Banished to receive its Irish Premiere in January

Detail of Rowan Gilespie’s sculpture honouring the convict women and children of Ireland transported to Van Diemen’s Land

After the London premiere in 2016, Banished will be seen in a new production in Dublin 13-19 January 2019 performed by the Royal Irish Academy of Music

Caitriona McLaughlin, director

Andrew Synnott, conductor

The Royal Irish Academy of Music is proud to present the Irish première of Stephen McNeff’s Banished, an adaptation of Steve Gooch’s play, Female Transport, to a libretto by Olivia Fuchs. Putting young women firmly centre-stage, this brave new work tells the compelling story of women who were transported to Australia in the last years of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and their survival against all odds on a long, arduous and dangerous passage to the other side of the world. Kilmainham Gaol, now one of the largest unoccupied prisons in Europe, is the extraordinary site-specific setting for this captivating new work.

Whilst the building symbolises the tradition of militant and constitutional nationalism for many, the Gaol’s own special history as a depot for convicts before they were transported to Australia, makes it a particularly poignant location in which to present McNeff’s new opera to Irish audiences.

We wish to advise that during the winter months the interior of Kilmainham Gaol is very cold. Please dress appropriately. Blankets will be provided.

Presented in partnership with the Office of Public Works and Kilmainham Gaol Museum and in collaboration with Design for Stage and Screen, IADT Dún Laoghaire.

Image from the 2016 production at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance in London. (Photo by Liolia Crisafulli)