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Everyone knows that Ireland is the best little country to give birth in…or is it?

Daughters of the Revolution is a satirical and irreverent play, examining exactly what women have to go through to get from pregnancy to birth.

And once you go down the rabbit-hole of the maternity services…who knows what could happen.

Join us at the Harbour Playhouse March 4th to 6th 2016, as we follow our heroine Evelyn Murphy on her epic journey through maternity, as she bravely contends with consultants, her mother, her partner, and the attentions of well-meaning friends.

Evelyn’s story creates a picture of contemporary Ireland in a time of rising birth-rates, uncertain economic prospects, and a health service in crisis. In a year of celebrating uprisings, and renewed debate around the treatment of women in the Irish Constitution, Daughters of the Revolution asks: how free are women in Ireland when it comes to maternity?

Daughters of the Revolution takes a sardonic look at how women have to perform to meet the complex demands of society.

Picking Up the Threads: Remaking the Fabric of Care Women’s Deaths Remembered

Launches on November 25th, 2015 in St Lawrence’s Chapel, Grangegorman at 6pm.

Kate Harris, Director of 4elements, has worked closely with Dr Murphy-Lawless and the Elephant Collective on organising launch of Picking Up the Threads: Remaking the Fabric of Care, a multi-media exhibition centred on a hand-knitted quilt.

The exhibition commemorates the lives of the women who have died in our maternity services. In recent years, eight women had inquests, all of which ended in verdicts of death by medical misadventure.

The exhibit is being held to honour the lives of these women. We also aim to call attention to the need for a change in the law so that there is an automatic inquest for every woman who dies in our maternity services.

Over 150 women, many of them midwives and midwifery students, from Donegal to Clare to Kilkenny to Wexford, and from England, Scotland and Australia, have knitted pieces for the quilt.

A reading of Daughters of the Revolution will be performed at the launch by DIT drama students directed by Mary Moynihan, Artistic Director of Smashing Times Theatre Company.

For more information and to join the event on Facebook see Picking Up the Threads

Coral Mallow, 4elements Artist in Residence August 2015, launches her exhibition in The Tent Gallery, Edinburgh in January 2016.
This exhibition is the visual arts stand of the Daughters of the Revolution project, and examines through visual mediums women’s experience of maternity and raises questions about women’s agency and bodily autonomy in the health service.

4elements Director, Kate Harris, will perform a reading of the play Daughters of the Revolution at the launch.

Residency with the 4elements Theatre Company!

My current collaboration is with Kate Harris of 4elements Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland. The project is called Daughters of the Revolution and focuses on questions of body autonomy, social acceptance, and other issues in today’s modern institutionalized maternity culture.

While the play being created focuses on the Irish experience, I believe that the messages presented and the questions being asked have a worldwide audience. 

In this I am creating a body of multimedia two-dimensional works to compliment the research and the resulting play to create a multi-day experience and conversation around the questions presented. 

This month long residency will allow me the space and time to focus and create the works in the place where they will be showcased. It also allows me access to some of the participants and other collaborators involved for fine tuning ideas from the research.

At the end of the residency we will see some of the fully realized works, have them professionally documented and stored,  and have the plans for the creation of the rest (some of the works will be created with printmaking techniques and will be printed upon my return to Edinburgh) ready to be made.

Visual Artist, Craftsperson, and Storyteller Coral Mallow will be joining 4elements for the month of August as Artist in Residence for the Daughters of the Revolution project.

DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION

IS IRELAND A GOOD PLACE TO HAVE A BABY OR DO WE NEED A REVOLUTION?

4elements Theatre Company, in collaboration with AIMS Ireland, is creating a play that will voice women’s experience of maternity in Ireland- but we need your help.

Every birth is a story that only you can tell.

Daughters of the Revolution is a series of drama workshops exploring women’s experience of maternity in Ireland and we are inviting women to come and share their stories.

The workshops are drama based and will use theatre games and exercises to have fun while building confidence and sharing experiences.

Beyond being a mother-no previous drama experience required.

 

To participate you must be over 18, and have dealt with maternity services in Ireland in the last 5 years. For more information or to book your place email info@4elements.ie.

We had a great first workshop today-lots of laughter and sharing stories.

Looking forward to seeing everyone next week and welcoming new people.

If you would like to take part, just send an email to info@4elements.ie

DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION

Every birth is a story. 4elements Theatre Company in collaboration with AIMS Ireland invites you to share yours.

Daughters of the Revolution is a series of 9 drama and storytelling workshops exploring the experience of maternity in Ireland.

These workshops are offered at no cost as part of a project to create a piece of theatre celebrating women’s birth experiences.

Pregnancy and birth place women at the overlap between public and private spheres. Using storytelling and drama exercises, the workshops will explore how we, as women, navigate the journey of maternity.

To participate you must be over 18, and have dealt with maternity services in Ireland in the last 5 years. Places are limited so please book your place on info@4elements.ie.

DATES: Saturdays from SEPT 14^th to NOV 16^th (Excluding Oct 26^th)

TIME: 11AM-1PM

LOCATION: Greenside Studios, Cuffe Street, Dublin 2

(Near Stephen’s Green at the junction of Kevin Street and Wexford Street)

CONTACT: Kate Harris on info@4elements.ie