Theatre maker Tracy Martin talks about her latest production, Once In A Lifetime, a new play that looks under the bonnet of a normal modern family, which features this September as part of the 2023 Dublin Fringe Festival.
Taking part in Dublin Fringe can be a fast turnaround for creating work. You apply with an idea in March and could be presenting that idea to an audience in September. You discover your own play at the same time your audience does. If a section is too long, you feel the audience shift in their seats, if you're holding their attention you can hear a pin drop and if you can get a panto gasp, you know you’re doing really well. The schedule makes for dynamic work and the knowledge that artists across the city are creating under the same constraints gives a celebratory feel to the opening of the festival.
Once In A Lifetime is my fifth original work. My first play Wrapped, premiered in Dublin Fringe in 2014, with the story of two young women whose decisions lead them to get caught up in a crime. Next came Harder Faster More, which looked at the sexualisation of women in the media. Coast then examined themes of isolation, and Dublin Will Show You How focused on Northside Inner City women living under the threat of gangland crime. I don’t think I intended all of my work to be rooted in social commentary on class, privilege and who gets access to what options in life. Once you start writing work with a political voice it’s very hard to turn that voice off again. I focus primarily on women’s stories, and when writing about the characters' lives, the elements of privilege and disadvantage are inescapable. I am always keen to examine the different societal pressures that bring tension and drama into people’s lives.
This time around I wanted to focus on what happens when on the surface, a family has all of the choices and privileges they can wish for.
Deborah Dickenson, Georgina McKevitt and Leah Moore
In Once In a Lifetime, married couple Tanya and Lorraine have it all - they’ve had the wedding, they’re extending the house, Tanya has a high-paying job, Lorraine is pregnant with twins and Lorraine’s teenage daughter Ciara is happy in school. A perfect modern family. But on the night we meet them we see the cracks under the surface.
Teenage Ciara and her best friend Sarah need the adults to be out for the night so Ciara can take an abortion pill. Their plan is interrupted by the early arrival home of Tanya and Lorraine.
I focus primarily on women's stories, and when writing about the characters' lives, the elements of privilege and disadvantage are inescapable.
Tensions rise as it becomes clear that it’s not only Ciara that’s under pressure; Tanya has gotten fired from her job as a defence lawyer specialising in getting sexual predators off the hook and Lorraine, seven months pregnant is trying to impress with stories of how she is helping a couple living in direct provision.
All of this is watched by Sarah who has a ringside seat to the family’s bickering. Sarah tries to get Ciara to tell her parents what she’s going through but Ciara insists they wouldn’t understand.
As Tanya drinks and Lorraine’s patience runs out the night climaxes into a cacophony of arguments where more secrets and lies are revealed.
Once In A Lifetime is at Project Arts Centre from September 8th – 11th, as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2023 - find out more here.
