Theatre for Social Change

Projects that highlight social injustice to open eyes, inform and mobilise audiences.  Each project is created for a location relating to the issue and then reimagined for revival so the stories can be taken further afield. Project examples include:

Lives in Translation

Based on interviews with Somali asylum seekers and their support workers, this powerful play by Rosemary Jenkinson follows one woman trapped in the UK and Irish system for 14 years without getting residency.  It premiered in container lorries in an old warehouse before moving to courthouses and theatres.

1in 5

Inspired by NSPCC postcards highlighting levels of child poverty in the north of Ireland 2011, this promenade project premiered in the former Limavady workhouse. Written by Marina Carr, Rosemary Jenkinson, Nicola McCartney and Morna Regan it uses film, radio and theatre to explore issues of contemporary poverty.

A Queer Ceili at the Marty Forsythe

In 1983 the National Union of Students held their LGBT conference in Belfast.  They were met with protests from the ‘Save Ulster from Sodomy’ crusade.  In response members of the Marty Forsythe club in Turf Lodge, west Belfast decided to host a queer ceili.  Playwright Dominic Montague interviewed several individuals who were there and crafted an agit-prop play combining projection and spoken word to highlight this little known story of human rights.

This is What we Sang

Jo Egan interviewed 45 members of the aging Jewish community residing in the north of Ireland as well as regent emigrants, Gavin Kostick used the recordings as a catalyst for his 4-generational family drama set on Yom Kippur to explore bigotry and identity.  It premiered in the Belfast synagogue before travelling to NYC.