Coming Up: The Far Side of Revenge - Theatre of Witness documentary screening

This May Banbridge District Council has invited The Playhouse Theatre of Witness to deliver a screening of its work in Banbridge and invites audiences to bear witness to a powerful humanizing documentary about its work.

The Council's Good Relations Programme will offer a free screening of THE FAR SIDE OF REVENGE, a documentary that explores artistic director Teya Sepinuck’s engagement among a group of Northern Irish women from extraordinary backgrounds and histories. The film will be screened at The Old Town Hall, Banbridge on Tuesday May 6 at 7.30pm followed by a facilitated discussion with cast members.

Theatre of Witness is a form of performance that gives voice to those who have been marginalised, forgotten or are invisible in society.  Their true, life stories, performed by the people themselves, are shared onstage so that audiences can collectively bear witness to issues of suffering, redemption and social justice.

The film, by local filmmaker Margo Harkin, brings insight into a process of creation of this ground-breaking type of theatre, where the pain of individual stories are counterbalanced by the joyful bond that deepens between the women over a nine-month period.

Kathleen, whose husband and 5 British soldiers were blown up by the IRA in 1990, now performs on stage with Anne, a former quartermaster in the IRA whose uncle was killed by the British paratroopers on Bloody Sunday in 1972.  Under Teya’s guidance six cast members allow themselves to reveal the deep emotions that can only now be explored in post-conflict Northern Ireland.

“Under Teya’s direction this project is an adventure in human relations that surprises even the performers of this most unusual form of public expression”  Dolores Donnelly, Banbridge District Council's Good Relations Officer said.

“These are women from backgrounds and histories so diverse that it would be difficult to envision them sharing a space, let alone creating a public, cultural event together thus resulting in a very powerful and emotional piece of work”.

The film has already been screened in Belfast, Dublin, the Chicago Film Festival and received the Light In Motion Best Documentary Award at the 2012 Foyle Film Festival.

For more information or to reserve your seat please contact Marion Mitchell on (028) 4066 0605 or email marion.mitchell@banbridge.gov.uk

Coming Up: Flesh & Blood Women at the Grand Opera House

In what is believed to be the first-ever all-female, home-produced theatre production in the history of Northern Irish theatre, Flesh & Blood Women is about to set the Grand Opera House alight in early May, running from Wednesday 7th – Saturday 24th May.

Green Shoot promise an exhilarating night at the theatre with the production consisting of three hard hitting short plays written by Dawn Purvis, Brenda Murphy and Jo Egan.

Writing for the theatre for the first time, in her play Picking Up Worms, former Progressive Unionist Party leader Dawn Purvis tells a story from the 1970s about a child’s reflection of events on a street in Belfast during the Ulster Worker’s Strike in 1974.

Ballymurphy playwright and writer of the award-winning A Night With George, Brenda Murphy, tells the extraordinary true story of her mother having 11 children, six to a married man who lived around the corner with his own family.  In Two Sore Legs the former Republican prisoner uses her trademark Belfast humour to tell this very personal story, told from her mother’s perspective.

After last year's success as the writer/ director of Crimea Square, voted winner of the Audience Awards at the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's, Jo Egan’s play Sweeties will tell the stunning story of two sisters with conflicting memories about a life-changing incident from their childhood. Sweeties is based on Jo’s original oral research with Belfast women.

Flesh & Blood Women is unique in that it is the first production in the history of Northern Irish theatre where everyone involved is a woman. From writers to designers, from producer to director and stage management to marketers – believe it or not – it’s never happened before. In total, nineteen women will be involved at all levels of production.

The company are especially thrilled to have acquired the services of Coronation Street actress and director, Noreen Kershaw. Noreen won a BAFTA for directing the controversial Coronation Street storyline about the rape of Carla Connor. She has also directed episodes of Shameless and Emmerdale.

The all female cast includes Kerri Quinn, Maria Connolly, Rosie McClelland and Kat Regan.

For more information and to book tickets please click here.

@classygenes

Coming Up: How Many Miles to Babylon? at the Lyric Belfast

The First World War Centenary is commemorated in dramatic fashion at the Lyric Theatre with a stirring adaptation of Jennifer Johnston’s novel How Many Miles to Babylon? this Spring.

Rehearsals are well underway with an impressive line-up of Irish and English actors bringing the Londonderry author’s “brilliant masterpiece” to the stage for the first time in Northern Ireland.

Anthony Delaney (Alec) and Ryan McParland (Jerry) in rehearsals

How Many Miles to Babylon? tells the heart-rending story of two young Irish boys from very different backgrounds who end up fighting in Flanders. Alec and Jerry are divided by class but united in friendship. One is the only child of Anglo-Irish landowners; the other is from a large family of Irish workers. Brought together by a shared love of horses, the pair enjoy an idyllic childhood on the same estate in County Wicklow.

As war breaks out at the end of 1914, both enlist in the army - and find themselves standing together, yet divided once more by rank. In the fields of Flanders, they must not only endure the horrors of the battlefield, but also face an ordeal that will test their friendship and their loyalty to breaking point.  The dramatic tale has been adapted by Irish actor and current Artistic Director of the PICT theatre in Pittsburgh, Alan Stanford.

How Many Miles to  Babylon full cast

Philip Wilson directs an impressive cast with Good Vibrations star Ryan McParland taking on the role of the charismatic Jerry and Anthony Delaney (Liola, The Kingdom) as Alec. Lyric audiences may also remember Ryan from Tim Loane’s The Civilisation Game in 2012 as well as the BBC series, 6 Degrees set in Belfast.

Catherine Cusack, part of the Irish acting dynasty of Cusacks, plays the cold mother, Alicia Moore opposite Michael James Ford (Becoming Jane; Michael Collins) as her husband. The rest of the cast are Richard Teverson (Brideshead Revisited; Downton Abbey) as Major Glendinning, Jeremy Lloyd (The Iron Lady) as Bennett and Charlie De Bromhead (How to Lose Friends and Alienate People).

Director Philip Wilson

“I came across Jennifer Johnston’s novel some years back, when I was researching another First World War story, and her delicate yet heartbreaking account of how young Irish men faced the unimaginable in the trenches has stayed with me ever since,” said the director, Philip Wilson.

“So I leapt at the chance to stage Alan Stanford’s poignant and richly evocative adaptation of this classic novel. Alec and Jerry’s friendship – which transcends education, class and religion – is a wonderfully compelling one, and the journey they go on together is truly remarkable.”

How Many Miles to Babylon? runs on the Danske Bank Stage, Lyric Theatre from Wed 30 April to Sat 24 May (Previews Sun 27 April 2.30pm; Tues 29 April 1pm & 7.45pm)

For more information and booking, please click here.

Image credits: Brian Morrison

Guest Review: Nivelli's War by Cahoots NI at the MAC Belfast

By Dylan O'Rawe, aged 10

Tonight my mum and I went to see Nivelli's War.  It was the story of how a little boy called Ernst was evacuated to his aunt's house in the country when his city was bombed in World War 2.  He loved his mum very much and did not want to leave her, but it was too dangerous for him to stay and so he had to go so he would be safe.

When the war was over, a nice man helped him to find his way home even though when they first met each other they hated each other.  He showed Ernst magic tricks and then Ernst learned to do them himself.  When he grew up he became the great Nivelli, a magician.

I thought the story was really nice and I thought it was happy and sad.  I loved the magic tricks and the smoke which made it really spooky sometimes.  The music was cool and sometimes made me feel like something bad was going to happen.

My mum knows some people in the show and I knew Michael and Kerri because I've met them before with my mum.  All the actors were great but I thought that the great Nivelli was the best because he was really old and remembering back a long time and that was hard to act.  I loved Michael's smoke too and wanted there to be more, but I'm glad I wasn't sitting at the front.

I think all children should go to see the show because stories about the war are important for children to know about and history is really interesting.  If you like magic then you will love the trick at the end but my mum said not to write it here or I would spoil the surprise!

Dylan

Nivelli's War is at the MAC Belfast until Tuesday 11 March. Click here for tickets 

For tour dates check the Cahoots NI website by clicking here     

    

   

Coming Up: Brassneck's Man In The Moon at the Belfast Waterfront

Man in the Moon brings captivating local theatre to Belfast Waterfront’s Studio from Wednesday 19 to Saturday 29 March.  (No performance on Sunday 23 March).

“A brave and stirring piece of theatre… marvellously engaging.”

(Irish Theatre Magazine)

Written by acclaimed playwright Pearse Elliott and starring Ciaran Nolan - one of Ireland’s most gifted young actors - this one man show is brought to you by Belfast's Brassneck Theatre Company, the producers of smash-hit shows The Sweety Bottle and A Night With George.

“Funny, fast-paced and unexpectedly poignant.”  

(Culture NI)

Powerful, poignant and funny, this darkly comedic roller-coaster is the tender story of one man’s resolve to overcome the worst that life has to throw at him.  Sean Doran has recently been fired from his dead-end job. To make matters worse, his girlfriend has left him, taking their child, and the bank has just repossessed his house.

And so, we find Sean alone by the Half Moon Lake, a natural lagoon in the middle of Lenadoon Housing Estate in West Belfast, which although beautiful is known as a place of tragedy.

“Belly laughs, scene after scene.”  

(Irish News)

Over the course of one moonlit evening he takes us on a soul-searching journey through life, love and death, via his past, present and future.  He takes us on a ghost hunt of some of the funny people he has known and hilarious situations he has experienced in his life, whilst trying to fashion sense of his recent run of bad luck.

“Brassneck have pushed their creative boundaries with this play, which although comedic in many senses, deals with deeply serious and relevant subject matters.”

Writer, Pearse Elliott

“I have drawn parallels with the classic movie, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. Sean is our George Bailey and throughout Man In The Moon he talks and tries to make sense of his life and all the bad events that have come his way.  Reflecting on the people he has lost to suicide, Sean looks for a way to deal with everything and troop on. This is a story of survival, choices and how we can make a difference in this world.”

Director Tony Devlin

Man in the Moon is recommended for ages 15+ and contains strong language.

Tickets for Man in the Moon are available at www.waterfront.co.uk

Verdi's Macbeth by NI Opera

Given how much I loved The Flying Dutchman I was expecting great things from NI Opera's Macbeth.

It had many virtues which I absolutely loved.

The American Horror Story style witches straight out of a Victorian lunatic asylum were excellent and their movement was suitably creepy to ensure some audience members visibly recoiled when they first came on stage.

A stunning backdrop with a striking image by Alan McMahon which nodded to the iconic visual of Cosette from Les Miserables and which I would quite like on my bedroom wall.

The set was beautiful and though stark and cold for the scenes with the witches, was soon warmed up with banqueting tables, banners and flaming torches for the scenes in Macbeth's castle.  The raked stage worked well to ensure a feeling of claustrophobia, though I felt that this effect was lost a little by the performances.

Lady Macbeth's shelves of shoes made lots of the female audience members jealous but was a well placed reference to her determination to rise to the top and look good doing it. A press photographer taking photos at important moments in the Macbeth's lives pointed to the modern day cult of celebrity and I thought this was a nice touch.

A large curtain with images of the village people who had gone missing was poignant and sad and very much reminded me of the notice boards of missing people which spring up during a natural disaster or civil war.

I loved the gang of hoods with their covered faces and hard man stances. They very much reminded me of Belfast's own spides or indeed Tartans.  

While all these elements by themselves worked well and were striking, I felt that perhaps there were too many styles for the audience to take in.  The darkness of the story and the sense of foreboding which should have been present was not visible as the audience tried to keep up with the varying themes.

I felt that the performers lacked any real belief in the story they were telling and I made little connection with most of the characters with the exception of MacDuff. Andrew Rees has an engaging personal acting style and I really felt his words as he sang about his children being killed by the tyrant Macbeth.  It seemed that Lady Macbeth was played for laughs rather than being the conniving and reckless bitch I wanted her to be.

 
If I'm being honest a few simple things really annoyed me about the production which should have been easily fixed.  A screen provided on the stage to show the horrors that Macbeth had committed was much too small for anyone to see and given the amount of room on the stage, could have been better used.  Having a stage crew member carry said screen off mid-scene in full light completely broke my sense of disbelief and it seemed like this had been thrown in at the last minute.  While having crew on stage is acceptable for small theatre shows, I feel for a production which is so focussed on slick scenes and expensive sets, this was an oversight which should not have happened.  

Overall, I did enjoy the show.  The Ulster Orchestra as always, were amazing and I always enjoy the visual spectacle of opera but I wanted to be shocked and angry at the Macbeth's behaviour, instead I was amused.

That's not so bad, is it?

@Classygenes

Image credit: Patrick Redmond

On the Brink 1914-16: Politics of Conflict

On the Brink - Lecture by Prof. Richard Grayson at the Braid

In recent weeks, an interim programme for On the Brink 1914-16: Politics of Conflict was delivered in venues in Larne, Ballymena and Coleraine. Mid-Antrim Museum Service with Causeway Museum Service delivered this programme using feedback obtained from twenty five local community groups residing across the eight participating local authorities of Ballymena, Ballymoney, Carrickfergus, Coleraine, Larne, Limavady, Moyle and Newtownabbey.  The core programme for the On the Brink 1914-16 project will commence in April with anticipated funding from Heritage Lottery Fund.  

Drawing on community feedback, the Interim programme was aimed at building contextual knowledge of this 1914-16 period in the community as well as offering research skill development opportunities. 

On February 6th in Drumalis, Larne, speakers including Dr. Fearghal McGarry and Philip Orr gave talks on inclusive remembrance of this period. Dr. Chris Manson gave an illustrated talk on the post-war contexts in which War Memorials were planned, erected and unveiled across the island of Ireland. Exploration of the latter is an important focus for the core On the Brink 1914-16 project because it aims to deliver a Volunteer Tour Guide Initiative known as ‘Remembering 1914-16’ which will reveal local histories of WWI using sites such as War Memorials. Event speakers at Drumalis then participated in a panel discussion chaired by Johnston McMaster, former Director of the Education for Reconciliation programme at the Irish School of Ecumenics.

On February 12^th and 13^th, Professor Richard Grayson, Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths, London delivered sessions at both Mid-Antrim Museum at The Braid, Ballymena and Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart. These were practical sessions which introduced participants to a five step WWI military history research methodology which Grayson has also shared with the Community Relations Council.To demonstrate these steps, Grayson drew case studies from his book Belfast Boys: How Unionists and Nationalists Fought and Died Together in the First World War as well as from his own family’s service in WWI.

On the back of Grayson’s sessions, six workshops funded by the Community Relations Council will now be rolled out enabling participants to implement this five step research methodology. These sessions will provide guidance and hands on experience in using research sources including the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, local newspapers and on-line War Diaries. 

“Many people from all backgrounds had ancestors who fought in the First World World, some of whom unfortunately never made it back home. The Community Relations Council is delighted that people will be able to explore the meaning of the First World War in their own areas. By understanding further how the War affected their families and their areas we hope it might help people think about what future they want for themselves and their children to make sure conflict like this or more locally does not happen again." 

Peter Osborne, Chair of the Community Relations Council

These CRC funded WWI research skills workshops are limited to 10 places and will run on the following dates from 7pm to 9pm:

Cullybackey Community Development House, March 3th

Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart March 4th

Dunanney Centre, Rathcoole (Newtownabbey) March 5th

Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart March 11th

Ceres House, Ballykelly (Limavady) March 12th

Willowbank Business Park, Larne March 13th

For further information on securing a workshop place, please contact Mid-Antrim Museum Service on maria.cagney@ballymena.gov.uk or Causeway Museum Service on john.hamilton@colerainebc.gov.uk