Get ready to dive into powerful stories and bold voices celebrating women on stage.

Featuring staged readings of Fanny Riot by Lisa Walsh, performed by Hilda Fay and Test Dummy by Caitríona Daly, performed by Caitríona Ennis.

Performances followed by a panel discussion on women in the arts and the enduring legacy of Sean O'Casey's female characters. Chaired by Catríona Crowe.

Fanny Riot

Written by Lisa Walsh

Directed by Aoife Spillane Hinks

Performed by Hilda Fay

Laura Kelly is a dreamer and she has a problem. She’s a committed north-sider stuck on the south-side trying to get home in the middle of a riot. She took a notion to go to a mad and beautiful book launch even though she doesn’t speak Irish, a decision that has her trapped on the south-side as the Dublin Riots erupt. She has to find a way home. An embrace from an unexpected source lights a flame and plants a seed of strength as she rattles on through the madness in her city. Encountering violence, confusion, chaos, a bearded clam, grief, love and ultimately hope.

Test Dummy

Written by Caitríona Daly

Performed by Caitríona Ennis

Test Dummy is a stream of conscious monologue that explores sexuality and womanhood and the anomalies in between. Nominated for two Irish Times Theatre Awards for Best Actress and Best New Play in 2017, the original production was directed by Louise Lowe for a sold out run in the now closed Theatre Upstairs on Eden Quay.

“The play is terrifying in its awareness and its refusal to cast woman as either victim or predator: in just 40 minutes it explores sexuality to paint quite beautifully, a portrait of 21st-century womanhood.” Emer O’Kelly, Irish Independent

Description supplied by the event organiser.