At the Hungarian premiere of the play
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| Jess Smith/Photo |
The Hardest Word on 27 July, Independent Theater tells about the civil
activity of Jess Smith, a writer, poet, and storyteller belonging to the Gypsy
Traveller community in Scotland.
The goal that Jess sets for herself is nothing less
than demand the country’s first minister to apologise for the long centuries of
persecution that Travellers had to suffer.
The monodrama
displays both the vulnerability and the firm character of Jess. From her
confession, we learn what challenges she has to face while fighting steadily
for her goals - against her own family, the society or the authority.
Sometimes civil disobedience is the only way
to maintain our dignity, she believes.
The premiere of
the play takes place in the frame of the First International Storytelling
Festival, 27-28 July.
Iain Lindsay,
the British Ambassador to Hungary gives the welcome speech.
After the
performance, the playwright, Richard R. O’Neill, is in conversation.
The play is in Hungarian language, with English subtitles.
Contributors
Written
by: Richard R. O’Neill
Translated
by: Viktória Kondi
Hungarian
translation supervised by: Ágnes Stemler
Directed
by: Rodrigó Balogh
Screenplay
by: Márton Illés
Jess
Smith - Edina Dömök
Stúdió
K Theatre (Budapest, 9. district, Ráday street 32.)
27th
July 2017, 21.10
Duration
of the performance: 30 min
Duration
of the conversation: 60 min
Tickets
The webpage of Studio K Theatre, in a limited number.
Background and impact of the play
Richard R O’Neill’s play,
based on the story of Jess Smith, was first performet at Edinburgh Storytelling
Festival in 2008.
The issue of the centuries long persecution caught the
attention of the Church of Scotland when one of the priests, Russel McLarty
attended Jess Smith’s show at the festival.
After the premiere, Jess met the
church leaders and this experience initiated long-lasting changes in the
church’s approach to Traveller’s history.
When Jess Smith told her
friend, the playwright Richard R. O’Neill about her plan to demand a statement
of apology from the state, he offered to write a monologue for Jess - so this
play is the demand itself.
Although neither the state nor the first minister
apologised to the Traveller communities for the violation of their human
rights, on 25 May 2012 the Church of Scotland did so.
In the UK, the
performance brought countrywide recognition for the artists, inspired the
everyday work of health care and community development organisations, and
encouraged Roma women to write.