Be there at the beginning...
Join us for an evening of bold storytelling and fresh takes! This is your chance to witness the seeds of new ideas from some of Northern Ireland's most exciting and innovative female and non-binary playwrights.
Playwrights learn and advance their craft in communion with audiences - so your support and feedback is a vital part of this exchange.
Line-up includes:
Wee Poke by Íde Simpson
It's the first day of summer in East Belfast, so, Andy's digging a hole. Tom's watching him dig. They might get a wee poke to cool them down. Might not. Andy might keep digging. Tom might keep watching him dig. Maybe, maybe not.
Íde Simpson most recently co-wrote and produced, Cailíní, which premiered at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, and thereafter moved to the Lyric Theatre in Belfast. In 2023, she developed her play, Listen! The Adults are Talking with the support of the British Council, and the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, as part of the ‘Words Without Borders’ scheme, which was subsequently performed in Mumbai. She was one of the '21 artists for the 21st century' in 2021, with her play 'The Lands. She a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, and is currently an MFA Playwriting student at The Lir.
Fungi Fuck/Focáil na bhfungas by Aoife de Bhál
An exploration of queer joy, the Irish language and climate grief through the entangled world of fungi. A bilingual solo performance in Irish and English.
Aoife de Bhál is a forager, folklorist and Gaeilgeoir from Béal Feirste. This is their first solo theatre piece.
Anna and the Prick… I Think by Denise McCready.
Anna had a comfortable life until she turned 50. Two sons have come out within
weeks of each other, the menopause has hit badly, and don’t get her started on that
man…what a prick.
Denise McCready is a Poet and Playwright from Belfast. She was part of The Lyric Theatre Belfast First stage over 50’s playwrights group in 2022, while there she developed a 10 minute play called Anna and the Prick, which is now being developed into her debut play, “Anna and the Prick..I Think.
Wretch by Clare Duffy and Grace Kully
Wretch is a play about stalking and harassment and the aftershocks that so often come with seeking freedom, but are rarely talked about. Wretch is our call-to-action, our wake up call, and our supportive hug to other victims. This play exposes what harassment can look like in all its subtle forms, how the justice system so often fails survivors, and why support is a necessity for years after. When we say that this is important, we aren’t asking you to believe us. We are telling you.
Clare Duffy is an Irish writer and performer across stage and screen. She has most recently been commissioned by BBC Radio 4. She holds an MA from the Seamus Heaney Centre and Queens University Belfast.
Grace Kully) is a rare disease advocate. She moved to Belfast from rural New Jersey to study Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre. Her work centers around human connection, the mind and body, and family intricacies. She has been published in Kaleidoscope Magazine, Sans PRESS, and The Blackbird Anthology.
The Wee Wake by Aoife Kane
A lively Irish Comedy. Kathy and Ruth navigate the emotional and frantic experience of hosting a wake for Kathy’s recently deceased husband, Martin. Grief and humour intertwine.
Written, directed, produced by Aoife Kane. This piece follows the sold out run of Aoife’s first play at the age of nineteen. ‘Uppa Duff’ was a smash hit at Feile 2024. The Wee Wake will feature in Feile 2025 1st, 2nd and 3rd August 2025.
Friend of Dorothy by Gillian Pencavel
Telling the story of the short life of Hollywood costumer Kent Warner, the man who found Dorothy's ruby slippers in a dusty warehouse in 1970, but whose legacy is so much more. From almost single-handedly creating a black market for movie memorabilia - stuff the studios threw away - to his extravagant parties, his great talent, and his tragic death of AIDS, Friend Of Dorothy celebrates the man, not just his shoes.
With a Masters in Musical Theatre Writing from Goldsmiths University London, Gillian moved to Belfast in 2017 and has since written By A Thread, a one man show which received a rehearsed reading in 2023; an original musical, Golden Bricks And Ruby Shoes (music by Patrick Moore) which had a WiP performance in 2019 and received ACNI funding in 2020; and taken part in the BBC’s Hothouse programme in 2021.
Natural by Alice Malseed
Alice is pregnant. Very pregnant. And like any artist would, she's exploiting this personally life-changing epoch for her research project - Natural. Natural explores the context, mood and ethics of having children within our current climate.Through research, she is looking back at one hundred years of child rearing by zooming in on three generations of women and their supposed 'choice' in this area.At this scratch she is presenting a very raw and rough extract - her, on stage, reading some text. She is using the biography as a starting point to look at the government's obsession with 'hard working families', the rise of pronatalism, trad-wives, and ultimately questioning whether or not women really do have a choice at all....
Alice is a theatre maker, writer and producer based in Belfast. She is currently part of Six In The Attic with I.T.I. As well as theatre, Alice is working on her debut novel Double Sunrise.
SIÚCRA by Soso Ní Cheallaigh
A sensuous toast to hypercapitalism. In the secret world of sugar dating, Nina is spending the night surrounded by her newfound wealth, late-night game shows, and 58 missed calls.
Performed by Holly Hannaway.
Soso Ní Cheallaigh is a Derry/Belfast writer, performer, and maker. They create provocative disability-led work in English and Irish through theatre, film, poetry, essays, and visual art.A former Theatre & Dance NI Invest Artist and Tinderbox Incubate Artist, Soso is currently developing ‘SIÚCRA’ with Holly Hannaway, ‘A Duet for Two Disabled Bodies’ (Project Arts Centre) with dancer Bobbi Byrne for Dublin Fringe Festival 2025, and directing the arts and memory documentary ‘i gCuimhne Mo Mháthar’ (Little Ease Films).
Get in touch: ohbysoso@gmail.com or on Instagram @ohbysoso @siucrababy
This event has kindly been supported by Queen’s University and Belfast City Council.
Love first looks at new-writing? Check out our staged readings:
Hello Charlie by Caoimhe Farren
Stuff & Things & Junk & Belonging by Carley Magee
The Wake by Anna Teresa McGrath
