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At a time of increasing challenges for the arts in Northern Ireland—where funding is shrinking, and a clear arts policy remains absent - female-identifying and non-binary playwrights, particularly those from working-class backgrounds, face even greater barriers. Despite the undeniable talent emerging from this region, including playwrights like Stacey Gregg and Lisa McGee, the lack of main stage productions (apart from Gregg’s Scorch) for their work is striking.

This symposium is a call to action. Focusing on playwriting as both craft and career, it will open up vital conversations, explore constructive strategies, and showcase fresh talent. Expect a dynamic mix of staged readings, works in progress, and critical discussions - bringing together emerging playwrights, academics, and industry professionals.

Join us for an inspiring weekend of creative exploration, thought-provoking panels, and open conversation. Whether you're a writer, artist, academic, or theatre enthusiast, your voice is welcome.

This event is a collaboration between playwright and theatre-maker Karis Kelly and Trish McTighe (QUB Drama) and is inspired by conversations with some of the brilliant female and queer artists of the north, to whom we owe a great deal.

Register here for the panels and talks:  

Please note that tickets for panels and talks are free; you will need to book separately (see below) to attend the staged readings and scratch performances for which there is a small charge. If you think the cost might be prohibitive, then please reach out to us.

For more information, please contact frontandcentreni@gmail.com. 

Conversations 

The creative work of the weekend will be interspersed with and underpinned by a series of talks, position papers and keynote lectures. While we recognise the financial constraints that frequently determine the state of the arts in Northern Ireland, these discussions will focus, constructively, on what’s possible - even within these strictures. In addition to sharing and reflecting on some of the most up to date research into gender in the theatre industry across the island and in the wake of Waking of Feminists, our gathered speakers will explore new and alternative funding models for getting work made. Key questions include: what kinds of research and expertise, academic and otherwise, can enrich our knowledge of the problems? What are best practices for supporting emerging female writers? What sort of concrete demands can we make on policy-makers, theatre-makers and cultural institutions? 

Staged Readings

Front & Centre are proud to present a series of staged readings featuring plays that have been finalists, shortlisted, or longlisted for major UK and Ireland playwriting awards, but have yet to be programmed in Northern Ireland. Despite their accolades, these works, penned by talented women from the North, have remained under the radar.

Plays are living, breathing documents that are written to be performed. For many women of the North, their brilliant, commended plays are sitting in drawers, languishing. Front & Centre is determined to change that! We’ve paired these remarkable writers with accomplished Northern Irish directors, offering audiences a first look at the next generation of female theatre makers from the North.

Hello Charlie by Caoimhe Farren 

Directed by Rhiann Jeffrey

Finalist for Victoria Wood Award

Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting 

Sisters Maeve and Kate have fled their past trauma in Derry and now live in London. Hedonistic Maeve binge-drinks to oblivion; brittle Kate sees history repeating itself. But Maeve dodges culpability for her drunken antics; how can she be at fault? The blame clearly lies with her beloved, inebriated alter-ego: Charlie.

Hello Charlie is a black comedy about trauma, sisterhood and breaking the cycle of familial addiction.

Hello Charlie (Caoimhe’s debut play) was developed as part of The Lyric’s New Playwrights Programme. It was shortlisted for The Women’s Prize for Playwriting, a finalist for the inaugural Victoria Wood Playwriting Prize for Comedy and in the top 1% (from 4643 entries) of the BBC Writers Open Call.

May 23rd 18:00 - Book here:  

Stuff & Things & Junk and Belonging by Carley Magee

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Playwriting

Four estranged siblings reunite for their father's wake only to be trapped in their childhood home. With no way out, they have to face their greatest fear; having to make conversation with one another.

Familial bonds are brought to their breaking point as something is lurking in the house - watching - waiting. This is the last chance to move on from their shared past, or else their future will be brought to ruin.

May 24th 19:00 - Book here:   

The Wake by Anna Teresa McGrath 

Directed by Emma Copland

Longlisted for the David MacLennan Award

Directed by Emma Copland

Longlisted for the David MacLennan Award

It’s Mimi’s wake, in a rural border town in Northern Ireland. Caught up in getting things correct for the mother she warred with, Brigid  is feeling stressed. Her estranged daughter MARIA has joined her to spend these last few waiting hours with a woman they both had complicated relationships with.

The Wake is darkly comic, but full of heart. It explores the matriarchal relationships in a family experiencing the seismic shock of loss, as they mourn the death of the senior matriarch, Mimi.

May 25th 18:00 - Book here:  

Performances

Front & Centre are delighted to be able to showcase these studio shows by women and non-binary writers from Northern Ireland. Both pieces have enjoyed major successes at Fringe festivals in the UK and Ireland and as far afield as Australia. They’re examples of the excellence of craft emerging from the region. 

In presenting these works, we hope that arts institutes and buildings will engage and give the work much deserved, longer runs here in the North.

However - a note on the trap of studio shows! Keeping women on small studio stages, not allowing them to graduate to main stages, seriously damages their career and earning power. It pushes them out of the industry as they can’t earn a living viably. This is particularly pronounced for working class writers. Longterm, we’d like to use our platform to propel these artists from studio shows to mainstages. 

The Daughters of Róisín by Aoibh Johnson

Locked in a room for nine months in a home she once called her own. The Daughters of Róisín explores the harrowing history of church and state abuse against pregnant women out of wedlock in Ireland over the last 100 years.

Moving, angry and charged with fiery activism, this one-woman show is a rallying cry for women everywhere to rise up, stand tall and eradicate Ireland's ancient shame.

The one-woman show first saw its debut in Aoibh’s hometown of Coalisland, in Craic Theatre and Arts Centre in 2019. Directed by Cahal Clarke and written and performed by Aoibh, the production received rave reviews, which inspired the duo to bring the work across the globe to the Adelaide Fringe Festival, South Australia in 2020.

Last year, the play was chosen for the Lyric Theatre and Pleasance National Partnerships Scheme, as Northern Ireland’s representative. The team were honoured to work alongside two prestigious venues and managed to have a sell-out run for the month of the Fringe festival. Further to this success, Aoibh was one of six artists nominated for the Filipa Bragança award for Best Solo Performance by an emerging female, female-identifying or non-binary artist.

"This is inspired genius." - Bernadette Devlin McAliskey (Civil Rights Activist)

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May 23rd 20:00 Book here:  

Scratch Night 

Be there at the beginning... 

Join us for an evening of bold storytelling and fresh takes! This is your chance to witness the seeds of new ideas from some of Northern Ireland's most exciting and innovative female and non-binary playwrights. 

Playwrights learn and advance their craft in communion with audiences - so your support and feedback is a vital part of this exchange. 

Featured performances TBA. 

May 25th: 17:30 - Book here: