Irish writer-director Orla Murphy and her company Figure 8 have won a Lustrum Award for her debut play Remember to Breathe at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
The play, which premiered at the Tiger Dublin Fringe in 2015, deals with issues of Irish emigration, father-daughter relationships, earthquakes, and the Irish economic crisis and was described by judges as "a stunning, sophisticated, captivating piece of theatre."
Set in a swimming pool in New Zealand and going backwards and forwards in time to Ireland pre and post boom, Remember to Breathe explores the ongoing 'aftershocks' of world events via the split psyche of Maeve, a recent economic emigrant to New Zealand, her enthusiastic swimming coach Doreen and the father she left behind.
The Lustrum judging panel, which included Belfast filmmaker Mark Cousins, also praised the performances. "Truly mesmerising performances by Liz Fitzgibbon, Julie Sharkey and David Heap," they said.
"Remember to Breathe is a very worthy winner of a Lustrum Award as one of our favourite moments of this year's Edinburgh Fringe"
Orla Murphy and the cast and crew of Remember to Breath were presented with the award on Thursday night in Edinburgh
Playwright and director Orla Murphy said, "Remember to Breathe began at Tiger Dublin Fringe last year and we are here with support from Culture Ireland. The cast and crew have been superb to work with and we are very much looking forward to bringing the award and play home to tour in September."
Remember to Breath can be seen at the following venues: September 21 The Dock, Carrick on Shannon, September 22, The Moat, Naas, September 23 Mermaid arts Bray, September 24, Belltable, Limerick, September 27, Ballina Arts Centre, September 28, Roscommon Arts Centre, September 29, Town Hall Galway, October 4th Watergate Kilkenny, and October 5, Garter Lane, Waterford
