麻豆社

Gary Raymond talks to a range of people who found the lockdown period of the pandemic unusually productive, from artists who found the solitude galvanising, to others who discovered new talents.

Between March 2020 and March 2021, 麻豆社 Radio Wales鈥� Review Show presenter Gary wrote two books, a radio documentary, 25 articles, started a third book, continued to present his radio show, lost and found his cat, got married, had a baby (or at least his wife did, but he鈥檚 still marking this down in the achievements box), all the while reading constant streams on social media from pretty much everyone he had ever admired or looked up to on how they had creatively dried up during a year of lockdowns.

As Gary moved through an unprecedented period of productivity, he felt little more than guilt as friends, acquaintances, and strangers lamented their wells going dry. This got him thinking: were there more people out there quietly enjoying a purple patch?

In Lockdown Unlocked Me, Gary hears the stories of those whose creativity thrived in these strange and surreal circumstances 鈥� whether they drew inspiration directly from what was going on or found the isolation, time and space gave them new direction, including artist Kevin Sinnott, comedian Esyllt Sears and theatre drector Nick Evans. He also weaves in the experiences of 鈥渙rdinary鈥� people who found their creativity blossomed away from the grind of their usual working routine as they discovered talents they didn鈥檛 know they had - like Dan Nicholls, who discovered painting and created the Home Portrait Society on social media.

He also talks to Alys Morgan who used creative writing to cope with the trauma of being hospitalised with Covid 19 and went on to write a powerful book about her experiences - the first testimony to be written from a Welsh patient's perspective.

These are personal stories of triumph in the face of adversity, of people learning something about themselves, and looking at the implacable nature of creativity itself.