‘Syria’ play for the Arts Centre
RIFF Raff Theatre is presenting the premiere at Wexford Arts Centre on Thursday, December 8, of Natasha O’Brien’s latest play ‘Shayma Kamar’, the story of a Syrian woman on her journey as a refugee.
The story follows a family on their journey from the terror that is Syria which has been gripped in a savage civil war for through some of the harsh s conditions the world has ever seen since world war two. It is contemporary, honest and not for the faint-hearted. Although a dark play its stays true to art and theatre and is both informative and entertaining.
Natasha O’Brien is a local playwright whose previous plays include ‘Parity of Pretense’ staged in the National Opera House and ‘Against All Odds’. She has a big interest in issue based plays and worked as an actor and director in TV/ FILM and Theatre for fourteen years. Having been effected by the images of refugee babies washing up on shore seen through facebook and news reports she decided to research and write about the issue.
Riff Raff Theatre was established in Wexford as a professional fringe theatre company exploring new work and new directions in theatre. The company cut its teeth on the production of original works by director Michael Way at the Edinburgh Festival fringe and is part of the Theatre Workshop here in Wexford.
The cast includes Finbar Delaney, Natasha O’Brien and Lekan Akinyemi with Martina Keane. Directed by Michael Way, original scores are by Cian Furlong who works internally on film scores.