Project Work
SPACE Mystery Bus Tour, Upper North Belfast Community Empowerment Project
Crumlim Road, Belfast, UK
The SPACE tour offered a way for young people from a Protestant area of North Belfast to engage with the effects of the conflict in Northern Ireland on their community. The tour, devised by young people from the area, took place on 1st December 2006, starting on open top buses leaving from a community centre on Crumlim Road and with young people acting as tour guides. A group of policy makers and interested others from Belfast were shown around their estate, and asked to pay particular attention to the derelict buildings, unused youth and community centres and scarcity of employment opportunities for local people. Tour guides were invited to be creative with the loose'â€~script' and add their own jokes or anecdotes. As part of the project, young people also produced a video highlighting the types of community programmes they would like to see implemented in their local area. The video is being used to lobby decision makers (including a showing at the N Ireland Commission for Children and Young People) and encourage other groups of young people to express their views. The project acted as an uncommon invitation to young people to speak about their needs and community. The project was facilitated by community artist Gerri Moriarty, and took place as part of the Upper North Belfast Community Empowerment Project.
The Official Version, Dubbeljoint Theatre Company
Belfast, UK
'The Official Version' takes the audience on a tour of the Long Kesh/Maze Prison and was written and performed as part of the commemoration of the hunger strikes by Republican political prisoners housed in the prison in the 1980s. Specifically, the play takes on the issue of the criminalisation of Republican activists during the Thatcher years. Robert, the former governor of the Maze Prison, discusses many of the inmates as Republican law-breakers, echoing the government's characterisation of the dissidents as criminals. However, Annie and Theresa, a mother and sister of a former hunger striker, describe Long Kesh as a political hotbed that demonstrated the discrimination that Republicans endured by the state. The two names given to the prison reflect the sectarian divides between the Republican and Unionist populations in Northern Ireland, and the play traces the ways in which these divides continue to inform public discussions of the two groups as well as the future of Northern Ireland.
The play was written by Lawrence McKeown, a former Republican hunger striker that spent time at Long Kesh prison and directed by Pam Brighton of Dubbeljoint Theatre Company in Belfast. Dubbeljoint's remit is specifically to develop a critical, serious, progressive and enjoyable arts environment in west Belfast.
The Bomb, Action Transport Theatre Company
Ellesmere Port, UK
The Bomb' recounts the events leading up to and occurring after the explosion of the bomb at the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton in 1984. The play is based on the real life story of Jo Berry, a woman whose father was killed in the bombing, and Patrick Magee, the IRA man who planted the bomb. Jo and Patrick decided to meet in 2000 and began a friendship that was based on forgiveness and reconciliation. The play integrates both Jo and Patrick's voices through interviews conducted with them and through Action Transport's invitation to both to view the play and offer suggestions and corrections. Jo Berry continued to participate in the project via the school tours, where workshops led by her were offered as part of the performance package. 'The Bomb' was on tour in the Autumn of 2006 and was nominated for numerous awards.
Action Transport Theatre Company gears its work towards young people. Their aim is to create original, professional and engaging theatre productions that encourage young people to get involved in and enjoy the arts. This is particularly facilitated through the company's development programmes.
