Local actress gets young people talking

Interview by Pauline Rea

Renowned theatre company Replay Productions are blasting into a new decade with their latest play, Bulletproof, a verbatim piece looking at the sensitive but important subject of mental health among young people in Northern Ireland.

Sadly mental health issues and the tragedy of suicide in young people are never far from the headlines in Northern Ireland. Following the Bamford Review in 2007, Replay commissioned award winning playwright Gary Owen to create this challenging play which tells the story of two siblings, based on real life experiences and attitudes of young people in Belfast.

Writer Gary Owen creates the fragmented world of siblings Michael and Alex. When asked what message might be found in the play, writer Gary Owen said: "Young people need to understand that feelings of sadness, or despair - even suicidal feelings - are nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to be frightened of, and nothing to hide."

The play runs at the Baby Grand in the Grand Opera House from February 15 to 17, and will also be touring local schools.

The production stars local actress Kerry Cleland from Moneyreagh. Kerry told Weekender she was delighted to be involved with such a thought-provoking production: "Bulletproof is a verbatim piece, which basically means that every single word in the play was actually spoken by someone in real-life. Welsh writer Gary Owen interviewed a lot of local young people just sat and talked to them basically about issues in their lives and then used some of the conversation to create the play," said Kerry.

"It's only about 25 minutes long so there are a lot of issues to pack into it. It opens quite light-heartedly and is funny in places but the tone turns more serious quite quickly."

Kerry added: "We have already been round quite a few schools with it and the young people have been so receptive. It was tough going into some schools to perform this to teenagers who know first hand about mental health issues or whose lives have been touched by suicide. It really seems to hold their attention and it is great to be able to address these very real and very important issues. I have personally learnt quite a lot about mental health through the production."

Kerry is a former pupil of Methody and completed her studies at the Queen Margaret School of Drama in Edinburgh last year. She said: "I love what I do and its great to be able to travel with my job. I have mostly been applying for acting jobs in Scotland as well as back home in Northern Ireland and in Dublin. I don't think coming from Northern Ireland has hindered me in any way - if anything I think now it's a bonus!

"I used to worry about not being cast in particular roles because of my accent and tried to make it less broad - but now regional accents are the thing and people seem to like our accent.

"It is great to be back home in Northern Ireland for a while, and this will be my first time performing in the Baby Grand.

Director of Bulletproof David Fenton added: "We hope that Bulletproof might at least get someone, somewhere talking."

Bulletproof will be touring schools in the province throughout February and March and coming to Belfast to The Baby Grand at the Grand Opera House from February 15 to 17. Each performance will be followed by a free post show discussion. Tickets are available now on www.goh.co.uk or by calling on 02890 241919. Further information on arranging local school productions can be requested by calling Replay Productions on 02890 322773.