Somethings
Somethings was our latest production devised by an all female ensemble of performers with ID and directed by Gemma Gallagher. Originally developed in 2017 through project funding from the Arts Council of Ireland. Most recently featured as part of the inaugural Abbey 5x5 programme, where the piece was further developed and played to a sold out Peacock stage in the Abbey.
The development of somethings began with a blank canvass and subject matter emerging from the start centered around children and the choices that are taken away form us. Very early on in the process we reflected on the Tuam mothers and babies scandal and it became an underlying presence in the piece, leading to further reflection on ourselves as women and our right to have children.
Somethings is the latest production devised by an all female ensemble of performers with ID and directed by Gemma Gallagher. Originally developed in 2017 through project funding from the Arts council of Ireland. Most recently featured as part of the Abbey Theatres inaugural Abbey5x5 programme, where the piece was further developed and played to a sold out Peacock stage in the Abbey.
'Somethings' is set in an imaginary place, a metaphorical world that our characters have no choice but to be in. A timeless camp where our characters contemplate the missing child. The buried, lost, imagined and simply the child that never was. Based on the actors own reflections their language is one of instinct and emotion, moving without the restrictions of the real world.
The piece will take you on a journey of the imagination entering a world where merging sounds, movements and images tell a story of frustration, loss and hope for the future. Begging us to look again, look with different eyes.
The development of somethings began with a blank canvass and subject matter emerging from the start centered around children and the choices that are taken away form us. Very early on in the process we reflected on the Tuam mothers and babies scandal and it became an underlying presence in the piece, leading to further reflection on ourselves as women and our right to have children.
The piece is created as a response to the actors personal stories and reflections embracing an emotional and instinctual landscape for the piece.
This play aims to ask us as an audience to look at moments, pictures and movements and question what we really see, what is real and what is not real.
We do not follow a particular story, so it's ok that you see and experience the play differently from the person sitting next to you, in fact that's what we hope.
Creating the play Somethings has been as much about the process between the actors, director and creative team, as the final production. We met with a blank canvass and began exploring ideas, we asked ourselves questions and explored the answers though improvisation and the creation of moving pictures – snapshots of time – from which we built the world of the play. At all times elements of the piece have come from the responses of the actors themselves, as a group exploring a new language of a new place.
It’s insightful, tender, brilliantly directed with wonderful actors"
This production is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland
