Thanks to funding from Arts Council of Northern Ireland, we were able to spend 2 weeks in March 2021 researching and developing our production TRAGIK PLASTIK as part of our upcoming Off the Grid season of work.

In June 2021, we will be embarking on our 2nd stage of development as we prepare this innovative and visually striking production for a UK and European tour in 2022.

Tragik Plastik is an absurdist comedy nightmare which will be performed in site-specific locations and feature a stellar cast of ten Northern Irish performers. This next development stage is the debut project from Tinderbox’s Off the Grid programme, a series of performances and projects specifically committed to highlighting the effects of the climate crisis.

Off the Grid programme will:

  • Create work that focuses on the Environment and efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. Our projects will explore shared resources, recycling and efficient energy saving (light and sound) with production costs and manufacturing.
  • Create and tour performances in diverse Environments such as rural areas, community spaces and site-specific locations.
  • Have a specific focus on minimalist design and visual story-telling

We look forward to integrating our Off the Grid Programme into our creative practice as we begin to make ambitious projects which explore our present world and future, where individuals, communities and the environment work together in harmonious collaboration.

Tragik Plastik – Synopsis

Tragik Plastik tells the twisted tale of a coastal village terrorised by plastic sea creatures, the desperation of the local chippy (The Dolphin) to not have their secret ingredients revealed and the dreams of a local singer/songwriter with the hope of saving the world during the climate crisis.

Tragik Plastik is a physical theatre performance with a very sharp bite exploring our ignorance in dealing with the climate crisis and the hypocrisy of government structures and regulations.  Tragik Plastik is a surrealist comedy nightmare featuring a brilliant Northern Irish cast and directed by award winning writer, Patrick J O’Reilly.

Creator of Tragik Plastik Patrick J O’Reilly commented:

Tinderbox Theatre Company have embarked on a new adventure in creative practice for artists, participants and audiences in Northern Ireland. We will specifically focus on our responsibility as human beings to place ourselves and our environment as central priorities for all our artistic programmes. We aim to create performance that essentially relies on innovative story-telling in natural spaces with fewer resources. We want everyone to play a part in our adventure to create an artistic ecology that celebrates and fuses mental/physical health with our living space. This development week is the first of our projects to take place in a site-specific location and we aim to develop, rehearse and eventually produce Tragik Plastik on beaches across Northern Ireland.

Tragik Plastik  2nd stage development will take place from the 21st-25th June 2021.

For further information please contact:

Artistic Director: Patrick J O’Reilly – patrickj.oreilly@tinderbox.org.uk

Producer: Meg Magill – meg.magill@tinderbox.org.uk

Photography by Carrie Davenport

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