As one of The Gaiety’s New Scottish Companies 2021, Siren Theatre have created an original verbatim piece of work from the words of Ayr residents and women in Scotland about what it means to exist as a woman or femme today.
In light of the Sarah Everard case, this cyber showcase and online protest brings women’s safety to the forefront, reframing hypervigilance and fear whilst walking home to ask: what are we missing out on, and what can we do to change this? TXT ME follows current events, an Ayr-based text-in poster campaign, and a series of workshops, exploring the missed potential of a world where women and femmes feel safe at night.
TXT ME was written and performed by multi-disciplinary Siren members Imogen Stirling (Sky Arts, Paisley Book Festival), Emma Lynne Harley (Leith Theatre, Royal Lyceum Theatre) and Lucy Harrower (Stellar Quines, Surge), with original music by Van Ives (BBC introducing, Wonderfools).
The cyber showcase features four stellar debut performances of original work from professional artists with an Ayr connection: Susan Aitken (comedy, music), Annaliese Broughton (spoken word), Jodie Rae (music), and Alexandra Shrinivas (spoken word, opera).
Our protest concludes with a panel discussion with STAR Centre’s Jess Hoar, Ayr Gaiety’s Laura Wooff, and Ayr College and Fearless Players’ Lydia Davidson, as well as a teaser for Siren’s next production.
Trigger warnings: mentions of sexual threat, violence and rape.
If you need support with matters relating to sexual violence please reach out:
STAR Centre provides support to all genders in the Ayrshire area: https://starcentreayrshire.org/
TXT Me also formed part of our Made In Ayr digital theatre festival (30 Aug – 5 Sep 2021).
