THE Spotlight on Theatre and Dance from Northern Ireland initiative is sending talent to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It is delivered by Theatre and Dance NI, in collaboration with the Belfast International Arts Festival and supported by the British Council Northern Ireland and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Now in its fifth year, the Spotlight event aims to shine a light on exceptional quality theatre and dance created by artists and arts organisations from here.
As the largest such festival in the world, it's quite an experience to see where careers are made and how productions are taken up for touring worldwide. After experiencing it a couple of times, the only way I can describe it is if every church hall, theatre, bar backroom and street space in Belfast was filled with all types of arts activity and the world's professionals in every arts discipline were in attendance to find their 'next big thing' with audiences looking for that special arts experience. That might come close.
Colette Norwood, British Council Northern Ireland Arts Manager, said: “British Council Northern Ireland is delighted to again support the Spotlight on Theatre and Dance from Northern Ireland showcase at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, featuring just a selection of some of the most exciting current and upcoming productions available for touring from Northern Ireland.”
Alison McCrudden, Head of Literature, Drama and Dance, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, added: “The Arts Council is delighted to help spotlight the remarkable theatre and dance work being made in Northern Ireland today. It’s a testament to the creativity, tenacity and forward-looking focus of our artists that they have created such high quality and resonant works. It is vital that these important works are seen – and important too for audiences to get see them – and so it is particularly exciting that a huge potential market is opened up to them through the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.”
The seven productions from here being profiled in Edinburgh are:
The Half Moon, by Alice Malseed, writer/performer.
Scaredy Fat, by Colm McCready, produced by SkelpieLimmer Productions, directed by Seón Simpson, assistant director Gina Donnelly.
Lie Low by Ciara Elizabeth Smyth, director Oisín Kearney, executive producer Una Nic Eoin, Prime Cut Productions.
Whisk(e)y Wars, by Joyce Greenaway, writer/producer/performer.
The Four Worst Things I’ve ever Done, by Ewan McGowan-Gregg, writer/director, Brunswick Productions NI.
How to Bury a Dead Mule, by Richard Clements, playwright/performer.
Expecting, by Charis McRoberts, director Stephen Kelly, C21 Theatre Company and d/deaf artist/performer Paula Clarke.
It's great to see such excellent support for theatre and dance and we wish them all well on this magnificent journey of creativity wherever it started and wherever it ends.
Children's showcases changing with the times
WHERE do children get their first opportunity to be on the stage or to get a prize for something? For some it's the summer festivals or junior talent contests, although these may seem to follow the same formula.
I was considering just how much society has changed when down at the Portaferry Gala, a festival like so many more around Ireland that gives the local population and everyone visiting an opportunity to feel like they have had a bit of a holiday, but on home turf. And the junior talent contest that back in my day was on the back of a trailer in the square had moved inside Portico – the cultural centre that was formerly a Presbyterian church – and was hosted by Lady Portia Di' Monte, a drag artist. This would have been unimaginable fifty-odd years ago when the Gala started.
Who knows where the children who got on stage might take their talents? And what are the mechanisms and support required to get them to reach their potential? Many may be deterred from following any dream they might have of having a career in the arts but will still decide to follow that star, wherever it might lead.
