As the proverb goes, you have to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes before you truly understand what kind of journey they are on and it is this idea that has inspired Helena Enright in her true to life, documentary plays.

Her second play, ‘Walking Away’—which features the testimonies of women who have experienced domestic violence from Limerick’s Adapt House—will begin a national tour this week.

“There is a lot to learn from other people’s stories. The art of storytelling, which was a huge part of our culture, is nearly gone from society because it has been replaced by television and cinema. There’s something really interesting about a live performance of real material. I was always fascinated by the way that people tell their stories,” she said.
Helena is co-founder of theatre company, Amalgamotion, with Ciarda Tobin.

“Ciarda had been working on a project with the women in Adapt House and she approached me to get involved. After the initial reading we began to explore the idea of all the actors and the audience being around tables. That kind of format shows as well, that we have a responsibility as a society to know what’s going on. Too often, we live in our own bubbles and are caught up in the economic instead of the social side of life,” she explained.

“The media is full of court cases, murders and other cases of domestic violence, particularly in the last two years so it is a very topical issue. Some of the statistics we used originally have increased. That makes the play more poignant. A lot more women are trapped and don’t know how to leave whereas the stories show that it is possible to do that. The Government needs to realise that ending domestic violence is a priority.”

The production had a hugely successful run in the Belltable last June and Helena said that the new show is much the same with some small improvements.

She has a degree in Public Administration from UL but is currently based in Exeter in the UK, where she is studying for a performance/practice PhD.

She got bitten by the theatre bug as a child as her parents were involved with the Cecilian Musical Society and she still remembers the novelty of theatre down to the “smell of the dressing rooms”.

She became interested in the ‘theatre of testimony’ or documentary theatre when doing a theatre MA in UCC, after spending several years working in the Gate Theatre.