An excellent year for BELFAST GIRLS

In 2019 there were two magnificent productions of BELFAST GIRLS - and a reading of the play in Washington DC. BELFAST GIRLS premiered in August in Australia, at the Q Theatre in Queanbeyan, New SouthWales. Produced by Echo Theatre and directed by Jordan Best, this production did fantastically well and received a number of glowing reviews. I was so sorry to miss it and really hope that Jordan and the cast get to do it again. Here are some shots from this beautiful show:

The next production was by the Swedish company, Batalj Scenkonst and this took place in Stockholm in November. This production marks the first production of the play in translation and luckily I was able to attend the opening night. Malin Erikson directed an absolutely stunning cast and I thought this was an incredibly beautiful show. Very physical and visual, with brilliant use of lighting and music. Even though I don't speak or understand Swedish I was completely moved by this show and really hope the company get to do it again. Whether in Sweden or elsewhere! This production also received remarkable reviews and lots of press. Some shots from the play here:

Middle page spread in DN Kultur, Sweden

Batalj Scenkonst's production of BELFAST GIRLS also managed to get on the cover of Sweden's foremost culture magazine, DN Kultur, which is no mean feat. Lovely to see an intimate moment from the play on the cover. Malin is also an intimacy director and her work - and the actors' - was quite breathtaking.

In December there was a reading of the play in Washington DC, directed by Shanara Gabrielle for Solas Nua, a Washington-based theatre and arts company. The setting for this reading, in the O Mansion, looks stunning, Here are a few shots from this gorgeous event also:

There are further productions of the play in 2020/21 and 2022.Watch this space.

Comments

The Folly

A new poem from me in response to the proposal to build on 98 acres of land surrounding Cuchulainn's Castle, Dundalk. It is written from the point of view of Laeg, Cuchulainn's companion and charioteer. The Folly Out from Tara, the widest road leads to a mount from where the sea can be seen beneath Mournes and Cooleys, at the edge of Ulster. This is Delga. Cú is needed for a battle today. Something about a bull and a mad queen from the West – who it seems is a friend of Ferdia. Láeg is here to deliver this troubling news. He sits in the centre of the mount, waiting for Cú to come from his shave and wash, thinks about which horses to take, for one is lame, when he is possessed by a strange fit. It is so black and dense, he thinks even a warp-spasm, the Ríastrad, could not unloose it. He sees the future: a conquest that causes his people to hide in the earth like moles, the building of a fortress around this place. The image burns in his mind the...

Sweeney as a Girl: New Poetry Collection

My debut collection of poems, "Sweeney as a Girl", was published last year by Dedalus Press. Due to a cycling accident, in which I managed to break my wrist, I have really only been able to promote the collection more recently. I read at the Cork International Poetry Fesival last year and have just read at the Strokestown International Poetry Festival, both great events. Now fully recovered and lifting weights (thank God!) I am hoping to read in the UK later this year, too. While the book is a "debut collection", it includes work written over the past decade or so, and includes a few poems that have won awards or were shortlisted or nominated for them. The medieval Irish myth Bhuile Suibhne, about Suibhne mac Colmáin, king of the Dál nAraidi, or King Sweeney, who was banished and changed into a bird then travelled all over Ireland, has inspired many writers, from Flann O’Brien to Seamus Heaney. The story begins in County Down and in Heaney’s Sweeney Astray ...

Belfast Girls tours Ireland!

Since I last posted here about my play Belfast Girls, it has been staged in Germany, in New York twice, in Australia again and in Ireland! It returned to Ireland this Autumn and is currently touring. Presented again by Quintessance Theate, the play has a new cast and a new director in Rhiann Jeffrey. It is also a different production, and seems ready-made for its need now to be a portable, touring entity. The play previewed in Drogheda last week and is currently on in An Grianan Theatre in Letterkenny. I will get to see it a few times during its 24-show tour and I'm looking forward to it. There are a few production shots of the Irish show below. Some of the reviews the play received in New York were wonderful. Such as: "Skillfully structured ... Five wonderful actors" New Yorker ★★★★ Front Row ★★★★ NY Stage Review ★★★★ Total Theater "One of the most ... considered portraits of the harm Ireland has done to women ... that I have ever seen" Irish Central ...

CloudNine

Search This Blog