FUTURE PRODUCTIONS
Big Telly Theatre Company presents.....
The Haunting of Helena Blunden
This project began with the story of Helena Blunden, a Belfast mill worker who died aged 16 under suspicious circumstances in 1912. The eldest daughter of a Tyrone woman and a Kilkenny man, it was said that Helena had been born in Ireland but brought up in England and was passionate about the romanticism of Yeats’' poetry, the wit of Shaw's plays and the raucous songs of the London music halls. An accomplished singer and dancer, she had ambitions to become a professional entertainer before her life was cut tragically short. Helena's story has gained almost cult status on the internet, fuelled by rumours of haunting at the place of her death. There's even a Ghostwatch Site (Irelandseye.com), where visitors are invited to view a live broadcast by web camera from a room in the mill and to report if they witness unusual, strange events. The web camera has been running 24 hours a day, seven days a week and has attracted some three million visitors. There are archive newspaper reviews of Helena Blunden's singing talent and a century old recording of Helena Blunden singing Pie Jesu which was made on 24 January 1912, just three months before her tragic death.
Headline news in the tabloids, Helena Blunden has earned Belfast the title of "Britain's creepiest corner", knocking several reality stars off the front page. Of course close research reveals it to be an elaborate hoax, and so Helena Blunden is a symbol of our times - an invention of the technological age, she has become Ireland's most famous ghost, a ghost celebrity, an Emperor’s New Clothes parable for today.
A highly theatrical thriller told through music and song, The Haunting of Helena Blunden reveals how the world of the living is mixed up with the world of the dead; it explores how our preoccupation with the past obscures our potential to envision the future. The piece gets to the heart of why we need stories, why even cynics shiver when ghost stories are told, and why we are fascinated by the supernatural.
The combination of a fascinating story, the exposé of the hoax, the twists and turns of a supernatural thriller, and the potential of music to make emotional connections, create a unique opportunity for a truly sensational piece of theatre.
Written by Paul Boyd & Bernie McGill; Directed by Zoë Seaton
Touring throughout Ireland in Spring 2010
REVIEWS
"A rip-roaring piece of physical theatre... HUGELY ENTERTAINING... a glossy production which looks great!"
The Stage, Puckoon, Feb 09
"Once again, the director Zoe Seaton demonstrates that theatre can be inventive and intelligent without neglecting its fundamental duty to entertain."
Sunday Times, Bog People, Sept 07
"Much of the enjoyment comes through the truthful ensemble performances... The perfect timing of their final exchange sends the audience out into the night beaming with satisfaction."
Irish Times, The Country Boy, Feb 07
