University of Dublin Trinity College Toward the Heart and Art of Peacebuilding: The Role of Engaged Theatre in Post-Conflict Transition in Northern Ireland A Dissertation Submitted For the Degree of DOCTOR of PHILOSOPHY By Suzanne Helène Foy Irish School of Ecumenics October 2018 Declaration I declare that this thesis has not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at this or any other university and it is entirely my own work. I agree to deposit this thesis in the University’s open access institutional repository or allow the library to do so on my behalf, subject to Irish Copyright Legislation and Trinity College Library conditions of use and acknowledgement. No quotations, photographs or maps from the thesis may be published without proper authorisation and acknowledgement. Suzanne Helène Foy Suzanne Helène Foy 23 October 2018 iii Summary This research is grounded in the exploration of the theoretical and practice-based connection between artistic practice and peacebuilding. With Northern Ireland as the context, it focuses on a study of theatre-centric projects through the lens of conflict transformation theory. This thesis’ research questions investigate the role that engaged theatre can assume in peacebuilding through the creation of cultural spaces where difficult discussions around a challenging past can be had in a period of post-conflict transition. The ancillary objective of this research is to explore the potential of engaged theatre’s use of digital media to contribute to social change. The theoretical framework of this thesis draws extensively on the work of conflict transformation theorist and practitioner John Paul Lederach. Lederach is a vocal advocate of creative and artistic approaches to building peace in divided societies that view local people as stakeholders in, and active agents of change. He describes the faculty required for the creative transformation of conflict as moral imagination. A set of four disciplines mobilises this kind of imagination: envisioning a web of relationships that includes enemies, practicing paradoxical curiosity, providing space for creative acts and willingness to risk. The study of engaged theatre offers one avenue of a cultural intervention providing insight into why Lederach views peacebuilding as an art rather than just a technical exercise. The investigation of how theatre engages conflict and opens up space for the moral imagination to take hold in a society in transition is realised through the adoption of an ethnographic-based methodology. This methodology entails a mix of observational fieldwork, documentary sources and semi-structured interviews. The analysis of datasets collected between January 2014 and June 2015 focuses on two professional artist-based theatrical productions written, staged and performed to act as a catalyst for post-show discussions around unseen and unresolved residues of the past in the context of Northern Ireland. Case Study 1 focuses on the Those You Pass on the Street project initiated by Healing Through Remembering in collaboration with Kabosh Theatre Company. Written by Laurence McKeown, this play explores difficult issues around loss, grief, survival, and the ripple effect of small steps taken to move forward with one’s life that v challenge family, community and political loyalties. The analysis pays particular attention to the behind-the-scene minutiae of imagining a space that will help audiences step outside their everyday lives and conflict- habituation patterns, as one answer to Lederach’s call for the exploration of the creative process as a central line of inquiry in peacebuilding. Case Study 2 focuses on the Verbal Arts Centre’s Crows on the Wire (COTW) project centred on the emotive issue of the role and legacy of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) from the perspective of those who wore the RUC uniform. The analysis explores the impact of the play written by Jonathan Burgess on audiences’ pre/post-show attitudes about the RUC. It also surveys the conversion of the COTW script into a digital graphic novel and educational resource aimed at encouraging post-primary school pupils to engage with and form their own opinions about Northern Ireland’s past. This thesis’ study of how artistic practices engage creatively with the idea of conflict transformation reveals people’s curiosity about innovative theatrical work that gives a voice to individual experiences often overlooked in the aftermath of conflict. The findings suggest recognition of the capacity of engaged theatre to create a space for difficult discussions to be had through fictional narratives. However, they also point to the need to gauge communities’ ability to embrace, be comfortable with, and see value in engaging with theatricality and to consider the needs of those who may not yet be ready to take part in discussions in the presence of the ‘other’. These points stress the importance of conducting single-identity and cross- community work that can influence and contribute to transformation. As well, community and cultural sector organisations are exploring creative ways to extend the reach of their work through digital media. An initial review of two theatre-centric digital practices of the moral imagination – the Crows on the Wire App (2014) and the Streets of Belfast App (2015) – suggests affinities with the long-term vision and generational aspects of building peace in line with conflict transformation theory. This research contributes to knowledge in the area of theatre arts and peacebuilding, with the artistic continuum now extending to a range of digital elements designed to record and increase the peacebuilding potential of engaged theatre work in societies in transition. vi Acknowledgements I came to Northern Ireland very much an outsider … I came to listen, learn, bear witness, connect, and, I hoped, help to give voice to some of the hidden stories. T. Sepinuck (2013) Theatre of Witness: Finding the Medicine in Stories of Suffering, Transformation, and Peace, p. 153. I am much in debt to my supervisors for their generous, insightful, conscientious and supportive mentorship. I am deeply grateful to Dr Gladys Ganiel who supervised my research from 2011 to early 2015 and whose knowledgeable guidance, advice and patience were instrumental to the progress of my research and the writing of this thesis. I am very grateful to Dr Gillian Wylie for stepping in as primary supervisor at an advanced stage of my work and for her insightful and supportive mentorship which carried me through the homestretch. I am equally grateful to Dr Charles Travis, who acted as co-supervisor, for his knowledgeable guidance and support. I am ever so grateful to Caroline, Bríd and Karen at the Irish School of Ecumenics in Belfast for their time, laughter, and support. I wish to thank Dr Niall Ó Dochartaigh (University College Galway), Dr Brandon Hamber and Dr Stephen Ryan (INCORE, University of Ulster), Dr James Thompson (University of Manchester), Dr David Grant and Dr Declan Keeney (Queen’s University Belfast), Teya Sepinuck (Theatre of Witness) and Hector Aristizàbal (ImaginAction) for their time and kind words of encouragement at the early stages of my research. Being based in Belfast, I also wish to thank the staff at Queens University Belfast McClay Library who went out of their way to assist me throughout my research. Deeply felt gratitude to theatre practitioner Paula McFetridge for opening the doors of Kabosh Theatre Company to me and for giving so freely of her time and interest over and over again. I also thank members of the Kabosh staff (past and present), the cast and crew who while working tirelessly on the Those You Pass on the Street theatrical production always found time to educate me about the ins and outs of theatre-making and local craic. Special thanks to playwright Dr Laurence McKeown for his interest in my research and for permission to quote from his work. Finally, I thank Kate Turner, Director of Healing Through Remembering, for her vii words of encouragement and assistance in the latter stages of my research. Heartfelt thanks go to Dr Matthew Jennings (University of Ulster) for his interest in my work and for introducing me to Dr Mhairi Sutherland, Crows on the Wire Project Coordinator, at the 2014 International Community Arts Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands. I thank James Kerr, Executive Director of the Verbal Arts Centre, for opening the doors of the organisation to me at a time when the prospects of finding a second substantive case study looked rather bleak. My thanks to the staff for their support and chats that made long research days a wee bit easier. I am in debt to Dr Sutherland who gave so freely of her time and interest over and over again. Special thanks to playwright Jonathan Burgess for his interest in my research and for granting me such a generous interview. Special thanks to my friends Pierrette, Jill, Pierre, Marie-Andrée, Christine, Marissa, Bríd C. and Dr Joanne St. Lewis (University of Ottawa) for the courage they have shown in their lives and the impact they have had on mine. Thank you to the health professional who have supported me along the way. Thanks to the theatre practitioners, peacebuilders, community activists, story-holders and past lecturers especially Dr Hilary Robertson (Royal Roads University), who have inspired me to always look beyond the presenting situation. I want to express my gratitude to the women and men from all sides of the conflict whom I have met through the Theatre of Witness productions and their continued interest in my work. I thank and am deeply grateful to my family, including my aunts and uncles who have been incredible role models and confidants, for all their love and support. I am infinitely grateful to my sister Dominique who did not want me to leave Canada yet understood that I needed to go on this journey.