Bang! explores a significant ‘what if’ about identity and transformation, two things that are of particular interest to me. I am grateful to all the members of the trans community, as well as friends and colleagues, who read and workshopped the script and gave me invaluable feedback. The play is a coming out story with explosive consequences. It’s a story about hiding in plain sight and revealing the true self and how fundamental the latter is to human experience. It’s also about family. And it’s about love. I wanted the play to be warm, upbeat and funny as well as being true to the huge obstacles and antagonism inherent in the stories I was hearing. Despite the seismic revelation at the heart of the play, I wanted to show that the people who love you, won’t stop loving you. That is my assertion in Bang! It may not be true in real life for many trans people, especially those who come out when older and who may lose friends and family in the process, but as attitudes and opinions change, (as we have seen them change before in Ireland), perhaps it will become true, or at least truer. This production would not have been possible without the support of Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI), the staff and board. And without the input of all the women who shared their experiences and their insights with me. I am grateful and indebted to Philippa, Helen, Aoife, Denise, Ciara, Éirénne and Sara for trusting me, and the production with their stories.

The inner world of the characters is a significant part of the play. I knew early on I wanted to include abstract movement as a non-literal expression of the emotional subtext each character was experiencing. I wrote this into the script as best I could, so it was fascinating then to work first with Movement Director Bryan Burroughs, (alongside the cast and director Davey Kelleher and composer Brian Keegan), during workshops between drafts to explore, and then in rehearsals with Davey, Brian and Movement Director Eddie Kay to finalise these ideas. It was exciting to see the movement and soundscape take shape and to see how the movement language and the musical instrumentation and composition worked together to create the intended inner world. The detailed and empathetic direction then successfully integrated the naturalistic with the abstract. 

Use of Movement