Event
As part of the Wellcome Trust Prisons Project, the School of History at UCD is collaborating with international, award-winning theatre group Brokentalkers on The Examination. This new theatre performance explores the theme of healthcare in the Irish prison system. The Examination will be performed at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin City Centre (28 February-2 March 2019) and at axis: Ballymun (8 March 2019).
Featuring Brokentalkers’ distinctive blend of biography, socio-political discourse and breathtaking theatricality, The Examination draws on historical research by University College Dublin historians and testimony from current and former prisoners. The production tells the story of the large number of prisoners struggling with mental and physical ill health, and with addiction, in Ireland’s prison system, past and present. With powerful imagery and a visceral soundscape, The Examination is an uncompromising and revelatory interrogation of an aspect of society too often ignored.
The Examination is the outcome of a 12-month research and creative process period that has seen Brokentalkers’ directors Gary Keegan and Feidlim Cannon hold theatre workshops and interviews with prisoners and former prisoners in various settings including Mountjoy Prison and PACE Training and Education Services. They have also drawn on wider historical analysis undertaken by Associate Professor Catherine Cox (UCD), with Professor Hilary Marland and Dr Rachel Bennett (University of Warwick).
Project Arts Centre
Date: 28 February – 2 March
Time: 7:30pm (Matinee 2:30pm on 2 March)
Location: Temple Bar, Dublin 2
There will be a panel discussion following the performance on 1 March.
Bookings: https://projectartscentre.ie/event/the-examination/
axis: Ballymun
Date: 8 March
Time: 8pm
Location: Main Street, Ballymun, Dublin 9
Bookings: http://www.axisballymun.ie/whatson/shows/the-examination
The research for The Examination was undertaken as part of the Wellcome Trust funded project, ‘Prisoners, Medical Care and Entitlement to
Health in England and Ireland, 1850-2000.’
