A Mother’s Voice
“A Mother’s Voice does a beautiful job of centering survivors and transforms powerful testimony into performance with thoughtfulness and care. This is important work, blending activism and artistry, and I hope many other audiences have the opportunity to experience it.”
A Mother's Voice is a commemorative dedication to the many women affected by the mother and baby homes in Ireland during the 1900s. It is a multidisciplinary production in honour of these women, a collaboration between artists and living survivors to shed light on this veiled era of Ireland's recent history. The World Premiere was given in Cork in January 2023. A Mother’s Voice has since been performed during the 2023 Rainy Days Festival in Luxembourg. Multiple performances in Ireland, Germany and America are booked for 2024.
The production, a two year development, was created by Beth McNinch with co-creative assistance from Jane Hackett. The performance consists of an immersive exhibit by Bridget Ni Dhuinn, with lighting by Eoin McNinch and showcases a performance of the original music by Cork composers Linda and Irene Buckley with animation by Eabha Bortolozzo and Jack Kirwan. Most importantly, the piece also features the voices of three mothers, "Cait", Deirdre Wadding and Sheila O'Byrne.
“The work “A Mother’s Voice” shines a light on a shameful part of recent Irish History regarding mother and baby homes, and the International interest this work has attracted goes to show the relevance and sensitivity in which the group treated such difficult subject matter. Musici Ireland are presenting unique productions, centering socially aware subject matters and using art to inform audiences about Irish history.”
“It was a sacred moving multi sensory experience that respectively through art alone brought the words of the survivors of the mothers and babies homes to the centre of this production in this former church site. Instead of stations of the cross when we entered the theatre , we were met with stations of raw emotional experience relayed in the words from the mothers Deirdre, ‘Cait’ and Sheila who agreed to contribute to this creative process inked onto sheets by the artist. These were words that cannot be washed away like the stains of the church during this dark time in Ireland’s recent history when the Magdalene laundries existed. A subtle yet powerful design by Bridget Ni Dhuinn with early design input from Bimbi Urquhart. As we took our seats in the pews in the dark, the silhouettes of musicians Beth McNinch, Jane Hackett, Lidia Jewloszewicz-Clarke and Katie Tertell came to life subtly lit by Eoin McNinch. Through slow mournful movements not as an ensemble but in separate individual moments, the musicians reflected the loneliness of the mothers as they suffered their cruel ordeals of giving birth alone and scorned because they were ‘scarlet’ unmarried women. They were hidden away from society with their babies cruelly taken and given away for adoption if they survived birth at all. A vicious cycle provided for by church and state during 1900’s with the last facility closing in 1998 in Ireland. No facts and figures are needed through the beautiful evocative and heart wrenching animations by Eabha Bortolozzo and Jack Kirwan. Instead, the visuals amplify the voices of the women merging with the tearful strings of the live playing of viola, violins and cello in the intricate and delicate composition by Linda Buckley and Irene Buckley.”
This is a short clip to the animation by Jack Kirwan and Eabha Bortolozzo. You can also hear the beautiful soundscape and music composed by Linda and Irene Buckley, along with the voice of Mother Deirdre Wadding.
