Director Tom Noone tells us about his short film Our Space, produced for Fíor Scéal Theatre.
Naas playwright and filmmaker Tom Noone has been getting creative during the current COVID-19 crisis. The prolific artists’ previous work includes sold out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe 2018 (Who Will Separate Us) and has garnered critical acclaim with I See You Tom Kennedy and Hens. Now he has begun work on a new series of short films which address themes of disability and Our Space is the first of five monologues being filmed by Noone which explore such issues. The proliferation of blithely comical videos making the rounds of social media these days has inspired Noone to bring some much gravity to the short film space with his relevant theme, which is profoundly delivered in a searing monologue performed by Tom McGrath.
“Short movies are the staple nowadays, and people have little patience and a very short attention span when it comes to social media,” Noone says. “So I wanted to create something meaningful and sentimental as well as a bit profound to escape from the hundreds of short farcical and sometimes silly pieces being thrown on social media since March by a host of theatres and actors.
“I have always felt that persons of disability and their issues have been hugely under-represented in theatres in Ireland. In fact the extent of this is in my opinion shameful. Local theatres and drama groups are the worst culprits. But the problem is national also. So after a number of years of involvement in theatre and some highly successful national and international productions I’ve decided to focus fully on issues involving disability.
“Our Space is the first of the films to explore this and it was sponsored by Naas Access and Disability Group. In less than a week it has been viewed 500 times and counting. With COVID restrictions it’s a difficult and almost impossible time for theatre practitioners. As a playwright the best outcome is short monologue pieces. Monologue works best as casting more than one is not feasible. This is a continuing process and I would especially love the assistance of any budding filmmakers out there and I’d love to work with those who have a disability.”
Our Space can viewed here…
