What they said...
Eileen McClory is 'one of Northern Ireland's most exciting choreographers and dancers'
Gilly Campbell, Arts Council NI.
M E T A
"...this year’s panto incorporates a beautiful contemporary dance piece performed by Off The Rails Dance, a Belfast dance group, which adds a taste of something more serious to the show. This shouldn’t work but it does, a perfect blend of comedy and seriousness that compliments the show’s action."
Ciara Murphy, thepublicreviews.com
The Dutiful Wife
"Eileen McClory’s accessible choreography with small intimate gestures alongside big dramatic movements allows the audience to get inside the story and wrestle with the betrayal without having to wrestle with the meaning of the dance moves and their significance to the plot... Dancers Paula O’Reilly, Oona Doherty and Lucia Kickham supply huge commitment, strength and energy to their roles as they collaborate to convey their duty and their internal wrenching. They physically throw themselves at other members of the cast, walking up and down over each other as they ride the emotional rollercoaster... Stevie Prickett and Stephen Clarke embody the very model of a modern major politician. They put the ‘I’ into ‘We’, physically and verbally squashing
opportunities for dissent and retaking control of their wobbling personal narrative".
Alan Meban, Alan in Belfast.
“The Dutiful Wife is an extraordinary layered piece of dance theatre which works on multiple levels, taking the universal of notion of the ‘supportive little woman’ married in this instance, to a high profile politician. Its ambitious choreography underpins and interrogates the notion of both the wife’s role and her expected responsibility to titillate the public appetite for human interest stories and serve as a humanizing influence on a high profile figure. The Dutiful Wife is also at its most clever when it asks us questions – not least of which is the requirement to explore the notion of guilt by association when something goes wrong. Again for me, the sureness with which the work exposes the misogyny and double-standards that still exists in the world of politics where nothing less than infallibility is acceptable and journalists dictate the story, is to be treasured. There is a strong feminist voice emerging here within a very strong narrative but announced so deftly, poignantly and with a lightness of touch that an audience can’t fail to be engaged by what they experience on stage.”
Gillian Mitchell, Head of programming, The MAC, Belfast.
“With The Dutiful Wife, Off The Rails have found the perfect blend of story, choreography, character work and aesthetics. This quirky, thought provoking and moving piece has contemporary and accessible themes and is enhanced by a terrific soundtrack and lighting design. Even at a work in progress sharing,
the full throttle performances from the company of actors and dancers took the audience by storm.”
Micheal Duke, Tinderbox Theatre Company, Belfast.
“Really good work! It was rigorous, both physically and intellectually!”
Shannon Yee, Writer
"The Dutiful Wife captured my full attention and left me thinking about it for days. It was a fascinating topic brilliantly told in a reallywell crafted combination of text and physicality"
Leonie McDonagh, Artistic Director, ponydance.
S(3)nsored "Off the Rails Dance Theatre, led by Eileen McClory, present S(e)
nsored, a stunning piece of high-energy contemporary dance for the digital age, set against Liam Donaghy’s interactive, computer-generated backdrop".
Jane Coyle, Culture Ireland.
'Highly physical and extremely captivating I really enjoyed it!"
Audience member.