A community's starring role
Eoin O Broin went to see another superb production from Just Us
After the raging success of their last production the West
Belfast women's theatre company, ``Just Us'' have hit the community
art scene another deadly blow with their new show, ``Bin Lids'' at
Féile an Phobail.
Taking place across five stages, and with only standing room for
the audience, who unwittingly become part of the play, Bin Lids
takes us through internment and the Springhill massacre into the
demonisation of West Belfast following the killings of two
British coporals during the funeral of Caoimhín Mac Bradaigh in
1987. The play is both tragic and hilarious as people's personal
memories are mixed with political fact and speculation, with
explosive consequences .
Just Us received a certain notoriety after they won the first
Belfast City Arts Award earlier this year for Just a Prisoner's
Wife. The political content was just too much for some unionists
on the city council who made every effort to discredit the
success of the women's company. If those same unionists happen to
wander into the Whiterock Leisure Centre any night this week,
they're liable to blow a fuse. Bin Lids is a no holds barred
account of the events that have formed the West Belfast
community.
There are moments when British soilders are being shot, set
alongside shared moments of fear and solidarity. The horrors of
internment and the terror of the hooded men is graphically
portrayed, as is the brutality of prison life in Armagh and the
Kesh. But it is the people of West Belfast who are the focus of
the play; demonised, terrorised, and killed but never broken.
Whether in organising ad hoc responses to internment, protests
against the conditions in the jails, election campaigns in
support of the hunger strikers or setting up a range of community
based projects such as the women's centre and the community
council, it is the community who are at the play's centre.
d of course, as with all communities, it is the women who are
at its heart. It is no accident that the theatre company is an
all female one, made up of community workers, former political
prisoners, relatives of currently serving prisoners, political
activists and even one city councillor. Just Us is a company with
a difference. For this production a number of male professional
actors were brought on board, but the focus remains on the women.
In their multiple role as mothers, sisters, daughters, soilders,
activists and endurers, there is never a moment when their
strength wavers. Only the honesty of their emotions and the
ability to see the human side underneath the conflict allows them
to persevere through all that happens.
It is also important to point out that Bin Lids is not just a
play but also a unique drama training programme. Dubbeljoint
Productions, the Training for Women Network and Féile an Phobail
with assistance from the Open College Network, and the Peace and
Reconciliation Fund have all assisted in the project, one of
whose aims is to provide training and employment for women in
non-traditional skills such as scriptwriting and technical
production thus enabling them to gain entrance into what has
traditionally been a male dominated profession.
So Bin Lids, in the best political tradition, is working to
effect change. If you do nothing else get to see the play, and if
you can't get a ticket ring the festival office and demand they
extend the run. You will laugh, you will cry, you will be angry ,
but most of all you will realise the strength and vitality of a
community that despite all the odds has come through everything
with spirits strong. Fair play Just Us.
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