Roderick Fords Innovative Dystopian DAUGHTER OF GOD Opens 8 March

Asylum Productions in association with Cork Opera House , UCC Department of Theatre/Granary Theatre and Once Off Productions present Daughter of God by Roderick Ford at Granary Theatre, Dept. of Theatre, University College Cork, running 8 - 11 March, 2023.

Three sisters are trapped in a dystopian nightmare in Roderick Ford's powerful tale of death, disability and desire. In the world outside their flat, an emergent fascist state is "cleansing" disabled people from society.

Inside, Yobby, locked in her cage, dreams of killing her little sister Caoimhe. Caoimhe, locked in her leg braces, dreams of her headless lover. Their sick mother, Yulia, fearing for the future, pleads with God on the telephone. God refuses to respond. But God alone knows what fresh hell will happen when middle sister Neon says she's leaving to find a future of her own.

Acclaimed theatrical innovators Asylum Productions will collaborate with playwright & poet Roderick Ford to bring his unique vision to the stage this March at the Granary Theatre. Leaning into magical realism, Daughter of God explores the autistic experience of life in a neurotypical world, and the struggle to exist in a society that does not fit.

In Daughter of God, a mother and her three daughters have isolated themselves from society and are bound together by secrets, sickness and mutual dependency. Their situation is about to change with devastating results when one of them gets an opportunity to have a different future.

Daughter of God explores the fragility of life between reclusiveness and a yearning for connection. A family of marginalised solitaries, who nevertheless find their own ways of coping, from living in a self-constructed imaginary world, to fighting in the street.

This powerful play uproots traditional dramatic realism, from which people with autism are mainly excluded, and creates an exciting and accessible platform that echoes the autistic imaginative universe. Rich in playfulness and humour, this is a new work that encourages us all to look through the window from the inside out, and will intrigue and challenge in equal measure.

Daughter of God is produced in association with Cork Opera House, UCC Department of Theatre/Granary Theatre and Once Off Productions.

Cast: Megan Haly, Claire Loy, Michaela Murphy, Eleanor Walsh

Written by Roderick Ford

Directed by Donal Gallagher

Set and Costume Design: Medb Lambert

Lighting Design: Drew McCarthy Sound Design: Cormac O'Connor

Wed 8 - Sat 11 March at 8pm

Granary Theatre, Dept. of Theatre, University College Cork

Tickets: €20, €10 concession, €5 students.

Duration: approx. 90 minutes with no interval

Daughter of God will preview on Wed 8th and opens on Thurs 9th March.

· Post-show discussions will take place on Wed 8th with director Donal Gallagher, and on Friday 10th with director Donal Gallagher and playwright Roderick Ford.

· Please note audiences are required to wear a face covering at the Saturday 11th performance to encourage access for all.

· All performances will be captioned.

· There is no strobe lighting in the production.

Please note this performance is recommended for age 16+, and contains strong language, explicit sexual references, and on-stage violence.

To book tickets visit: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/daughter-of-god-tickets-531876887087

Roderick Ford is an autistic poet and playwright. His work is populated by marginalised outsider figures and explores otherness and othering, voicelessness and estrangement. He was heavily medicated until 1995, when free at last, he began writing poetry. He won many awards, short-listings and commendations for his poetry, and has two collections The Shoreline of Falling, and The Green Crown. He has had a poem (Giuseppe) on the National Curriculum for A Level literature in the UK since 2015. In 2015, with the support of Arts and Disability Ireland and their provision of great mentors, he began writing for theatre. ADI funded the writing of a magic-realist play Ob Gob in 2016. A gothic play, The Spider's House, funded by the ADI/PAC Realise Production Award and Dublin City Council was performed at Project Arts Centre in March 2020. The apocalyptic Thief of Worlds was developed in 2020/2021 with the support of the Arts Council and Axis Ballymun.

Donal Gallagher is co-founder and co-director of Asylum Productions and has directed all of their work to date. in 2022 he co-wrote and directed Everything Must Go! for Asylum/Clonmel Junction Festival/Once Of

In 2019 he co-adapted and directed The Big Chapel X (Asylum, Kilkenny Arts Festival & the Abbey Theatre - nominated for 4 Irish Theatre awards). Other Asylum directing credits include The Chronicles of Oggle ("**** ...pure gold..." - Sunday Business Post); Pondlife Angels and Bedbound ("...completely brilliant..." - The Irish Times), both by Enda Walsh. Freelance credits include What I (Don't) Know About Autism for the Abbey - the first 'relaxed performance' in the history of the national theatre ("...**** a riveting celebration of difference..." Irish Times). Freelance Inclusive theatre work includes; co-creating, directing and performing in The Water Boys for Equinox Theatre Company, and the co-founding of Cork Deaf ensemble 'Spirit Of Sign'. Other freelance credits include Love, Peace and Robbery and Hung Juror, both by Liam Heylin for the Everyman. International directing work includes: The Miracle for T.J.G, Dresden, (2 years in Rep), and the world premiere of Chatroom by Enda Walsh at the National Theatre, London ("...a chilling and powerful tale... staged with enormous aplomb...the best possible advertisement for theatre..." - Lyn Gardner, The Guardian). Future work includes The Local at KAF for Asylum, and the final year (BA Performance) show for TU Dublin. Donal and Asylum co-director Medb Lambert are currently artists-in-residence with Watergate Theatre Kilkenny for 2023.

Medb Lambert is a theatre maker, creator and designer and co-Artistic Director of Asylum Productions. From 2006 - 2022 Medb worked at KCAT Arts Centre where she was a founder and Artistic Coordinator of Equinox Theatre Company. Her new play The Local (in collaboration with Emma O'Grady and Clare Monnelly) will be presented at Kilkenny Arts Festival 2023. Recent design work includes: Everything Must Go! By Aideen Wylde and Donal Gallagher (Asylum/Clonmel Junction/Once Off 2022); Julius Caesar (TU Dublin Conservatoire 2022); Country and Irish by Pat McCabe (Fight to Flight 2022); The Chronicles of Oggle by Peter Gowen (Fight to Flight/Asylum 2015-2022); What I Don't Know About Autism by Jody O'Neill (Abbey Theatre 2021/20); The Callan Energy Store (Asylum/ Loosysmokes 22); We All Come From Somewhere(Equinox Theatre Company 2021, online at weallcomefromsomewhere.com). She is artist in residence at the Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny 2023 with Donal Gallagher.

Cormac O'Connor is a creative sound designer, video designer, projection mapper, filmmaker, composer, and live performer. As a sound and video designer, he has designed over 120 theatre productions in Ireland and the U.K. Career highlights include the award-winning Disco Pigs for Corcadorca Theatre Company, Demon Juice at the Royal Opera House (2007), The Enchanted Room (a sound installation at Royal Festival Hall 2002), The Straits (a Herald Angel award winner for Paine's Plough at the Edinburgh Festival 2003), Push at the Almeida and Sadler's Wells Theatre (2004), directing and sound design for Shostakovich (Royal Festival Hall 2013), Finding Mrs. Havisham (2020), There Will Be No Silence by David Downes (2021), and About Blank by Adam Wyeth (2021). Cormac has collaborated with Graffiti Theatre Company on 18 theatre productions for young people. He created sound design and projection mapping on Glow for Cork City Council's Christmas shows in 2013, 2017, 2019 and 2020. As a composer, he has composed music for several TV documentaries for Harvest Films (Pat Collins), the opera Madam T for Meridian Theatre Company/Cork City of Culture 2005, and two radio plays with Enda Walsh. As a filmmaker, Cormac has made documentaries about older people and creativity as well as short films and music videos for bands. As a performing musician, Cormac has played with many bands and produced albums for acts such as The Frank and Walters and Dagenham Yanks.

Megan Haly is a recent graduate of the BA in Theatre and Drama Studies course at MTU Cork School of Music. She is also a member of The National Youth Theatre in London where she recently performed a piece on women's rights and activism at The Rose Bruford Theatre. Megan has worked on three feature films this year, Swing Bout written and directed by Maurice O'Carroll and produced by ORion Productions, LOW written and directed by Owen Warren and produced by Chroma Productions and Midnight City written and directed by Luke Mahony all due for release this coming year. Previous credits also include: Stand To (won 'Best Actress' at the New York International Film Awards 2022) Girls & Boys - one women show - in training (Amy Prendergast), Connie in Scenes from the Big Picture - in training (Regina Crowley), Ruby in From The Ashes(Jeremy Wiles), Anna in Till You Fall Asleep (Sarah Horgan), Brigid in Coleen (Shannon Haly, Elizabeth Murphy).

Claire Loy is a film, stage and television actor. Born in Louth, she initially received a degree in Archaeology at University College Cork before changing her focus to acting. Some of her previous stage credits include The Mai, The Wonderful World of Dissocia, Erin Connolly and The Children of Lir. Her screen work includes The Banshees of Inisherin, directed by Martin McDonagh, The Gates, Vikings: Valhalla (s2) for Netflix, The Outpost (CW), The Vanishing Triangle and the new Netflix series On Record. Claire trained at Bow Street Academy for Screen Acting in Dublin, Gaiety Cork, and with modern- realist technique practitioner Tom Kibbe. 2023 will be off to a busy start for Claire as she will be working on several screen projects before she embarks on Asylum Theatre's new play Daughter of God.

Michaela Murphy's Irish theatre credits include: Spring Awakening (Smock Alley), Sister Act (National Concert Hall), Back up dancer Take That (Three Arena), Ensemble Visiting Operas (Cork Opera House), Various pantos (Everyman Palace Cork). UK Theatre: Jack Frost and the Search for Winter (Leeds Playhouse/Regional UK Tour/Sheffield Crucible), Cassie and the Lights(Vaults Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe), The Tempest (Outdoor Finsbury Circus), Piramania (Upstairs at the Gatehouse/Edinburgh Fringe), Reconstituted (Theatre503). Workshop: Julius Caesar (The Playground Theatre/ The Hemingford Arms), The Whistleblower (Rehearsed Reading, The Old Diorama Arts Centre). Cabaret: Festive Folklore (The Actor's Church), The Phase (All That Scratch/Podcast, The Other Palace). Short Film: Home for Aged Time Travellers (Print Room Productions). Commercial: Dublin Heritage App (App 2022), Go Compare (TV 2021), Life Insurance (TV International 2019). Training: (Musical Theatre Diploma) Irish College of Musical Theatre, (First Class BA (Hons) Actor Musicianship) Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

Eleanor Walsh is a performer, writer, storyteller, and an autism and disability advocate. Recent theatre credits include Yellow (Jody O'Neill), The Amanda (Saoirse) Show (Scream for Ireland), What I (Don't) Know About Autism (Abbey Theatre), Home: Part One (Abbey Theatre), and Dear Ireland: Part One (These Four Walls by Sinéad Burke) (Abbey Theatre). Recent film credits include The Merrow (dir. Al Bellamy, Project Arts Centre). Eleanor is featured in "Be Inspired! Young Irish People Changing the World" by Sarah Webb, published by O'Brien Press.

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