An exciting new festival in Derry will highlight the power of theatre as a positive force to create social change.
Organised by Sole Purpose to celebrate its 25th anniversary in February, the Festival of Theatre for Social Change will address issues including the impact of Bloody Sunday, LGBTQ+ rights, breaking down barriers for deaf and disabled people and theatre from a range of Arab countries.
The festival runs from February 14-20 to coincide with the annual United Nations World Day of Social Justice on February 20 in a number of venues around the city.
Patricia Byrne, Director of Sole Purpose Productions, explained that the festival brings together national and international companies to stage professional productions that challenge people to think about contemporary and relevant issues.
She said: "For the Festival we are bringing together some of the most interesting shows that build on the twin features of Derry’s identity, both as a place of culture and as a site of historic importance in the struggles for social change."
Sole Purpose will stage ‘Scenes from an Inquiry’ by Dave Duggan to mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
Scenes from an Inquiry, which was first shown in 2002 to mark the 30th anniversary, offers the audience an insight into the experience of families and witnesses who attended The Saville Inquiry.
Other companies taking part in the Festival include Belfast-based Kabosh Theatre Company with their play Callings based on the lives of five LGBTQ+ people who sought support and sanctuary through the Cara Friend phone helpline during the 1970’s.
Callings dives deep into the struggle for survival which queer people faced on a daily basis, and charts the progress of LGBTQ+ rights at a pivotal moment in Northern Ireland’s history when the Save Ulster from Sodomy Campaign was trying to prevent the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
The Palestine-based Freedom Theatre will present a rehearsed reading of The Revolution’s Promise, a collection of personal verbatim stories from Palestinian artists who have worked on the frontline of cultural resistance and the consequences they have faced for their art.
London-based Graeae Theatre places deaf and disabled artists centre stage. Graeae will do a three-day residency with Derry’s Lilliput Theatre Company and on the final day there will be a sharing of what has been learned for an invited audience.
Blue Eagle Productions from Derry will stage the play Worlds Apart by Jonathan Burgess which examines the actions of ordinary people to facilitate the voice of the Protestant community within the city and the impact that has had over the years.
Dublin-based Smashing Times Theatre will present The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of WW11. This will include: At Summer’s End by Filmi James, a dramatic monologue told from the perspective of a Jewish-Irish citizen murdered in the Holocaust.
This incredibly diverse and exciting festival is funded by Derry City and Strabane Council Headline Events and Good Relations Funds, Community Foundation NI, Community Relations Council, Ulster Garden Villages and the Bloody Sunday Trust.
Sole Purpose is core funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said: "The Festival of Theatre for Social Change introduces us to a remarkable range of lived experiences and challenges faced by people around the world, told by those who have found their voice, their empowerment and their agency, through the arts."
More information about the Festival and how to book tickets can be found here.
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