A winning shot at The Peacock

Carrie Barrett, selected to develop work in progress at Peacock

LAST WEEK was one of impressive professional development for nascent playwright/ performer Carrie Barrett, attached to Moyross Community Drama. A piece she had written as part of the groupโ€™s โ€˜FIVE Housesโ€™ show last year was a finalist in The Abbey Theatreโ€™s โ€˜5 x 5′ community theatre development programme.

From January 15 to 19, access sto The Peacock Theatreโ€™s rehearsal and performance space with professional and technical supports was her reward as well as โ‚ฌ5,000 to work with. She travels up with MCDโ€™s Leeanne Oโ€™Donnell and Karen Wallace to begin work.

For Carrie, herself a Child and Youth Key Worker with ADAPT Domestic Abuse Services in Rosbrien, this is a major chance to develop a theatrical piece, guided by dramaturg Joan Sheehy. Another credit: facilitator to Moyross Community Group, Monica Spencer of The GAFF theatre performance hub, has been a terrific agent to Carrie and the groupโ€™s success, the writer makes clear.

โ€œFIVE Housesโ€™ was made up of five speakers talking of what life was like for different people experiencing domestic violence. It looked at other areas of concern such as displacement โ€“ life after Regeneration and separation,โ€ explained the Limerick woman prior to the Dublin exercise.

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โ€œMy 5 x 5 work was one of the pieces. It was just a monologue. I wanted to depict what it was like for a woman in an abusive relationship.โ€

โ€œI intend to work on a new piece called โ€˜The Undersideโ€™ which consists of three monologues portraying the individual struggles of three different women from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. The aim is to highlight the different forms domestic abuse can take.

โ€œThere is a particular focus on the internal struggles and coping strategies of the characters, showing the strength and endurance it takes to live in these situations day after day.

โ€œThese women are strong. They are not victims, they are survivors. I hope that my admiration of their strength and courage comes across in the monologues.โ€

Carrie Barrett and co. have assistance from the experienced performer and director, Joan Sheehy, โ€œin trying to bring out the depth of characters and to capture the pain, the struggle they feel. People have such different coping mechanisms in crisisโ€.

More anon when โ€˜The Undersideโ€™ comes of age by way of The Abbey/ Peacock development programme.