A remarkable performance that explores the Irish Famine and how imperialism helped cause the largest refugee crisis of the C19th. Inspired by the contemporary maritime migrant crisis, which evokes the ‘coffin ships’ that carried the Irish across the Atlantic, Cherry Smyth’s Famished is the first long poetic sequence to examine women’s role in the Famine, interweaving often brutal historical facts with imagined lyrical voices of the 1840s.
One of Ireland’s most accomplished poets, in this collaborative production with composer Ed Bennett and vocalist Lauren Kinsella, Cherry Smyth draws on the power of collective lament, using music to broaden the poetic text into a beautiful and haunting, crossarts performance. Poets Aifric MacAodha and writer Aoife Casby will read from Famished in Irish. At the end of the performance Gabhan Dunne will chair audience questions. Gabhann Dunne is an award-winning artist based in Dublin. His paintings deal with environmental change, movement and the marginalization of animal spaces.
Presented with the support of Northern Ireland Arts Council and Arts Council England