As one of The Gaiety’s New Scottish Companies 2021, Siren Theatre has 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).
The 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/
Rape Crisis Scotland: https://www.rapecrisisscotland.org.uk/
You can watch TXT Me : Cyber Showcase and Online Protest as part of the Made In Ayr Digital Festival for a donation of your choice at thegaiety.co.uk between 2 – 5 Sept.
Also featured is Mouthful – the result of a year of workshops that took place throughout the pandemic with the South Ayrshire Champions Board and Hold Out Your Hand performed by the Ayr Gaiety Young Company (Ensemble) with a professional creative team.
