IMAGINING A BRIGHTER FUTURE IN 600 WORDS

L2R: Playwrights Niall Murphy, Eva-Jane Gaffney and Signe Lury. Photo by: Andres Poveda

Three ‘Tiny Plays’, consisting of just 600 words, have been produced by Fishamble: The New Play Company, as part of our Tiny Plays For a Brighter Future challenge, in partnership with ESB.

The challenge invited writers to imagine what a brighter energy future means to them and to capture that in a 600-word play. Over 350 submissions were received, with an initial 10 plays shortlisted by an independent panel of judges and published on the Fishamble website in May.

Three of the ten shortlisted playwrights, Signe Lury, Eva-Jane Gaffney, and Niall Murphy, have had their work produced, staged, and filmed by Fishamble at the O’Reilly Theatre on Great Denmark Street, Dublin.

Selfish, by Lury, a final year student of English and Drama in Trinity College Dublin, features two women, Theo, and Connie, who struggle to move forward in their lives because of their fears of what the future holds.

Murphy, a regular short story writer, takes an inter-generational look at a family on a journey towards a future that is both uncertain and inevitable, in his play Our Turn.

The final play, Journey, was written and performed by writer and actor, Eva-Jane Gaffney. All three plays are now available to view online at www.esb.ie/tinyplays.

Jim Culleton, Artistic Director of Fishamble, who directed all three plays, said: “We were hugely impressed by the standard of submissions for this Tiny Plays challenge. We believe that the arts have a huge role to play in driving the change that is needed to create a more sustainable world for us all. We were delighted to partner with ESB on this initiative, and to give a platform to playwrights to address one of the biggest challenges we all face. We are now very excited to bring these plays to life on the stage.”

Pat O’Doherty, Chief Executive of ESB, said: “We believe that the arts play a significant role in both documenting and harnessing social change. Partnering with Fishamble on this project has provided a fascinating insight into how different writers respond to both the opportunities and challenges of the journey we are all on in combatting climate change as we collectively work together to transition to a low carbon energy future.”

Tiny Plays for A Brighter Future was conceived as an opportunity to give creative expression to all points of view in the transition to a low carbon energy future: to look at the choices we all must make to meet our future climate goals, examine how those choices will impact communities across Ireland, and imagine what we want the Ireland of our future to be, through 600-word Tiny Plays.

​All three plays were staged and filmed sustainably to ensure a zero-waste approach to the production. To find out more, and to view the filmed plays, visit www.esb.ie/tinyplays.