Regan and Parker are Irish theatre makers. Both grew up in the disputed territory of Northen Ireland – in Derry and Belfast respectively – during the most recent iteration of what is known as The Troubles. Both left early to find a career and artistic practice elsewhere.
Reflecting the main theme of the CHR’s Winter School, liminal thinking, they are interested in how that experience infuses their work as creative artists, Morna as a writer and performer, Lynne as a director. The six counties of Northern Ireland, partitioned since 1921 from the Irish Republic, are characterised by tangible manifestations of liminal thinking; by the imposed Border with the South, but also by actual barricades within cities and divisions between communities. Belfast and Derry are scarred to this day by territorial barriers – so-called Peace Walls. However, as the recent Brexit omnishambles demonstrated, the Border, or Borders, have a distinctly nebulous nature.
The process of art, and drama in particular, is to render these walls porous and demonstrate their surprising fragility. By offering their experience as practical play-makers, breaking the fourth wall of the performance space and closing the apparent distances between characters, stories and audiences, Morna and Lynne hope to identify connections and draw parallels with the artists and thinkers they encounter in South Africa.
Ireland is a small, cold and frequently wet island on the periphery of Europe; South Africa is a vast country covering multiple languages and ecosystems. We share the experience of a colonial past and a violent recent history, neither of which is fully resolved in either case, but the Northern Ireland story is dwarfed by the sheer scale and magnitude of South Africa. Nonetheless there are points of common interest and recognition; and the intention is to dance across liminal spaces and hopefully plant some useful ideas that may take root on either side.
