Jill Kathleen reviews BELFAST 1919

Review by Jill Kathleen, New York City

Extended Member of SITI Company, ConArtist

BELFAST 1919

The show starts off with a bang. Straight from the beginning, we know exactly what’s happening; the audience is shot into the beginning of “Brexit Day”.

The truly fascinating thing is how, in such a blank space, the characters, situation and space were very clear from the start. There were so many specifics to make things defined for the audience, from the costumes to the use of the elastics to create totally new spaces, but it wasn’t so “in your face” that room for the imagination was lost; it was quite the opposite. The specificity opened up the possibility to fill in the blanks.

The piece had a very strong ensemble feel, as everyone was integral at all times to make the piece work as a whole. People were manipulating the space with elastics and their own physicality, while others were inhabiting these newly created spaces as actors. Even some of the sound cues seemed like a game between actor and operator, which gave it a fun, live feel.

I was left wanting more. It was an incredible feat considering the very short rehearsal period.

To see and read more about BELFAST 1919 click here.