A dance performance inspired by hunger striker Bobby Sands’ poetry will have its Irish premiere tonight (22 September) in the Devenish. DANCE DEBUT: Performers in rehearsals today for 'Comrades in the Dark'
'Comrades in the Dark' was conceived by London-based choreographer Caitlin Barnett who says she was moved to come up with the piece after watching the film Hunger.
“I was looking for inspiration for a brief that I had been given and my partner who is half Irish suggested I look at the film Hunger,” she said.
“I watched that and I had no idea. I didn’t know anything about Bobby Sands or the hunger strike and I was quite struck by that. I was born in 1988 so it was before my time but it wasn’t long before my time. I very quickly realised that I only had one half of the story and that there was a lot more to it.
“I then found out about Bobby Sands' poetry and that got the piece rolling. The performance focuses on the ideas and the themes around the poetry rather than the hunger strikes as a narrative in themselves.”
Caitlin says the show looks at the themes of freedom and the characters that weave their way through the Bobby Sands’ poetry such as the prison guards and serpents.
“It is a very physical, contemporary dance," she explains. “I reached out to Danny Morrison and he helped set me up with Laurence McKeown, Rosie McCorley and Colm Scullion who we recorded reading pieces that we integrated into the music.
“Composer Jean Loup Pinson came on board and he combined traditional influences from Irish music with a contemporary score and we then got a live Bodhrán player which added extra flourish and makes it more exciting."
Caitlin says the work also pays homage to her Irish roots.
“I have Irish ancestry and it was a real discovery for me in terms of learning my Anglo-Irish history” she added.
This performance was brought to Belfast by Féile an Phobail.
