Co Down director Emily Foran is part of a new wave of female writers, actors, directors and producers who are bringing fresh and unique ideas to theatre.
With a particular penchant for working on projects written “for women by women” she is keen to champion female voices and create work that challenges the gender norms placed on women in both the north and south of Ireland.
This is clear from the 31-year-old’s recent production of Little Women at The Lyric Theatre which was praised for its focus on the strong-willed nature of the four iconic March sisters as they attempt to break free from the confines of the perceived gender and societal expectations of the time.
“I love telling female-led stories and stories about women - there’s something so encouraging and empowering about it,” Emily, who was also nominated for Best Director at The Stage Debut Awards off the back of the show’s success, tells The Irish News.
“I’m incredibly privileged to have had so much recognition over the past year. To be nominated for The Stage awards was absolutely wild – it was a massive milestone in my career. I couldn’t get over it.
“But it just goes to show that there is a real appetite amongst audiences to hear and see women’s stories on stage.”
Emily’s catalogue of work spans across Ireland having worked with the likes of the The Lyric, The MAC, Prime Cut Productions, An Grianán Theatre in Letterkenny, The New Theatre, Dublin and Greenshoot Productions.
But she credits much of her success to her hometown of Rostrevor.
“I was always really interested in stories, and I think that stemmed from the fact there’s a lot of Irish mythology around where I’m from,” she explains.
“I loved the legends like Fionn mac Cumhaill and The Cloughmore Stone and the fairies living in The Fairy Glen.
“I remember my Dad taking me to the library to loan cassette tapes of the stories of Tír na nÓg and Cú Chulainn to listen to on long car journeys and I think that’s a big part of the reason that I now tell stories for a living.”
Emily explains that her career has enabled her to tell a wide range of stories - from a couple who visit a Belfast sex shop in the hopes of rekindling their romance in her short film Bad Vibes, to four women fighting for freedom and a future in Alice Malseed’s play The Half Moon.
“You have to be versatile in this job and embrace whatever opportunities and productions that come up,” she says.
“But I’m always drawn to new writing and collaborating with new playwrights – it brings me so much joy, I love exploring and trying to find the gems within a new script.
“And it’s really exciting to stage that for the first time and know that it’s the first version of it an audience will see.”
Although she admits that working within the arts is not without its challenges, particularly when it comes to funding.
Last year Equity, a trade union for the performing arts, reported that funding for the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI) has been cut by 40% in the last 10 years.
“Working in any creative field is never straightforward,” she says.
“But the massive ongoing challenge for all artists in the north is the lack of funding available for us to make work.
“Because of that lack of funding there’s a lack of opportunity so a lot of us are fighting for the few opportunities that do come up and we know that’s all part of the process, but it can be hard.
“But what I absolutely adore about being an artist from the north of Ireland is that despite all of these challenges the north is producing some of the best work in Ireland and the United Kingdom.
“Northern Irish theatre is at the top of its game, and I am so proud to see colleagues of mine putting out really high quality, refreshing and challenging work – it’s a joy to see.”
It’s for this reason that she encourages young theatre enthusiasts to “go and see as much theatre as you can”.
“You get so much inspiration from seeing the work of others and it’s a great way of figuring out what type of stories and what type of theatre you want to make,” says Emily.
“You need to work out what it is that you want to do and what’s going to make you happy – that’s the main thing.”
