Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
A PERSONAL TOUCH FOR TROUBLES PLAY
Appeal for the belongings of murdered loved ones
A CROSS-BORDER university in memory of the late SDLP leader and Nobel Laureate John Hume has been proposed.
The 83-year-old peacemaker, inset, died last week following a long battle with illness.
Fine Gael TD Colm Burke has suggested the campus could be built on the border between Derry and Donegal and would likely attract significant funding from around the world.
He said: “The establishment of a university in memory of John Hume would be a fitting tribute to him given his dedication to creating a brighter future of the young people of this island.”
A THEATRE has made an appeal for items with a connection to loved ones killed in the Troubles.
The Playhouse in Derry has made the request ahead of one of the first productions it will stage following lockdown.
Theatres in Northern Ireland have been allowed to reopen to allow staff to prepare ahead of September 1, when audiences will be permitted to return.
However, with the size limited by the requirement to social distance, the Playhouse intends to go digital and share productions with a global audience.
It will stage a new production, Anything Can Happen: 1972, focusing on the worst year of the Troubles.
It saw almost 500 killings, 10,000 shootings, 2,000 explosions and almost 5,000 people physically injured.
Poet Damian Gorman wrote the play, which includes untold stories from people affected by or involved in the events of that year.
With an audience of just 20 to 30 people able to watch it, the Playhouse has issued an appeal for the public to contribute significant items that connect them to loved ones who were killed in the Troubles or the pandemic to be placed on the empty chairs of the theatre.
These can be objects or photographs of significance or importance to them.
In a statement the Playhouse said the empty chairs will be lit by theatre lights in an act echoing Seamus Heaney’s famous work Mossbawn: Two Poems In Dedication, in which he describes “a sunlit absence”. Mr Gorman added: “The empty chair is a very powerful symbol of loss and grief.
“Somebody defined grief to me as ‘love which has nowhere to go’.
“Rather than having all these empty chairs that would be housing absence, we would be housing something of significance.
“If all that makes sense to you, please get in touch with us.”
From next month, The Playhouse will begin a programme of live performances inside the theatre that will also be broadcast online.