Atsiliepimai: Helen, Airija

Reflections on the project – Helen Blackhurst (Ireland)

The project started in Plymouth with a week’s workshop led by Playback’s founder, Jonathan Fox.  Spending a week focussing on working with minority communities and cross-culturally was hugely helpful in framing the upcoming work with Lithuanian audiences in Ireland and England. 

Vital concepts such as being congruent – having a Lithuanian conductor and Lithuanian actor in order to allow the audience to connect on a deeper level – and sustainability, helped me gain a sense of what needed to be done in order to prepare for the upcoming performances.  This was the first time we, as an international Playback group, had met as actors.  Having a chance to connect and perform together during this week allowed us to gain the sense of community and cohesion we were hoping for as one of the project outcomes.

Over the two months between the Plymouth training and our first performances in Ireland, many e-mails were exchanged and information shared.  Discovering more about why and how Lithuanian people had migrated to Ireland helped me to gain a sense of social awareness around the issues and themes that may emerge, and was a vital part of the preparatory process. 

Meeting the English and Lithuanian actors in Dublin and rehearsing for our first performance felt exhilarating.  This was something new, like heading into unchartered waters.  Our first performance was in an Irish country town.  Despite all the preparations, I had no idea what to expect.  As with any Playback performance, the outcome is always unpredictable, but this setting and audience composition felt even more so.  Facing a room full of mostly Lithuanian faces, I wondered how the translation from Lithuanian to English would work for the conductor, whether we, as actors, would be able to capture the essence of a story in translation without having an experiential sense of the content.  I wondered how it would be for Irish spectators in the audience.

What emerged was a true sharing.  The themes touched us all, as they held universal truths.  All of us, at some point in our lives, had felt like outsiders, and most of us had had an experience of being welcomed into another culture and community.  As I am English living in Ireland, I felt a deep connection with the stories of received kindness from the Irish people.   The second performance in Dublin was, as expected, a completely different experience.  Performing in the more formal setting of the Lithuanian Embassy set the tone for a different kind of telling.  The themes were darker; the audience more cautious, having had far less positive experiences of living in Ireland. 

Following these performances, I felt a deeper sense of connection towards the Lithuanian people I had met, and had a far greater understanding of their culture and character as a nation.  Having never met a Lithuanian person before, I now felt an open hearted comradeship through this sharing of experience. 

Sadly this was the end of the project for me and my Irish colleague.  The Icelandic ash cloud stood in our way as we made every attempt to cross the sea to English shores.  And so I am left with a sense of wanting more, of having started on a journey that has still some miles to go.  I feel deeply grateful to have been part of such a rich project, both in terms of the stories it revealed, and in the connections made as friends and as communities. (2010. 05)