Trinity’s Department of Drama is preparing for one of its most important events in its calendar: The Debut Festival. Those with an interest in theatre who don’t study drama in College, myself included, may not be fully aware of what it really consists of beyond hearing vaguely about student works being put on in The Samuel Beckett Theatre around this time of year or seeing bake sales pop up in the Arts Block.
The festival is a showcase of work by final-year drama students that specialise in different areas of theatre and an opportunity to mount a professional level show that is, quite possibly, unlike anything they’ve worked on before, especially considering its large scale. This years advanced directing students, Annie Keegan, Gráinne Holmes Blumenthal, Ursula McGinn, Claudia Mannix, Richard Durning and Briony Morgan, give the distinct impression that, in working much more collaboratively than previous generations of Debut directors, there is a higher level of knowledge and buzz being generated around campus. All of the directors, with the exception of Mannix, spoke to The University Times, presenting a united and supportive front in such a stressful time.
When asked about how they’ve found the experience different from what they’ve done so far, the students reflect on how everything was at a smaller scale and reminisce more wisely about past experiences. Keegan jokes that when someone suggested bringing her first-year show she directed from DU Players to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, “the experience scared me away from directing for a solid two years … but here I am!”.
Already the productions come across as being a huge learning experience. Morgan notes that the first few times people were waiting for her to lead the way: “I didn’t know what to do but now I’m leaping on it, I’m like ‘no, this is my decision.’” Holmes Blumenthal had a similar experience, one that many aspiring directors can surely relate to: “My least favourite question to begin with was: ‘what’s your vision?’. And I’m like: ‘I don’t know, I’m getting there, I’ll have it eventually.’ I have it now, but the smaller details [at first] you’re like ‘I have no clue.’”
we still do talk about shows we saw back in first year. People do remember, especially in the course
The shows prompt the directors to work with people “from completely different skill sets, people who are more interested in the academic rather than the practical side and trying to balance all that”, as McGinn puts it. Holmes Blumenthal and Keegan had never even met their sound designer and lighting designer, respectively, before their first production meeting, a fact that highlights the inclusivity that the festival promotes. However, the group’s initial perceptions of the productions when they were starting out in college have not yet been lost on them either. As Keegan remembers: “When you’re in first year, it seems so glitzy.” Yet, for Keegan, this initial awe begins to lessen as you become gradually more and more involved in the Debut shows throughout your time in Trinity.
The scope of the work that they are doing is wide-reaching within the department. Morgan speaks about how the shows are talked about in lectures and seminars and that often someone in the Department of Drama will be involved in some capacity or will have gone to see the plays. Holmes Blumenthal remarks that “we still do talk about shows we saw back in first year. People do remember, especially in the course”.
Working as individuals on such important components of their degrees could lead some people to become isolated and protective over their work. But a strong element of this year’s directors was their willingness, and insistence, to do this as part of a team. Keegan notes how she gets the impression that when people from the department come “you’re comparing people’s shows to one another, and it’s a pretty common thing [that] people would ask to rank your favourite shows you saw in Debut.”
“We were just like ‘we don’t have the energy to pretend this is a competition so we’re not going to treat it like one’”, Keegan continues. There’s a level of maturity in how the sextet are handling their mammoth task collaboratively, something that is benefiting them all. They speak of the financial pressures they face but also the emotional support they can provide one another in their approach, especially as directors have not always worked in such tandem before. According to Morgan: “There’s a feeling that we’re trying to foster a legacy because that’s one of the big things we’ve pushed for as a group – to push it together as a festival rather than as six independent shows.”
More attention than usual was drawn to the fundraising component of the Debut Festival when the Deputy President of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and former Education Officer of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), Jack Leahy, shared a photo of the group’s bake sale on Facebook when campaigning in the Arts Block in preparation for USI’s annual demonstration in favour of a publicly funded higher education system. The post highlighted the confusion that some removed from the department see in having to raise money for degree-level performances. The directors are all incredibly understanding of the limitations the department faces in being critically underfunded and were quick to praise what it can do.
McGinn tells me that: “In the department’s defence, we are given €300 which is receipt-based, and essentially, we are only allowed to spend €800. So that leaves a gap of €500, if you would like.” Morgan also conveys passionately how “they’re not trying to suppress the money they’re trying to give us … they are so poorly funded and that’s becoming clearer every year. [They’re not saying it’s] not all we deserve. It’s all they can afford to give us”. This becomes even clearer when McGinn points out that “someone is out of pocket by €300 until the production is over” based on the current system that is in place. Its shortcomings are not lost on the directors, as Morgan says, while “they are trying to implement the idea that producing a show is part of working in the industry when you’re a full-time student with other courses and requirements and a home life, €500 is too much. I would get the idea having to raise €200, but €500 is a push”.
There’s a feeling that we’re trying to foster a legacy because that’s one of the big things we’ve pushed for as a group – to push it together as a festival rather than as six independent shows
Their collaborative approach has already aided in their tackling of this looming problem as I talk to them off the back of their recent successful event, The Debut Debs, the largest fundraising event that they’re aware of that has been used to raise funds for a Debut Festival. Keegan already can see a difference in their approach as she hopes “that it’s something they’ll do on a regular basis” and that “someone said to me that [the Debut Festival] is so much more coherent now because we’re all publicising as a group and not individual shows”.
As for the future, it may still be too early for them to predict, but the directors already have a sense of what they’ll take with them into the next stage of their careers. Durning says “it’s [been] more a personal developmental process so I can prove to myself that I can do it and have the confidence to try and do it again. To validate myself as an artist. To make something that I’m proud of and can stand behind”.
The huge opportunity they are being afforded is not lost on Keegan: “We’re not guaranteed that we’ll ever get a space like the Beckett essentially for nothing … it’ll be at least a while till we can do that again.” Finally, Durning offers a sage assessment that “theatre is such an ephemeral beast. It’s hard to have a grounding or a portfolio that will necessarily stand to you as everyone is constantly changing. And that’s part of the joy of it and what makes it so wonderful – but it’s also what makes it very hard to solidify”. Despite this, they all agree this is an experience that will stand to them for long to come.
A full programme of the productions can be found here.
