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https://accounts.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/98a3e35737e747fc59469d5376785221.pdf
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PDF Text
Text
25 January 2014
Interview with:
Fiona Bawn Thompson, Actor and Facilitator and Choreographer
The Memory Project, Smashing Times Theatre Company Ltd
Venue: Cavan
File No:
Start TC:
ST0103 (File 1 of 4)
01:41:36:24
Q: Fiona maybe start with a little bit about where you grew up and your family
FIONA: [01:41:48:00] OK I was born in Craigavon …Craigavon Area Hospital and I lived in
Portadown for the 1st year of my life and then moved to Craigavon, and I, I've been
living there ever since, for the past 30 plus years (laugh)…. so that’s basically where I
grew up and Craigavon, Portadown, Lurgan are all very….. very central to a lot of
Troubles and a lot of things that happened throughout the course of the Troubles.
[01:42:11:15]
Q: Was there anything significant happen in your life to do with the Troubles?
FIONA: [01:42:17:09] Yeah…there was a few incidents that happened and a few things
that I heard of …of people that were quite close to me, but because I was young it was
…. I was kind of sheltered away from it - there were 2 incidents that stood out
particularly, one was when my school got blew up by a 2000lb bomb - the police station
was beside my school, and when they blew up the police station and my school got blew
up with it. And the reason why that annoyed me so much was because we were in the
middle of a school play, and I was one of the main parts in the school play and I had my
big solo song/piece and central character and…. of course we couldn't …… this was 3
days before the, the school play went on so the school play never went on [01:43:00:21]
it was never shown and our school then…. of course after that then we were a little bit
happy because our school was off for an extra week or two (laugh) after Christmas, or
before Christmas, and then we got moved into mobiles, and it was …it was sad in a way
because there was a lot of memories and a lot of things within the school that ….that,
that were obviously not there any more then, because it was blew up. [01:43:26:17]
�Q: Were you anxious going back to school?
FIONA: [01:43:36:17] I wasn't really anxious going back to school no… now the bomb - I
lived half a mile away from the school so….. it was a 2000lb bomb was pretty, was pretty
drastic… our windows cracked and our dog, we went.. running outside, my daddy says
to get out cos the house was shaking so we all went running outside and when we went
outside we could hear the shrapnel - the whistles of the shrapnel overhead so my daddy
said get inside [01:44:03:11] cos he thought the house was going to fall down, so we all
had to run out, but when we went out there was just like missiles, we could hear things
whistling over our head and falling so we went back into the house. And I was very
anxious at the time, because my, my brother was over playing, playing pool in the local
recreation centre and from where we lived at that time I could see the smoke coming up
and I thought, I thought that my older brother had been blew up basically - I thought it
was the recreation centre …..so…that was a very anxious time - I remember being
completely distraught four about half an hour at least until….because then you didn't
have mobile phones so no-one could ring, no-one knew where it was, and no-one knew
what was happening. [01:44:41:07] so until I, until my brother was ok, then everything
was ok after that really – y’know everything else was irrelevant because….. as long as
everyone's ok, y'know material things can be replaced. [01:44:52:16]
END FILE
File No: ST00104 (File 2 of 4)
Start TC: 01:44:57:03
Q: Maybe you could talk about another incident?
FIONA: [01:45:04:07] The other incident was a little bit more serious, it involved the, the
murder of 3 … 3 young people and it was in the estate, quite close to where I lived, and I
heard the shots the night before, but I didn't realize what had happened - it sounded
like a bin lid closing so… didn't t take any heed but back in them days, if you heard any
kind of a bang, it, it - regardless of what age you were - you kind of went - was that or
was it this or was it that? You always… to me anyway, I was always on edge …… so I
heard these, these shots, these bangs but wasn't too sure about it, until the next day
that we found out that it, it was… 2 young girls and a young man had been murdered.
[01:45:48:04] And they'd been quite brutally shot… and what sticks out in my mind most
of all is that… when I was at my cousins house and we, we were looking and we seen…
the local residents were cleaning up the … the blood from the aftermath of it …. from
the young man that was shot. And it stands out pretty vivid in my mind that kids were
just playing around and there was just buckets full of soapy water and …. it was just…..
they were sweeping this … this blood away and I remember it just was something that …
it was like something you'd see on TV, on a film y'know you don't realize that things like
�that happen so close to home. So I remember that always has big significance in my
mind, and….. it’s just one of those memories that obviously will…. will never leave you.
[01:46:32:03] But I know that a lot of people at the same time would have had more…
more drastic encounters and there was lots of young girls - there was a young girl got
shot ….well a few young girls got shot, around my age as well, so for me growing up it
was always… I was… I was always anxious if I was out or if there, if there was a sound or
if you were out by yourself or walking home… on a dark night y'know ….nowadays you'd
be afraid of …. I don't know… different things… y'know but then, if I was walking from
my friends house by myself at night I was always quite anxious about cars driving past
and …because you just didn’t, you just didn't know … *01:47:10:05+
Q: Do you know the reason the young people were shot?][
FIONA: [01:47:13:21] Because of their religion ….that’s it….they were…. the two young
girls were only I think 16 & 17 so…..yeah it was just because of religion.
Q: Does that anxiety of then carry over to today?
FIONA: I don't know, the community I live in and …. just the country itself is…..it’s, it’s
obviously at …a lot…. at a better place than what it was years ago, but at the same time
there's always a level of uncertainty, y'know there's always .. y'know you can't be sure
that every things ok, or that things aren't going to happen or thing are going to happen
…. *01:48:32:04+ There’s always just that level of uncertainty I would say rather than
anxiousness, it’s just an uncertainty. *01:48:37:20+
Q: What do you think about the games and exercises we use, or that are used and
drama used to promote Peace building?
FIONA: [01:48:47:12] The games and exercises … when, when you have the young
people together …. to try and get young people to talk sometimes is ….is hard….. So the
drama workshops helps to - you bring them to, to a more relaxed place y'know back to
play and back to games and once they become comfortable in…. in the group and in the
scenario, and comfortable with myself…. drama…. the exercises allow… allow the young
people that outlet - to be able to …. to be able to express themselves creatively y'know,
so a lot of the times you may have … they may have things they've heard of, or they
want to say but are afraid to say but through drama you've a certain…. You’ve, you’ve,
well not a certain, but a bigger level of freedom, you're …. you can express yourself, you
can tell stories quite openly and [01:49:37:21] it’s usually within a safe environment,
where everyone has the same level of sharing and understanding, and even with the
group I worked with today, some of the stories were very personal and a lot of the … a
lot of the kids in the group or a lot of the young people in the group, got quite emotional
by them, y'know and they're all best friends - they're all … you can see …maybe not…
they're all very close friends and you could see that … they, they hadn't realized that
about each other before [01:50:06:12] because it hasn't been told before, and through
�drama…and, and these exercises, they have … they’re able to have this voice to tell
those things. [01:50:17:14]
Q: And is that important?
FIONA: Of course it is yeah.
Q: Why?
FIONA: [01:50:22:08] Why? Because a problem shared is a problem halved basically ,
y'know if … if they're able to tell their stories then they're able to … to have some
recognition and understanding of … of their stories …. and people then are able…… to,
to see their perspective on things…. so it’s about that …..it’s about that, that sharing the
memories and about remembering and people acknowledging the fact and
acknowledging each others stories and opinions and points of view, so if ….y’know it’s, a
lot …. a lot of people …. in the North have a….. y'know have, have a real grudge because
no- one… no-one wants to hear about it anymore and if you're able to tell your story – if
you're allowed to …. to have those memories then it’s… it becomes a little bit more
released, all that tension. [01:51:11:05]
Q: What role does music and dance play particularly with young people?
FIONA: [01:51:20:03] Music and dance is very current …. so ….y’know everyone has their
…. Their pop stars …… and fans of….of different, different people and stuff, so I think
music and dance is, is obviously a big thing that young people are interested in, so
sometimes straight drama as well, whenever you … whenever you can even merge them
together it brings… it makes it more current, so that it’s not just this is a memory that’s
in the past that we're acting out – it’s… you're bringing it in to the future or you're
bringing it in to the present time…and…..Dance is, dance I think in general is, is brilliant,
it just has a completely different outlet of its own, and…. and the song … y'know the
group I was working with today as well - the girls were just singing on, on their break
and ….. you know to have that…..it’s just another outlet (laugh) I don't know…..
[01:52:15:10]
Q: Using dance and rap - does that reach a different audience?
FIONA: [01:52:27:10] Yeah I think it does because …..Well using dance and rap makes it
…. makes the content more current and makes it more appealing to a young audience
and… it gets them more involved then in it as opposed to straight drama - whenever you
can integrate all those arts and, and make something more interesting, kids are
obviously going to be more interested in something that’s very current to them, and
something that they're interested in … [01:53:41:06] Well through rap, you know you
have your, your current artists that… that would deliver messages through, through
songs, through rap and … and that…y'know kind of resonates more with the kids, kids
remember words, remember lyrics of songs, remember words of raps and … and they
�do cling onto those …much more y'know those are things that can stay with them so,
buy putting it in that, in that format and delivering it to… to the young people as an
audience its going to stay with them more, they're going to take more away from it than
just a straight …..a straight drama piece [01:54:17:19]
END FILE
FILE NO:
ST00106 (File 3 of 4)
FIONA: Well like most other killings and murders in the North, it was to do with religion
and unfortunately for the very most part it was the innocent people that got affected by
that…. *01:54:51:13+
END FILE
File No:
Start TC:
ST00107 (file 4 of 4)
01:54:54:06
FIONA: [01:55:26:11] There was a school I was working with in Belfast, and part of the …
sectarian… realization was that sectarianism occurs when you try to imply your views on
other people - and everyone had accepted this, and everyone had said yes we, we're not
sectarian at all, and everyone had, had agreed through all the exercises and … and
groups and get in to this group if you think this, and into this group if you think that and everyone had agreed that everything was wrong until it came to nationality
[01:55:54:14] and whenever we started talking about nationality, and in the North of
course it’s very… you could be British, you could be Irish and you can be Northern Irish you've got a choice of 3 different nationalities that you can…. that you can choose from
essentially …. so this group of, of….. this one particular …child or young person in the
group had….was completely adamant that everybody …. everybody was the same
nationality as her, because they lived in this, in this country, and it was trying to get
that… and it turned out that the rest of the class actually were saying to her but you
can't - and she was completely unmoved by this because [01:56:35:11] she just didn't
realize that… she couldn’t, couldn't see that…. That she was trying to …. that this was
her implying her opinions on other people y'know I says you're entitled to be that
particular nationality … other people are entitled to this nationality, and y'know we are
entitled to be whatever, y’know whatever nationality you want to be, whatever you
think, y’know that… that’s the nature of where we live…and she just couldn't see past it
….just really couldn't see past how… anyone … could even consider being a different
nationality at all, and y'know was, was very, very .. no, well just tell them because that's
the way it should be because that’s, that’s what nationality we are….and…. it, it, this
debate it went on for so long and…. had the rest of the class actually were just …. and
they were all in the same area - they had to say, y’know to try and get her round and
that, but at the very very start she'd agreed that sectarianism was… y'know ok you don't
�imply your views on anybody else, everyone is entitled to they own opinion - until it
came to that. [01:57:434:17] and then no-one was … everyone was this and there was
no…. there was no let up from that it was this nationality and no other one in this
country. So there was other incidents like that do occur and it’s y'know I'm not to say
that this, I didn’t tell her she's wrong - no-one else told her …y'know she was wrong but
we were just trying to get her to realize that… y'know everyone has different views,
everyone has different… and it’s the same with … with racism and religion and things
like that, everyone has their own …their own opinions and that’s all to do with human
rights and people are entitled to have those. [01:58:04:22]
Q: And do you think young people are more open now to look at diversity in all areas?
[01:58:15:01]
FIONA: Oh I do think so because even in the same school there was lots of things up
about human rights and diversity and I mean it is – it’s very much integrated into
schools, I find that sports are being integrated more into schools, y'know some of the
catholic schools play rugby, some of the protestant schools play Gaelic, whereas
whenever I was growing up, it was, sports were very much segregated …. and now …. I
can see its more inclusive - even the likes of, of football teams that would be considered
predominately protestant or predominately catholic are now being … being integrated
by different, different ones in the community because …. some of the kids now are, are
thinking - now they're better than them ones so I'll go with them, y'know so they're
moving towards now the more competitive element of it as opposed to that’s a catholic
team, I'll play for that, or that’s a protestant team, I'll play for that. So in that sense, I do
feel that you know more people are, are coming round in that way y'know…..
[01:59:10:10] And in the schools that is implied as well obviously.
END FILE: 01:59:40:20
End of Interview.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Memory Project (<em>collection</em>)
Description
An account of the resource
"The Memory Project is an exciting, innovative arts programme that uses drama and theatre to deal with the past and build pathways for the future and to promote peace, reconciliation and mutual understanding in Northern Ireland and the southern border counties.
The project is run by Smashing Times Theatre Company in collaboration with Corrymeela Community / Irish Peace Centres and is funded through the EU’s European Regional Development fund through the PEACE III Programme for Peace and Reconciliation managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.
The project consists of a series of creative storytelling happenings, workshops and dramatic performances, along with a television documentary which will be made to record the process." (from the Smashing Times Theatre Company website)
In addition to the 12 filmed interviews (involving 15 interviewees), the project also produced an hour-long documentary entitled 'The Memory Project: Stories from the Shadows' which documented the work of the theatre company, over the course of two years, as it carried out the project.
Two theatre productions were also presented as part of The Memory Project.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Smashing Times Theatre Company Ltd.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Smashing Times Theatre Company Ltd.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015
URL
Non DC - URL of Organisation / Project
http://www.smashingtimes.ie/page-2/page-2a/
Stories Collected
Non DC - Number of stories recorded as part of the project.
12
Stories Deposited
Non DC - Number of stories deposited with Accounts of the Conflict.
11
Collection Permission Form
Non DC - Collection permission form signed and returned.
Yes (signed: 10 November 2015)
Delayed Access
Non DC - Yes/No on request for delayed access.
No
Availability Online
Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain)
deposited
Permission Form Scanned
Non DC - Scan of permission form uploaded to archive.
Yes
Publication
A book, article, monograph etc.
Author
Author of the publication
Fiona Bawn Thompson
Publication Title
Full title of publication, as it appears on item.
Transcript of interview with Fiona Bawn Thompson
Publisher Location
Place of publication: city / town
Dublin
Publisher
Smashing Times Theatre Company Ltd.
Publication Type
Report, Book, Manual etc.
Transcript
Publication Status
Published, in Press, Unpublished, etc.
Published on-line
Number of Pages
6
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<em>Unititled Story</em>, by Fiona Bawn Thompson (<em>story transcript</em>)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Smashing Times Theatre Company Ltd.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Smashing Times Theatre Company Ltd.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
25 January 2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
PDF version of transcript
Language
A language of the resource
English
Availability Online
Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain)
deposited
Catalogue ID
Non DC - ID for the Catalogue entry that relates to this entry
3455
Memory Project
Smashing Times