18 December 1997 Edition
Support Binlids bid for the USA
By Laura Friel
Capacity audiences and rave reviews, not only a sell-out (never say sell-out in West Belfast) but also a knock-out, Binlids, a community drama production by JustUs and Dubblejoint, took last summer's Féile an Phobail by storm. ``The most accomplished piece of community theatre yet seen in Belfast,'' said BBC Radio journalist Joe Woods.
When a group of West Belfast women, `ordinary' by conventional standards, extraordinary in their collective experiences of resistance and struggle, decided to form their own drama group, write, produce and perform their own plays, it was a leap of faith. ``We started just as a group of people who felt we had something to say,'' says Chrissy.
Written and performed to mark International Women's Day, Just a Prisoner's Wife, won the Belfast City Arts Award. The group didn't look back but threw themselves into the even more ambitious Binlids project accessing skills from a professional theatre company Dubblejoint.
Binlids takes us on a whistle-stop tour of one community's experience of twenty five years of repression and resistance. ``We went to Donegal with rolls of wallpaper and wrote down everything that had happened to us,'' says Chrissy. Throwing conventional settings aside, the staging, designed by Robert Ballagh, was acclaimed for its distinctive use of five set stages and an inspirational utilisation of audience interaction.
When a BBC critic described Binlids as ``accomplished'' and ``adventurous'', he could have been talking about the play's performers. Less than four months after the production's resounding success, JustUs have set themselves yet another exacting task. ``We want to take Binlids to New York,'' says Niamh, ``we've no funding so we're raising the money ourselves.'' The group estimates it will cost at least $300,000. Tenacity has never been in short supply in West Belfast.
Chrissy MacSiacais and Niamh Flanaghan are both members of JustUs. Chrissy combines a full time job with raising a family of four. She describes her 12-week-old daughter Fionnuala as ``the youngest member of the cast''. A community worker, Niamh, from a family of twelve, moved from Fermanagh to Belfast after graduating from Queens University. ``JustUs started as a group of women,'' says Niamh, ``now there's sixteen of us, including six kids between the ages of 11 and 16. The kids are just brilliant; the youngest only had one line to say but he turned up for every rehearsal.''
As working class nationalists in the Six Counties, the group felt marginalised by the `mainstream' women's movement with its British and American roots. ``We thought it was important to celebrate International Women's Day,'' says Chrissy, ``but to do so in our own way, reflecting our own experiences and the experience of our community.'' Just a Prisoner's Wife addressed that gap, Binlids was the obvious next step. ``We wanted to create a window into West Belfast,'' says Niamh.
By popular demand, Binlids returns to the stage in the new year, running in West Belfast from 16 to 28 February at Whiterock's Community College (Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education). ``We can't take Binlids on tour in the Six Counties because of the elaborate set,'' says Niamh, ``so we're hoping people outside Belfast will travel to the city to see it.'' The people of Garvaghy Road have already block booked for one performance, hiring coaches for the journey from Portadown to Belfast. ``We're hoping other communities will organise block bookings too,'' says Chrissy. ``Without statutory funding, we're totally dependent upon box office sales.'' The group's New York project depends largely on the success of the play's re-run in Belfast. ``Buy a ticket for a Christmas present,'' says Chrissy, ``and support JustUs.''
•BINLIDS February 16-28 at Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education, Whiterock Road, price £5
Capacity audiences and rave reviews, not only a sell-out (never say sell-out in West Belfast) but also a knock-out, Binlids, a community drama production by JustUs and Dubblejoint, took last summer's Féile an Phobail by storm. ``The most accomplished piece of community theatre yet seen in Belfast,'' said BBC Radio journalist Joe Woods.
When a group of West Belfast women, `ordinary' by conventional standards, extraordinary in their collective experiences of resistance and struggle, decided to form their own drama group, write, produce and perform their own plays, it was a leap of faith. ``We started just as a group of people who felt we had something to say,'' says Chrissy.
Written and performed to mark International Women's Day, Just a Prisoner's Wife, won the Belfast City Arts Award. The group didn't look back but threw themselves into the even more ambitious Binlids project accessing skills from a professional theatre company Dubblejoint.
Binlids takes us on a whistle-stop tour of one community's experience of twenty five years of repression and resistance. ``We went to Donegal with rolls of wallpaper and wrote down everything that had happened to us,'' says Chrissy. Throwing conventional settings aside, the staging, designed by Robert Ballagh, was acclaimed for its distinctive use of five set stages and an inspirational utilisation of audience interaction.
When a BBC critic described Binlids as ``accomplished'' and ``adventurous'', he could have been talking about the play's performers. Less than four months after the production's resounding success, JustUs have set themselves yet another exacting task. ``We want to take Binlids to New York,'' says Niamh, ``we've no funding so we're raising the money ourselves.'' The group estimates it will cost at least $300,000. Tenacity has never been in short supply in West Belfast.
Chrissy MacSiacais and Niamh Flanaghan are both members of JustUs. Chrissy combines a full time job with raising a family of four. She describes her 12-week-old daughter Fionnuala as ``the youngest member of the cast''. A community worker, Niamh, from a family of twelve, moved from Fermanagh to Belfast after graduating from Queens University. ``JustUs started as a group of women,'' says Niamh, ``now there's sixteen of us, including six kids between the ages of 11 and 16. The kids are just brilliant; the youngest only had one line to say but he turned up for every rehearsal.''
As working class nationalists in the Six Counties, the group felt marginalised by the `mainstream' women's movement with its British and American roots. ``We thought it was important to celebrate International Women's Day,'' says Chrissy, ``but to do so in our own way, reflecting our own experiences and the experience of our community.'' Just a Prisoner's Wife addressed that gap, Binlids was the obvious next step. ``We wanted to create a window into West Belfast,'' says Niamh.
By popular demand, Binlids returns to the stage in the new year, running in West Belfast from 16 to 28 February at Whiterock's Community College (Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education). ``We can't take Binlids on tour in the Six Counties because of the elaborate set,'' says Niamh, ``so we're hoping people outside Belfast will travel to the city to see it.'' The people of Garvaghy Road have already block booked for one performance, hiring coaches for the journey from Portadown to Belfast. ``We're hoping other communities will organise block bookings too,'' says Chrissy. ``Without statutory funding, we're totally dependent upon box office sales.'' The group's New York project depends largely on the success of the play's re-run in Belfast. ``Buy a ticket for a Christmas present,'' says Chrissy, ``and support JustUs.''
•BINLIDS February 16-28 at Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education, Whiterock Road, price £5