in the remote Donegal village of Burtonport in the mid-1970s, it seemed like an unlikely choice of location. Led by charismatic Englishwoman Jenny James and inspired by an experimental brand of counter-cultural psychology, the foundation practised 'primal scream' therapy. This was about letting it all out, yelling; shouting; shrieking to release deep rooted fears in the most challenging and visceral way. The locals simply called them the Screamers.
Author and Donegal native Garrett Carr was a boy when he first heard of the Screamers. His family would lower their voices when mentioning them. While he found the name unnerving, Garrett was intrigued. On the coast near his home, he liked to imagine he could hear their cries echoing across the water.
Now Garrett is returning to Donegal to find out who the Screamers were, what they wanted and if they ever managed to find it. Most of all he wants to know what happened when the quiet restraint of his local community was confronted by the outward abandonment of the Atlantis Foundation.
Garrett is going home to discover what happens when silence meets scream.
Original language | English |
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Publisher | BBC Radio 4 |
Media of output | Film |
Publication status | Published - 27 Jul 2018 |
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'The Silence and The Scream'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Activities
- 1 Visiting an external academic institution
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IT Sligo (Institute of Technology, Sligo)
Carr, G. (Visiting lecturer)
30 Jan 2020Activity: Visiting an external institution types › Visiting an external academic institution
Press/Media
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Review of The Silence and the Scream, Spectator, 'The mysterious commune of 70s Donegal whose members bonded through primal screaming'
28/07/2018
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Discussion of The Silence and The Scream, BBC news
23/07/2018
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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The Oracle at Glencolumbkille: Short story for BBC Radio 4
Carr, G., 21 Jan 2018, BBC : BBC Radio 4.Research output: Other contribution
Open AccessFile -
The Badness of Ballydog
Carr, G., 18 Feb 2010, London: Simon & Schuster. 240 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book