TWO FINGERS UP
Gina Donnelly and Seon Simpson
Belfast/Dublin
Poster Art, Branding and Photography
Getting a play to Dublin Fringe Festival
"Dublin Fringe Festival supports the development and presentation of new work by Irish and International artists of vision, nurturing artistic ambition"
Dublin Fringe Festival is a sixteen day arts festival that has been held annually in Dublin since 1995. The events range from theatre, music and performance art with the focus on work that pushes boundaries with their bold ideas and hard hitting themes.
Two Fingers Up Created by Gina Donnelly and Seon Simpson recounts the embarrassment and hilarity of three childhood friend's teenage years in school through the eyes of their now twenty something lives and deals with self discovery, awkward conversations and cringe worthy health education classes in school. The comedic take on taboo subject matters and rebellious nature of the play make Two Fingers Up feel right at home at the Dublin Fringe Festival.
"Stick two fingers up and come with us on a journey back to your teenage self, to being scundered, to self-discovery, to abstinence- only sex education, to Northern Ireland"
When the project began there had been a single performance of the show but the script was in the process of being rewritten and the cast had not yet been found. We discussed the play, it's themes and the idea of hitting back at what they felt was a lack of quality education that young woman receive in Northern Ireland.
"The play is about female sexuality and self discovery but it is also about rebelling against a country which has made women quiet about their sexuality and not given them proper education or information and the ways in which that ignorance on all sides leads to shame in women and the abuse and assault of women at the hands of men who don't respect their right to be sexual in their own terms"
We shared political and feminist inspiration art work and to begin with we wanted something you would see on a protest sign.
The play was accepted to the Fringe and the audition process began. My initial concepts were based on the work we had discussed, protest themes, female body painterly textures.
Feedback from the clients and the marketing team from the Fringe was positive however we mutually felt like it did not represent the theme of Northern Ireland and decided to come up with more concepts. I wanted to keep the protest and rebellious theme of the play within the design and look at more photographic outcomes to save on time.
Ai Weiwei's 'Study of Perspective' photography series was a major inspiration.
We choose the Parliment buildings as a location for our photoshoot.
