"We have this one an' only chance. An' in all the kingdom of Ireland aren't we - us women - aren't we damned lucky to be getting out of it?" Set in 1850, Belfast Girls tells the story of five fierce young women who face their dark pasts on a ship bound for Australia, as they leave Belfast in search of a better life. Confined in close quarters in the belly of the ship, they embark on a tumultuous sea journey as they sail away from their homeland. Secrets are revealed, enemies made, and it becomes clear that no matter where they go, there is no escaping the past. An award-winning feminist play based on a true piece of largely untold Irish history Jaki McCarrick's Belfast Girls follows the story of five fierce young Irish women aboard the Inchinnan travelling from Belfast to Australia during the Famine in the desperate hope of a new life abroad. But the further from home they voyage the more each of them comes to realise they cannot escape their pasts, nor the seemingly universal subjugation of their gender. Over the long ship journey the women form intense bonds, and life-changing secrets are revealed, personal and political. Age Suitability: 14+ Warnings: Suggestion of Sexual Violence WRITTEN BY Jaki McCarrick DIRECTED BY Rhiann Jeffrey LIGHTING DESIGN Sophie Cassidy SET AND COSTUME DESIGN Sinead O'Donnell-Carey CAST: Debra Hill, Ebby O'Toole-Acheampong, Fiona Keenan O'Brien, Leah Rossiter, Vicky Allen ABOUT THE COMPANY Quintessence Theatre Founded in 2015 as the inaugural Theatre Company-in-Residence of the An T�in Arts Centre, Dundalk, Quintessence dedicates itself to exploring the human condition through the most theatrical means available to us: the actor themselves, their imagination, and embracing the live relationship between actor and audience. Quintessence has staged 22 productions, including Cracks (National Tour 2019), Dracula (Winner of Broadway World Ireland Best New Play 2018/19), The Star of Chester's Lane (Drogheda Arts Festival Commission Winner 2018; National Tour 2020) and The Curious Case of Albert Cashier: Lincoln's 'Lady' Soldier (National Tour in Autumn 2023). An T�in Arts Centre An T�in Arts Centre is the largest Arts Centre in the Northeast of Ireland, housing a 350-seater theatre, a 55-seater studio theatre, a gallery, workshop spaces and artist studios. Jaki McCarrick Belfast Girls is written by Jaki McCarrick, an award-winning writer from Dundalk. The play was developed at the National Theatre London and was shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the 2014 BBC Tony Doyle Award. It premiered in Chicago in May 2015 to much critical acclaim and has since been staged widely internationally, with recent premieres in Australia, Sweden and New York. Jaki has recently completed the screen adaptation of the play.

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