THE rave scene swept through Belfast in the 1990s and its back for one night only next month.
No, we’re not heading back to the Ulster Hall, but up to the Brian Friel Theatre next to Queen’s University where you’ll enter the BPM Club for Eileen McClory’s 'Barneys, Parties and Melters' which will take you back to a time when teenagers boarded buses to Kelly’s or the Arena or danced the night away in the sweaty confines of the Art College.
And don’t be expecting a seat in the theatre for this thumping rollercoaster. If the bouncer lets you in, you’ll be on your feet for the duration.
Choreographer Eileen McClory from Off The Rails dance company has created a show from first-hand experience of the city's rave scene that she was a part of, and her unique insight into the acid generation. She was there and has cleverly weaved a story where the thumping sounds and strobe lighting will take you on a journey of nostalgia or open your eyes to what your parents got up to when they were your age.
Make sure you’re wearing comfortable shoes as you’ll be on your feet for an hour for the full-scale nightclub experience.
Taking a break from the energic rehearsals, Ladybrook woman Eileen says it was at St Louise’s where she first got interested in dance.
“I was one of the first people to do A-Level dance in Northern Ireland, and then I went off to John Moore’s University in Liverpool, and then I went and did a two year dance programme in New York,” she said.
“Why dance? I don't know. I was really into the theatre first. That’s why my work's very theatrical. I loved acting, but I loved dancing. I just loved moving.”
Eileen says the show is “a bit autobiographical”.
“I haven't written it like you do a play, it's all created in the rehearsal room with the cast, who are amazing. We explored the scenes or scenarios and the subject matter that we're going to tackle – and then we do loads of improvisations and we were lucky that our DJ/sound designer Isaac Gibson is in the room so he was busting out the beats and we were busting out the moves.
“It all starts of with loads of research. I interviewed a lot of people, read a lot, and you kind of piece it all together like a jigsaw. Like what kind of an experience and atmosphere you want to create, and then it kind of flows that way, but the message in the show is that in the early 90s we were still in the conflict and then the rave scene came in, ecstasy came in – it's not an advertisement for drugs, by the way, but it was kind of an awakening and a chance to escape the real world for a night and it became a real community and most of all the best craic with your mates."
The rave scene saw thousands of young people from across Belfast mixing from different communities, often arriving at venues on buses, and spending several hours together dancing to a driving beat.
“I don't think it was acknowledged just how much of a big movement that it actually was. To see people who you would never mix with, or you perceive to be an enemy and you're like, ‘oh, they're the same as me, and they just want to go out and party,’ and it made a massive impact. Like the peace process maybe worked because the whole generation were like, ‘yeah, you’re all right'.
“Twenty years earlier punk was huge, but the rave scene was thousands, like filling the Ulster Hall all the time. But again, it's not celebrated in that way because of the drugs, which didn't work out very well for some people, so the show is not a glorification of drugs.”
Eileen says, looking back, one of the beauties of the rave scene is that there were no mobile phones around at the time. There was a freedom of dancing the night away without waking up the next morning and worrying about what people have put up on social media.
“We had a freedom,” she says. “We didn’t have someone with a phone in your face.”
She adds: “It’s an immersive show. You come in and you're in a club, you’re met with bouncers. So you can move about, you can change position, the dancers are dancing around you. It's not audience participation, so you're never going to be made to dance. If you want to have a boogie, absolutely go ahead and have a boogie.
“We touch on a lot of stuff. It gets a bit poignant at times, it gets super electric, it's pumping, it gets a bit dark because we tackle the things that happened in those ten years. You had ceasefires, atrocities, Drumcree, and you had the peace agreement.
“The cast are exceptional, but most of all it is a big celebration of the era. By the end of it you'll definitely be ready for the after party, which will be a 45 minute set of old school bangers!"
BPM Club – Barneys, Parties and Melters – Thursday 11th June at the Brian Friel Theatre @ 7.30pm Tickets from https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/off-the-rails-dance-121311087691.
Also playing in the Market Place, Armagh, June 12 and The Playhouse, Derry, June 20.
