Smashing Times are holding a day-long event Echoes of 1916, consisting of an Artist’s Vision for Ireland national symposium from 2-6pm with key note speakers Deirdre Kinahan, playwright and Dr Eric Weitz, Associate Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies, Trinity College Dublin, and a live performance of The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of 1916 by writers Pom Boyd, Mary Moynihan and Peter Sheridan at 7.30pm, both events taking place in The Main Space on Thursday 21 April 2016.
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The events are presented as part of a project called Women, War and Peace co-funded by the Europe for Citizens programme of the European Union and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Reconciliation Fund.
An Artist’s Vision for Ireland National Symposium | 2-6pm
In the context of the decade of comemorations and the recent ‘Waking the Feminists’ debates, this symposium explores the theme ‘An Artist’s Vision for Ireland’. Guest speakers are Deirdre Kinahan, playwright and Dr Eric Weitz, Associate Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies at Trinity College Dublin.
Poets, dreamers, visionaries and women were amongst those who advocated or fought for Irish freedom in the Easter Rising of 1916. Today women are still campaigning for full equal rights and this symposium asks what would an artist’s vision for Ireland today look like, one that is based on a genuine need for social justice, gender equality and human rights and is sustainable, ethical and inclusive, enabling ‘creativity to flow’. Or is the vision of a nation state redundant and rather than looking at a state of place are we seeking a state of rights? The aim of the symposium is to bring artists together to imaginatively explore what vision and possibility artists would like to see for Ireland today and what role an artist can play to bring that vision into existence.
All are welcome to attend either the symposium or performance or both and we look forward to you joining us for performance, reflection, discussion and debate.
Call us on (01) 6770014 to reserve your ticket. Or register on Eventbrite and book online by clicking below.
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The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of 1916 | 7.30pm
New Irish Writing and Original Testimonies remembering the women of 1916 by writers Pom Boyd, Mary Moynihan and Peter Sheridan
‘Dress suitably in short skirts and sitting boots, leave your jewels and gold wands in the bank and buy a revolver.’
Constance Markievicz, 1909
As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising of 1916, Smashing Times Theatre Company presents the Irish premiere of The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of 1916, consisting of new Irish writing and original testimonies exploring the varied roles women played in Irish history from the Suffrage Movement, the Easter Rising of 1916 and the founding of the Irish Free State and Irish Republic. The performances by writers Pom Boyd, Peter Sheridan and Mary Moynihan remember the experiences of women as revolutionaries and insurgents fighting on an equal basis with their male counterparts, as advocates for social justice and as pacifists and advocates for peace.
According to Dr Shirley Graham ‘’In secondary schools today, Leaving Certificate students only learn about two women from the 1916 era: Countess Markievicz and the artist Evie Hone. There are many more who have been forgotten and whose contributions have been minimised, ignored or erased from our history books. Despite the fact that women make up 50% of our population, and that a number of feminist historians have been writing women back into history since the 1970s, the majority of the well-known personalities spoken about and revered as Irish heroes, revolutionaries and history makers are men.’’
A key part of theatre is to make the invisible visible. Many women were involved in the Easter Rising of 1916 yet their stories and experiences have been effectively airbrush from accounts of the rising. In this new production Smashing Times are aiming to make remarkable women in history visible, to ensure their contribution is valued and acknowledged as we remember the diverse roles played by women in Irish history and the incredible impact they had on events at the time.
The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of 1916 reflects on the experiences of Helena Molony, a member of Inghinidhe na hÉireann and the Irish Citizen Army, stationed at City Hall Garrison during the Rising; revolutionary feminists Margaret Skinnider and Madeleine ffrench-Mullen who fought in the College of Surgeons at St Stephen’s Green; Dr Kathleen Lynn, a medical doctor, feminist and social activist and member of the Irish Citizen Army, stationed at City Hall; Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, a nationalist and one of Ireland’s foremost suffragettes, who along with Margaret Cousins, established the Irish Women’s Franchise League in 1908 and Elizabeth Farrell, nurse and member of Cumann na mBan, who waved the 1916 Rising surrender flag and who was subsequently airbrushed out of the official photograph where she stood alongside Pádraig Pearse.
All are welcome to attend either the symposium or performance or both and we look forward to you joining us for performance, reflection, discussion and debate.
Call us on (01) 6770014 to reserve your ticket. Or register on Eventbrite and book online by clicking below.
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