Emma Langford and Ann Blake chat to theatre-maker Róisín Stack about the ins and outs, and the ups and downs, of the creative process, the “stumbling blindly through the dark”. Langford, Blake, and Stack discuss the dynamic between performer and director in the rehearsal room, Stack’s play No Woman is an Island, and the importance of ‘the craic’ in making artistic work.

As well as theatre, Stack is a writer and arts manager. Based in the west of Ireland, her practice focuses on how people, knowingly or unknowingly, participate in political systems through personal, everyday choices. She uses outside/found text in new performance and writing contexts, and she is a vocal advocate for sustainable practice in the theatre sector, particularly in relation to independent artists.

Her most recent theatre work is No Woman Is An Island, an hour-long meditation on geographies of the Self. Written by and starring Stack and directed by Blake, the play maps the internal and external spaces in which we live our lives while walking a crooked line through cultural theories and histories of female solitude. The piece creates a space for audiences to consider the relationship between productivity and identity. You can find Blake here and on Instagram here.

You can listen to the Limerick Lady podcast episode #58 here.

The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance, and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and -losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and -losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker, and musician Ann Blake. The Limerick Lady is sponsored by Ormston House and supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper.

Image courtesy of the Limerick Lady Podcast.