Alumni of NUI Galway’s Drama and Theatre Studies will perform an original play, The Kinds of Sex You Might Have at College, as part of a limited national tour to Irish universities between September and October 2019 with stops currently scheduled in Galway, Limerick, Dundalk and Dun Laoghaire.
The play is a product of the Active Consent programme — a collaboration between NUI Galway’s School of Psychology and Drama and Theatre Studies. Working on the basis of implementing evidence-informed resources in mainstream settings, the team aims to reach large numbers using participatory methods of engagement in order to promote positive, active consent.
The Kinds of Sex You Might Have At College turns the Active Consent Programme’s core messages into a live theatrical event aimed at college-age audiences. It is a play about what you want, how you want it, if you want it and what happens when you don’t.
Performed by an energetic ensemble of actors who play multiple roles, this theatrical performance brings audiences through a range of sketches that dramatize sexual scenarios and viewpoints that you may encounter during college life.
Tackling experiences from across all genders, all relationships and all sexualities (or as many of them as we could fit into one hour ), The Kinds of Sex You Might Have At College combines humour, satire and drama to share diverse experiences. This play will equip audiences with a more proactive understanding of consent to apply to their future intimate encounters if they choose to have them.
Audiences should be advised that this performance contains language of a sexual nature and themes of sexual violence.
The production team includes Dr Charlotte McIvor (Director ), Jérémie Cyr-Cooke (Movement Director ), Mike O’Halloran (Technical Design ), and Megan O’Connor (Stage/Tour Manager ), alongside a four-person cast featuring Alice Keane, Michael Foley, Fiona Buckley and Gavin Friel, graduates of NUI Galway’s BA and MA programmes in Drama and Theatre Studies.
The Kinds of Sex You Might Have At College has been in development since 2014 in a process led by McIvor and was written collaboratively by multiple cohorts of Drama and Theatre Studies students over the years.
In addition to their core four-year funding from the Lifes2good Foundation, the Active Consent programme team were also recently awarded a three-year Social Innovation Fund Ireland Arts to Impact Fund grant to drive forward the creative arts part of their mission. Social Innovation Fund Ireland recognise the power of arts and culture to improve lives.
The Arts to Impact Fund aims to support the most innovative projects across the country that are using arts and culture as a means to create positive social impact in Ireland.
Dr Charlotte McIvor, Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Studies, says this groundbreaking theatre was created with young people for young people.
“We hope it empowers audiences to critically examine their own attitudes about sexuality and the way they communicate with partners concerning consent. We approach the subject unflinchingly in our treatment of assault, harassment and rape, but also with humour and optimism.
“This is because we hope our audiences leave better informed and prepared to act in terms of calling out unacceptable behaviours and attitudes and pursuing more mutually pleasurable and consensual sexual practices if they want to,” she said.
There will be three free performances open to the public and the NUI Galway campus community on 12 September (5PM ) and 13 September (1PM and 5PM ) at the O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance. Tickets are available on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ie/o/drama-and-theatre-studies-nui-galway-18754269314
