A new drama documentary premieres at Hammersmith Irish Cultural Centre at 8pm on Friday 28 February.
The Knitting Ring shows a group of older Irish women going on a drama workshop journey. We see the women going back in time. Using their reminiscences, true histories and ancestor’s stories, the women build characters and storylines and witness the power of drama to thrill, move and inspire.
The film is a touching portrayal of Irish women, their warmth, their humour, their bonds and their tremendous resilience to carry on.
The film captures the rehearsals at The Irish Cultural Centre and then we see the women go under the lights in the film studio at The Lyric Theatre Hammersmith.
The drama workshops for the project, were led by theatre director/writer Rosalind Scanlon, Artistic Director, Irish Repertory Theatre Co UK. Rosalind been leading theatre projects with older Irish women for many years, giving them the opportunity to act and perform on stage, often for the very first time in their lives. She has produced several productions with older Irish women, including Lovin’ Daniel about the fans of Daniel O Donnell, Rouge Rifles and Revolvers about the forgotten heroines of Ireland’s Easter Rising in 1916; Wash House Stories , about the women who used the public Wash-House in Fulham in the 1960s; and The Road to Knock about a group of women going to see the vision of the Virgin Mary in 1890. This is first time Rosalind and older Irish women’s group have participated in a documentary drama.
