I’ve been making theatre for as long as I remember. Acting. Singing. Directing. Thankfully never dancing. Much. A jack of all trades like so many of us in this business.
But for my Belltable 10 Connect bursary, I wanted to spend some time focusing on the thing I’ve dedicated most of my time in Limerick over the last decade, which is producing theatre.
Local theatre maker Ella Daly is one of ten recipients of Belltable:Connect 10 bursaries to explore a new creative idea during the month of May.
Ella has been exploring the theory of ambiguous loss through theatre. Watch her vlog below to find out more.
Prosthetic science looks at man’s need for wholeness, artificial limbs were developed for cosmetic appearance, function, and a spiritual sense of being complete but have developed to be so much more. Through storytelling, puppetry and object theatre this play looks at loss, life and coming to terms with a different form of completeness while tackling ableist views of the body. Continue reading Belltable:Connect 10 Blog – Emma Fisher
Ann Blake is one of the Belltable:Connect 10 local theatre makers who have been researching a new creative idea during the month of May.
In her vlog, Ann talks about her research into Gabriel Marcel’s play Ariadne. She is considering staging the play, or creating an adaptation of it. Find out more by watching her vlog below.
We find ourselves living in a time of great change. We know this, we see the seismic shifts happening all across society, nobody has been left untouched by the events of these last few months. The year 2020 will live long in our memory, its outcomes etched in our psyche indelibly. Yet despite this, we have endured, we have adapted, and we hope for a better tomorrow. Continue reading Belltable:Connect 10 Blog – Pius McGrath
In the late 80’s I went to Ballyferriter to Dún An Óir with my Irish class from school. It is my only experience of Irish college and a little different to the normal Gaeltacht experience as I knew my classmates. We had only one class in my school doing honours Irish, I was not in that class and was moved up so I could take honours Irish in the Leaving Cert. I was way behind and while the rest of the class was all A’s and B’s, I was a D at best. But I loved the language. I may not have been up to speed on the Módh Coinnoíollach and the Aimsir Fháistineach but I loved speaking ‘as Gaeilge’ and even though the class was a struggle for me, I did jump to a C in my Leaving Cert exam in honours Irish and I was delighted. Continue reading Belltable:Connect 10 Blog – Maeve McGrath
I’m extremely grateful to Belltable Connect for this bursary, which has allowed me the time to work on developing a one-woman show around life-threatening and life-affirming experiences I had whilst travelling eleven years ago. I collaborated with Terry O’Donovan as dramaturg on this project, building on our professional relationship which began whilst working on Bread not Profits in 2019. Continue reading Belltable:Connect 10 Blog – Georgina Miller
History is a cycle, humans do not change, we’re peasants with iPhones.
I researched a priest, Canon William Kennedy, a bible thumper by all accounts. I wanted to see if his time, 1920s Ireland, was similar to today. Between the war of independence, World War 1 and Irelands civil war, reality was frightening, though the lockdown that we’re experiencing now is luxury when compared to the fear and uncertainty of then.
I applied to this programme with an idea that I thought might be interesting- but on further deliberation, I discovered that the idea was little more than a concept. A concept is a great place to start, but if you are unable to develop your idea further then as a theatre-maker and storyteller it becomes redundant. One of the fundamental attributes of a good theatre maker is the ability to edit your own work and having realising when something isn’t going to work, so I changed my idea. Continue reading Belltable:Connect 10 Blog – Marie Boylan