AN ANDERSONSTOWN woman’s dance theatre production will be opening next weekend at The MAC exploring how news can be sensationalised by the media in the battle for ratings.
The production called ‘Gutter’ was written and choreographed by Eileen McClory from Andersonstown. Eileen is a former pupil of St Louise’s and was one of the first pupils at the school to study Dance at A-Level before completing her degree in Liverpool and working in New York.
Gutter will be performed at The MAC on 28 and 29 October and will explore the cuthroat world of corporate broadcast journalism through the means of interpretative dance. The show is part of the Belfter International Arts Festival.
CAREER: Eileen studied Dance at St Louise's before doing her degree in Liverpool and working in New York
Speaking to the Andersonstown News, Eileen spoke about her background and what drove her to explore the themes presented in Gutter.
Eileen said: “It was originally going to be about the tabloids, a bit of Murdoch, a bit of Succession but when we started making the show we realised it was better to focus on broadcast.
“I lived in America around the time Obama was elected and experiencing the sensationalised news, I was really blown away by it all. We’re now seeing an influx of that coming over to the UK and Ireland and Gutter is my kind of response to that style of news which is coming over.
“The story will focus on our news anchor and how he rises sucessfully broadcasting the news but things start to get out of hand and he’s under more and more pressure from his producer, his audience, ratings etc to produce more and more content and modern-day journalism, free speech, false news and integrity collide.”
GUTTER: Kevin Coquelard stars as the journalist in Eileen McClory's production
Eileen said the dancing will be performed by Kevin Coquelard with video design by Conan McIvor, sound design by Garth McCongahie, and thought-provoking dramaturgy by Hanna Slattne.
Speaking on the launch of the show in Belfast Eileen said she believed people from West Belfast were always natural storytellers and how she used the medium of dance to help her make sense of current developments in the world, having previously made a production looking at the impact of Brexit.
“I’ve always loved choreography, always loved telling stories and always loved theatre. I love the entertainment value of creating new work. I started up the company Off The Rails Dance after using ten years of experience working in dance and set that up last August.
“I think coming from West Belfast that we are big storytellers, we have a lot to say and it’s great to put that across in theatre. When I make shows I like to make them topical, it’s a way for me to comprehend what’s happening. My last show called ‘Brink’ was two dancers on a table 1.5m wide and 1.5m high and that was exploring all of the issues around Brexit and that premiered as soon as Brexit went through.
“We’re hoping to raise questions through Gutter and ask some questions and think about these concepts themselves. I wanted to question where we are in the world and how we got here.
“I’m very grateful to the Arts Council for my Major Individual Artists award and to the National Lottery for that support, and also the MAC and the Belfast Festival.”
Tickets and more information can be found here https://themaclive.com/event/gutter.
