Legacy of Conflict
These projects vary from full-length dramas of approx. 1hr duration to shorter pop-up dramas created for a specific event. Each involves Kabosh collaborating with a community-based umbrella organisation; previous partners include Diversity Challenges, the Trauma Recovery Network, Relatives for Justice and Healing Through Remembering. Projects are informed by stories gathered from members of the community to assist us deal with the legacy of conflict. Most performances are followed by a facilitated discussion to discuss production themes. Project examples include:
Based on testimonies from Royal Ulster Constabulary and Garda Síochána officers who served on the Irish border during the height of the conflict. The play, by Laurence McKeown, was developed over a 2-year period with regular facilitated readings for a committee of former police. It explores policing, collusion, isolation and revenge.
Commissioned by Healing Through Remembering to assist different communities examine the difficult subject of reconciliation, Laurence McKeown’s play asks whether individuals have the right to move on from conflict when their peers and community are not yet ready. It explores the volatile issue of forgiveness, forgetting and forfeiting family ties.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the 1994 IRA ceasefire, Conor Mitchell scored a responsive composition performed by 20 classical musicians at the gates of city hall. The score became the centrepiece of an installation by Lesley Cherry in the viewing gallery of Victoria Square supported by a dedicated website on which the public could leave personal reflections.
The Room
A short drama by Nicola McCartney that featured as part of the multi-artist 1 in 5 promenade project in the former Limavady workhouse. A young woman commits an act of anti-social behaviour; to keep her out of prison she is forced to undertake a face-to-face meeting with the older female victim. It asks if transitional justice initiatives work and challenges an audience to consider where ‘blame’ should be apportioned.
Third person in our marriage
Commissioned by Relatives for Justice to mark the release of the Eames/Bradley Report, this short drama examines the sensitive subject of victimhood. A husband and wife are having a seemingly domestic conversation but there is a third person in the room: the voice of the husband’s internal thoughts. This voice proclaims how difficult it is to have a successful, healthy marriage when the presence of a dead, loved one is forever there. It asks if there is a timeline to victimhood.