Episode 9 - 2018

Episode 9 features an extract from Chapter 12 of the book, entitled ‘Yes Yes Yes’, which looks at the appointment of the artist Abigail O’Brien as the first female president of the RHA in 2018, and considers the role gender has played in some elements of the 200-year history of the RHA. Narrated by the author Cristín Leach.

Episode 9

Episode 8 - 2008

The Academy’s motto is Nulla Dies Sine Linea, which translates from Latin as: No day without a line. Episode 8 is anchored in 2008 and is based on Chapter 11 of the book, which focuses on the re-establishment of the RHA School, and takes its title from the Latin motto on the RHA coat of arms. This episode features a short extract as an introduction to and a reading of the poem of the same title, ‘Nulla Dies Sine Linea’. Narrated by the author Cristín Leach.

Episode 8

Episode 7 - 1999

Episode 7 is an edited extract from the essay in flash form in Chapter 10 of the book, entitled ‘Flash of the Future’. It begins in 1999, with the establishment of a sponsorship arrangement between the RHA and Eurojet, an executive jet and private helicopter charter company operating out of Dublin and Belfast. This essay considers the significance of the Eurojet Futures, later Futures, series of exhibitions and the RHA's evolving relationship with emerging artists. Narrated by the author Cristín Leach.

Episode 7

Episode 6 - 1997

Episode 6 is set in 1997 and is a new audio essay based on Chapter 9 of the book, entitled ‘The Critic’s Academy’, which looks at the relationship between the RHA and newspaper art critics. In 1997, the RHA President, architect Arthur Gibney, wrote to Irish art critics Medb Ruane, Bruce Arnold, Aidan Dunne, Gerald Davis and Dorothy Walker asking them to select and curate their “ideal academy” for a show. Narrated by the author Cristín Leach.

Episode 6

Episode 5 - 1916

Episode 5 features an extract from the essay ‘On Fire’ in Chapter 5 of the book, which tells some of the story of the burning of Academy House during the Easter Rising of 1916. It focuses on the role of the Keeper, Joseph Malachy Kavanagh, in saving the President’s chain, the RHA’s Royal Charter and the minutes books as the 500 paintings hanging in the annual show and the building burnt to the ground. Narrated by the author Cristín Leach.

Episode 5

Episode 4 - 1893

Episode 4 is an extract from Chapter 4 of the book entitled ‘They Will Not Mix’. It is a short story based on two photographs which are housed in the National Gallery of Ireland Collection, sent by the painter Walter Osborne to his sister Violet in Canada in 1893. Narrated by the author Cristín Leach, with voice performance by Rachel Andrews

Episode 4

Episode 3 - 1857

Episode 3 is set in 1857 and features extract from Chapter 3 of the book, entitled ‘In the Evenings, by Gaslight’. This is a story told in a series of unanswered questions which focus on the fallout that emerged when two competing sets of President, Secretary and Keeper wrestled for control of the RHA and its income and debts, as their increasingly embittered divisions played out in letters to the daily newspapers and a commissioned report to government. Narrated by the author Cristín Leach.

Episode 3

Episode 2 - 1845

Based on Chapter 2 of the book, ‘A Penny for Them’, Episode 2 is set in 1845 and takes a diary format, subtitled “some thoughts in the mind of artist and archaeologist George Petrie”. Born on 1 January 1790, Vice President of the Royal Irish Academy and Secretary of the Royal Hibernian Academy, Petrie has just turned 55. He is about to release a new book which includes what will become a seminal essay on Irish round towers. Narrated by the author Cristín Leach, with voice performance by Lorcan Mac Muiris.

Episode 2

Episode 1 - 1826

Based on Chapter 1 of the book, set in 1826, this is a work of historical fiction, which shares its title with the book, ‘From Ten till Dusk’. Episode 1 features an extract from the story, which imagines RHA President Francis Johnston and his wife as they sit together at breakfast on Eccles Street in Dublin, one morning after the opening of the first RHA annual exhibition on Lower Abbey Street. Narrated by the author Cristín Leach, with voice performances by Lorcan Mac Muiris and Oonagh Montague.

Episode 1

The Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts was founded in 1823. From Ten till Dusk – The Audio Series, contains extracts from, and new audio essays based on, the book From Ten till Dusk, A Portrait of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts in 12 Stories by Cristín Leach. 

The book was commissioned and published by the RHA in 2023 on the occasion of its 200th anniversary, with thanks to the RHA and the sponsors: IPUT Real Estate, Dublin; The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and The Arts Council. 

This audio series was written and produced by Cristín Leach; co-producer and audio editor Lorcan Mac Muiris; with performances by Lorcan Mac Muiris, Oonagh Montague and Rachel Andrews, and narration by Cristín Leach.

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