Ms Mary Moynihan:

I have worked to bring together groups from the Falls Road and Shankill Road by using theatre skills to explore issues. We work with all ages from 14 years upwards. People sometimes tell us we should work with younger groups. What is interesting is that we have found issues in all of the communities where we have worked. The issue of silence is still present. I recently worked with a young woman, an artist, from the Nationalist community who had some very interesting stories to tell as part of the work we do but did not want them made public because of fear. Fear is still present in all communities. We are finding that these issues are still live on the ground.

One of the interesting things about theatre is that it is an important process for creating a safe space in which people can work together and find a way to express what is happening in their lives. When we do theatre and drama we teach drama and theatre skills for performance and work with communities. However, there are many other benefits in personal and social development. We work with people to build confidence. We also believe there is still a need for single identity work in the area of confidence building around cultural and self-expression. This work is still needed alongside work to bring communities together. Work is needed in both areas.

I will paraphrase the words of Augusto Boal, a practitioner from Brazil who created Theatre of the Oppressed. He described theatre as a weapon which should be used by the people. In one way, what we are doing with theatre is enabling people to find ways to use the theatre process to express what is happening in their lives, particularly around the issues of silence and identity, but also all the other issues that still need to be addressed.