We held two festivals of new plays. The first group of six plays told the stories of Irish men and women came to Great Britain in the hundred years since the Easter Rising of 1916. The second, a group of three plays shone a spotlight on Irish men and women who had done something remarkable in their lives.
“In The Shadow and The Shelter” in 2016
These plays were about a variety of topics:
- ‘Body and Blood’ – arranged marriages in Ireland
- Click here to read about the practice of arranged marriages in Ireland as told by the writer Lorraine Mullaney.
- ‘Crows by Day, Jackals by Night’ – the lives of those who joined the British Forces to fight in the Second World War.
- Click here to read Maureen Alcorn’s account of why her Donegal father, like many others enlisted in the British Army.
- ‘Just Above Dogs’ – exploitation of Irish labourers working on the sites in England
- Click here to read more the Irish men who came to Great Britain to work on the sites written by Anne Curtis.
- ‘The Importance of Being’ -the sadness of a, Irish woman whose child was taken from her for adoption by the State.
- Click here to read an article by Anne Curtis, the writer of the play.
‘Traitors, Cads and Cowards’ – an interchange between an Irish freedom fighter with his two cell mates in Wandsworth Prison following the Easter Rising in 1916. - Click here to find out more about the play.
- ‘Women’s Work’ – how diaspora, identity and dementia affected the lives of three women.
- Click here to read about how dementia and issues of identity affect the Irish community.
Click here to view some stills from the productions.
“Against the Odds” in 2018.
- ‘Mosely Must Fall’ – The conflict that occurred in an Irish family, living in the East End of London as Oswald Mosely and his fascists prepare to march through the Jewish and Irish ghettos.
Click here to read about the rise of Fascism in the East End of London in the 1930s. - ‘What’s the Story?’ The story of Mary Fleming and Aileen Turner, two Irish nurses who ran into a blazing building to save the lives of their patients after their ward was hit by a German bomb.
Click here to read about Irish Nurses in World War II - And here to read more about Molly Fleming one of the nurses who was awarded the George Medal as told by her nephew Liam Treacy.
- ‘A Tragic Carmody’ – The story of how internationally recognised artist Brian Whelan tried to organise an exhibition with fellow Irish London artist Danny Carmody, an Irish builder.
Click here to read artist Brian Whelan’s personal memoir of Danny Carmody.
Click here to view some stills from the productions