inventors

Written By: Carlo Gébler, Vincent Higgins, Seth Linder & Jimmy McAleavey with live original music created and performed by Ursula Burns
Directed By: Paula McFetridge
Production Premiere: 15th May 2013

Hilarious music hall in a pop-up barn celebrating Ulster inventions…

Need to find a way of stopping amorous cows crashing over fields to get to your bull because he’s so damn sexy?

Want to chat to your dead loved ones to see just what it’s like on the other side?

Wish to find out if your man is a coward before you marry him and he ruins your life?

Are your cows all moo and no milk?

Inventors, set in the early 1900’s, celebrates the unique and eclectic range of Ulster’s innovators and inventors from the last 150 years.

From Harry Ferguson’s three-point linkage system to Samuel Davidson’s tea-drying machine to Marconi’s radio telegraph – tales of history’s innovators and revolutionaries through the medium of old-style music-hall.

Join Kabosh as they transport you back to the music hall era of the early 1900s, where the city’s most awe-inspiring entrepreneurs are pitching their visions to change the world as we know it.

Inventors is a gem of theatrical vision; drama that is alive, genuinely engaging and leaves audiences surprised, inspired and wanting more.

Gilly Campbell, Arts Development Officer – Drama and Dance, Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Intriguing and joyful exhibition of unfairly forgotten inspiring NI figures

Emma Copeland - Audience Member
Excruciatingly funny as it was educational

Alex Connelly - Audience Member
Inventors was wildly entertaining in every aspect; a bizarre cocktail of ragtime skiffle song, victorian dress, and witty scriptwriting brought to life by a supremely versatile cast. Well worth seeing - you're guaranteed to leave wearing a smile!

Daniel Acheson - Audience Member
The show has the imagination, and the lunacy, of the inventors it celebrates. The original music is pitched perfectly to match a turn of the century carney experience with insanely catchy songs. The short pieces are an anarchic mix of styles and the cast soared with them all. I found it funny, silly, educational and impressive – often in the same breath

Claire Higgins - Audience Member
A fantastic invention of a show – from the moment the characters invited us into their barn we knew they were not to be trusted! With a glint in the eye and no end of theatrical style the show played fast and loose with the facts yet somehow managed to teach us something. Brilliantly directed for a beautifully designed space – a perfect piece of ensemble entertainment.

Michael Duke - Audience Member
Inventors provided a unique opportunity to align our arts and business activities at the Balmoral Show. The partnership was a great success for Ulster Bank, building brand affinity and awareness.

Laura Wells - Ulsterbank

CREATIVE TEAM

Cast

Stephen Beggs, Shaun Blaney, Maria Connolly, Amanda Doherty, Vincent Higgins and Paddy Jenkins

Inventions by Paddy Bloomer

Costume Design by Elle Kent,

Set and Prop Design by Liz Cullinane

Crew: Donal McKendry, Monica McNally, Natalie Murphy, Jen Shepherd and Andrew Stanford

Produced by Lyndsay Jackson

Assistant Producer Hilary Copeland

Artist on Placement Mikolaj Wozniak

Brand Design by Peter Higgins

Video by Matt Curry

Photography by Karen McFarlane

PAST PERFORMANCES

15th – 17th May 2013 at the Balmoral Show
Multiple shows 11.30am – 4pm daily
Original Music recorded by the Company in Red Box Recording Studio October 2014
Associated 10-week outreach programme with young people from Rathbone, Ballykindler and Denmark St in Belfast, as well as members of the Young Farmers in Cookstown - The Inventors Fair led by Louise Matthews, supported by Dave Smith, with digital media input from Adrian Allen 3Sixty Design; culminating in a performance in the barn.