Butterflies and Bones: The Casement Project
In 1916, British peer Roger Casement was hanged in Pentonville Prison.
Having achieved international recognition for exposing human rights abuses in the rubber trade of the Congo and of the Amazon, his support for Irish nationalism during the First World War was a scandal for the Empire that had knighted him.
His sex with men was even more contentious both then and for many years after his death.
A hundred years later, Butterflies and Bones uses Casement’s legacy to address today’s questions of belonging and becoming: Who gets to be in the national body? How could that national body move?
This new work, performed by six dancers, is part of The Casement Project, a larger choreography of bodies and ideas by Fearghus Ó Conchúir addressing the legacy of 1916, and is a major project in the national and international Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme and also part of 14-18 NOW, the UK’s First World War Centenary Cultural Programme.
Click here for more of The Casement Project
Running time: 70 min
Warning: Contains nudity
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VIDEO: Rehearsals in December 2015 by DRAFF magazine
Concept and Choreography Fearghus Ó Conchúir
Designer Ciaran O’Melia
Composer and Sound Designer Alma Kelliher
Performers Mikel Aristegui, Theo Clinkard, Philip Connaughton, Bernadette Iglich, Matthew Morris, Liv O’Donoghue
Fearghus Ó Conchúir is a Project Artist, an initiative of Project Arts Centre
The Casement Project is produced by Fearghus Ó Conchúir in association with Project Arts Centre.
It is a National Project supported by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, and its London presentation is supported by Culture Ireland, as part of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme. It is co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW: WW1 Centenary Art Commissions, supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, and by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. It is made possible by the generosity of Dr R. Martin Chávez and is supported by Dance Ireland and The Place.
Butterflies and Bones is presented as part of Project 50, a season of work celebrating 50 years of Project Arts Centre.
