Programme Notes for The Border Game
The Border Game by Michael Patrick and Oisin Kearney is the opening play in this year’s Belfast International Arts Festival. Their previous successes include “My Left Nut” and “The Alternative”.
The Border Game explores the contentious issue of the border between the North and South of Ireland and is based on research and interviews with the folk who inhabit those areas where a line drawn on a map a hundred years ago has consequences on their everyday lives, especially during the “The Troubles”.
It is a two act play approximately one hour and twenty minutes long with a short interval when the bar will be open. The Lyric operate social distancing and those not exempt will be required to wear a mask throughout the performance.
Tonight your audio describers will be Florence in Act 1, and Marie in Act 2.
Characters and Costumes
There are only two actors in this play. The first character that we meet is Sinead, a young woman in her early thirties, tall and with long light-brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. Sinead is dressed in a checked shirt, with sleeves rolled up to the elbow and green dungarees tucked in to her dark green wellington boots. Sinead also wears a carpenters leather belt with pouches for tools, in which she carries secateurs and wire cutters. She is a strong, capable young farmer. Her land extends to the Irish border, an area that forms a barrier between people. Liz Fitzgibbon plays the role of Sinead.
The second character - Henry- is played by Patrick McBrearty. Henry is well-built and muscular with an unshaven face and short dark hair balding at the top. When we first meet him he is topless, with a dark hairy chest and a slight paunch. In his thirties, Henry wears dark blue tracksuit bottoms, a green polo-shirt and dark trainers. Henry grew up on the North side of the border where his father owned a shop which Henry now manages for the MACE chain, adjacent to the land owned and farmed by Sinead’s family.
SCENERY:
The curtains are open when we enter the theatre. We see an autumn sky as light slowly rises to a late morning. All the action takes place centre stage and there are no changes in scenery other than objects been moved from one place to another as the actors tidy up the area.
On the left is a square cement bollard which the actors use to stand upon, and barbed wired fence posts that are askew, behind which are grassy and boggy terraces. A leaning telegraph post sits on the crest of a hill.
On the left of the stage is a flat roofed manky portacabin that was once a customs hut. It has two windows that overlook the fence posts, and a door with a window to the left faces us. In front of the portacabin are undulating grassy terraces, cut into steps where the actors sometimes speak their lines.
Centre stage we see a plethora of discarded objects, either fly-tipped or left by youths or vandals. A white washing machine lies on its side, bicycle tyres, a metal drum that youths have used to light a fire, black plastic bags of rubbish, cans and bottles all lie amid autumn leaves.
At times we hear sounds of cows and birds in the background, and sounds of a helicopter hovering overhead. Lighting is used to good effect as Sinead and Henry relive tender moments they spent in the local nightclub. We see the cabin windows light up in flashing vivid pinks, greens and blues and even the glass door of the old washing machine pulsates with vibrant colours.
A circle of light moves across the stage as the army helicopter casts a search light on the fields and a large spot light is moved from Sinead to Henry as they each narrate their personal stories that ultimately decide the outcome of their relationship.
As previously stated there are no changes of scenery. The only props used other than the rubbish that surrounds the cabin, is a large orange coloured tool box, a mallet and wire for repairing the fence posts, heavy working men’s gloves, a tool belt, wellington boots, a ring box, and ear phones attached to a mobile phone that Sinead uses whilst working of the farm site.
The Border Game by Michael Patrick and Oisin Kearney is the opening play in this year’s Belfast International Arts Festival. Their previous successes include “My Left Nut” and “The Alternative”.
The Border Game explores the contentious issue of the border between the North and South of Ireland and is based on research and interviews with the folk who inhabit those areas where a line drawn on a map a hundred years ago has consequences on their everyday lives, especially during the “The Troubles”.
It is a two act play approximately one hour and twenty minutes long with a short interval when the bar will be open. The Lyric operate social distancing and those not exempt will be required to wear a mask throughout the performance.
Tonight your audio describers will be Florence in Act 1, and Marie in Act 2.
Characters and Costumes
There are only two actors in this play. The first character that we meet is Sinead, a young woman in her early thirties, tall and with long light-brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. Sinead is dressed in a checked shirt, with sleeves rolled up to the elbow and green dungarees tucked in to her dark green wellington boots. Sinead also wears a carpenters leather belt with pouches for tools, in which she carries secateurs and wire cutters. She is a strong, capable young farmer. Her land extends to the Irish border, an area that forms a barrier between people. Liz Fitzgibbon plays the role of Sinead.
The second character - Henry- is played by Patrick McBrearty. Henry is well-built and muscular with an unshaven face and short dark hair balding at the top. When we first meet him he is topless, with a dark hairy chest and a slight paunch. In his thirties, Henry wears dark blue tracksuit bottoms, a green polo-shirt and dark trainers. Henry grew up on the North side of the border where his father owned a shop which Henry now manages for the MACE chain, adjacent to the land owned and farmed by Sinead’s family.
SCENERY:
The curtains are open when we enter the theatre. We see an autumn sky as light slowly rises to a late morning. All the action takes place centre stage and there are no changes in scenery other than objects been moved from one place to another as the actors tidy up the area.
On the left is a square cement bollard which the actors use to stand upon, and barbed wired fence posts that are askew, behind which are grassy and boggy terraces. A leaning telegraph post sits on the crest of a hill.
On the left of the stage is a flat roofed manky portacabin that was once a customs hut. It has two windows that overlook the fence posts, and a door with a window to the left faces us. In front of the portacabin are undulating grassy terraces, cut into steps where the actors sometimes speak their lines.
Centre stage we see a plethora of discarded objects, either fly-tipped or left by youths or vandals. A white washing machine lies on its side, bicycle tyres, a metal drum that youths have used to light a fire, black plastic bags of rubbish, cans and bottles all lie amid autumn leaves.
At times we hear sounds of cows and birds in the background, and sounds of a helicopter hovering overhead. Lighting is used to good effect as Sinead and Henry relive tender moments they spent in the local nightclub. We see the cabin windows light up in flashing vivid pinks, greens and blues and even the glass door of the old washing machine pulsates with vibrant colours.
A circle of light moves across the stage as the army helicopter casts a search light on the fields and a large spot light is moved from Sinead to Henry as they each narrate their personal stories that ultimately decide the outcome of their relationship.
As previously stated there are no changes of scenery. The only props used other than the rubbish that surrounds the cabin, is a large orange coloured tool box, a mallet and wire for repairing the fence posts, heavy working men’s gloves, a tool belt, wellington boots, a ring box, and ear phones attached to a mobile phone that Sinead uses whilst working of the farm site.
