The Thelmas Present NOTCH At VAULT Festival

Following their VAULT Festival Pick of Pleasance Award winning hit Ladykiller in 2019, The Thelmas return to VAULT Festival with a dark meditation on migration, homelessness and obsession. Croatian writer Danaja Wass uses her own experience of being an immigrant in Ireland as a starting point to weave together the lyrical and poignant story of A.A, who is moving from a remote Eastern European country to the promised land of Guinness. Despite reassurances that she'll do well, she quickly finds herself Sans-Home. As her situation and mental health deteriorate, her desperate search for friendship results in an obsession with dire consequences. With record high numbers of rough sleepers reported in both London and Ireland in 2019, NOTCH is a timely look at what we try not to see.

Writer and performer Danaja Wass said, "NOTCH was written after I experienced the impact of the housing crisis in Ireland and witnessed the effects on the growing number of rough sleepers in Dublin. I wanted to create a non-Irish female character, in an Irish setting, who deals with the consequence of trauma, but transgresses the traditional victim narrative and exists in all her flawed complexity"

Danaja Wass is a Croatian writer and actor. Her short play Stella premiered at the Black Box Theatre in Dublin, and her acting credits include How I Helped End Communism (Samuel Beckett Theatre Dublin), and Anthony and Cleopatra (Theatre 36). She met The Thelmas at their womxn writers' group, Weapons of Mass Creation.

The Thelmas presented Ladykiller at VAULT Festival in 2019, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2018; this year, they return with NOTCH and Santi & Naz (28 Jan - 2 Feb), a story about two friends told against the backdrop of the partition of India. NOTCH is directed by Madelaine Moore (Ladykiller, Algorithms). Ladykiller will be touring the UK in Spring 2020 from 3rd March - 2nd May, supported by house and Laura Elmes Productions.

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