Belfast Girls

by Jaki McCarrick

The year is 1850, Belfast, Ireland. Two hundred women are departing on a ship bound for Australia under the Earl Grey Orphan Emigration Scheme. Escaping workhouses overpopulated during the Great Famine, they are set to become “mistresses of their own destiny” as servants, farm-workers – and, indeed, wives – in the Colonies. BELFAST GIRLS by Irish playwright, Jaki McCarrick, focuses on five of the most “notorious and riotous” of these women and their three month journey in the bowels of the Inchinnan ship. For some the voyage offers a fresh start, but others find they cannot escape the memory of the lives they've left behind.

THE CAST

Caroline Strange - Judith Noone

Eve Niker - Molly Durcan

Jessy Heath - Sarah Jane Wylie

Natasha Ravenscroft - Hannah Gibney

Meghan Reid - Ellen Clarke

THE CREATIVES

Rosie Thorpe - ETD Artistic Director & Producer

Ilya Parenteau - ETD Co-Artistic Director & Director: 

Olivia Woodrow - Co-Producer

Bevan Thomson - Stage Manager & Fight Choreographer

Liz Manning - Costume Designer

Miriam Möller-Wieland - Set Designer

'BELFAST GIRLS' was produced by the English Theatre Düsseldorf and presented in March 2024 at the Weltkunstzimmer in Düsseldorf.

Director Interview - What is BELFAST GIRLS by Jaki McCarrick about?

Director Interview - Why did you choose this piece?

Director Interview - Why should people come and see this production?

BELFAST GIRLS by Jaki McCarrick: Cast Interview - Why did you want to be part of this production?

BELFAST GIRLS by Jaki McCarrick: Cast Interview - What connections do you have to BELFAST GIRLS, Ireland and your character?

BELFAST GIRLS by Jaki McCarrick: Cast Interview - Why should people come and see this production?

Cast Interview with Caroline Strange

Cast Interview with Eve Niker

Cast Interview with Jessy Heath

Cast Interview with Natasha Ravenscroft

Cast Interview with Meghan Reid

Photos & Videos: Laurie Hall

Part of Zeitgeist Irland 24, an initiative of Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland in Germany. Partially funded by the Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf and Sparkasse Düsseldorf Kunst- und Kulturstiftung.

Gefördert von der Kunst- und Kulturstiftung der Sparkasse Düsseldorf und durch die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien.