Birds Of Passage In The Half Light

Birds Of Passage In The Half Light – the new one-woman play by Kat Woods, performed by Fiona Mcgeown and produced by Northern Ireland-based new writing company Tinderbox Theatre – tells two separate stories, both of which concern the Catholic Church in Ireland and its appalling treatment of single mothers over the centuries.

One follows a nameless woman in modern-day Fermanagh, heading to confession for the first time in years. Monologue by monologue, we learn about her life, and the lives of her mother and grandmother before her, all of which have been affected by oppressive, state-sanctioned misogyny. Fair warning: it is a traumatic tale of sexual abuse, date rape, forced adoption, abortion and more.

The other story is something of a lecture, tracing the various ways in which church and state have collaborated to control the reproductive rights of Irish women from the 12th century to today.

It is all here in awful detail – the Magdalene laundries, the mass graves, the money-making. Woods makes it clear that coercing vulnerable women, their bodies and their babies was an Irish industry.

The two stories interweave over the course of an hour, Mcgeown deftly switching between characters. As the nameless woman, she is sharp and stubborn. As our lecturer, she masks her righteous rage with a gleeful grimace.

This is a hard-hitting show, but not a humourless one: Woods’ writing writhes with a Beckettian lyricism and blacker-than-black laughs. Director Patrick J O’reilly’s production provides a perfect platform for it – a microphone, a dimly lit stage, and a translucent curtain on which Fergus Kelly’s entertaining animated illustrations are projected throughout.

It has only just arrived in Edinburgh, half-way through the festival, so early-run issues require ironing out – audibility needs improving, for example – but Birds Of Passage In The Half Light is a solid and sobering show, brimming with anger and insight.