Smashing Times at Roots & Routes
It was an amazing experience to bring our re-emerging performer Fiona Bawn Thompson to the Roots & Routes Theatre Festival in Nicosia Cyprus. Fiona Bawn Thompson is an actor who is reactivating her career following a break to have her family. The experience of presenting the performance to an international audience was a very positive experience for the actor in terms of confidence building and networking opportunity. Attendance at the festival was also a very positive experience for the company as a whole. The festival was structed in a way that allowed for the companies present to have ongoing networking opportunities. As part of this process we had the opportunity to build strong connections and explore possible collaborations into the future.
As part of the festival Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality were delighted to present The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of World War II by award winning writers Mary Moynihan, Paul Kennedy and Fiona Bawn Thompson, at the Roots & Routes Theatre Festival, Nicosia, Cyprus. The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of World War II is a creative re-imagining of moments from the lives of women during World War II recalling stories of bravery, sacrifice and love amidst the horror of war, as women stood up against fascism and totalitarianism and refused to accept oppression. The performance takes place on Saturday 12 April 2025 at THOC APOTHIKES Theatre at 3pm, as part of the Theatre in Palm project, funded by Creative Europe.
The show is based on reimagined moments from the lives of women during World War II who stood up against oppression and fought for the dignity and rights of others, remembering the often-forgotten role played by ordinary yet extraordinary women from Europe in times of war and peace. The show is an interdisciplinary production featuring three plays and one film. The performance is followed by a post-show discussion with performer, Fiona Bawn-Thompson, and the producer, Freda Manweiler.
The performance on tour to Cyprus consists of:
Neus by Mary Moynihan. Performed by Fiona Bawn Thompson, directed by Bairbre Ni Chaoimh
Neus Català Pallejà from Spain, was a member of the United Socialist Party of Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War, an active collaborator with the French Resistance during World War II and the only living Spanish survivor of Ravensbrück, one of the largest concentration camps set up by the Nazis especially for women.
Maria Eugenia Jasińska by Mary Moynihan, Paul Kennedy and Fiona Bawn Thompson. Performed by Fiona Bawn Thompson, directed by Bairbre Ni Chaoimh.
Maria Eugenia Jasińska (1906-43) was from Łódź in Poland. Maria worked for the resistance during World War II and gave up her own life rather than ‘name names’.
Marta Hillers by Mary Moynihan, Paul Kennedy and Fiona Bawn Thompson. Performed by Fiona Bawn Thompson, directed by Bairbre Ni Chaoimh
Marta Hillers from Germany wrote her autobiography Eine Frau in Berlin (A Woman in Berlin) under the name ‘Anonyma’ (Anonymous), detailing her experiences of the last days of World War I as she and over one million other women were raped and abused by Allied soldiers of the Red Army.
Film Screening: Dolores Ibárruri, La Pasionaria, Spain by Mary Moynihan, Paul Kennedy and Fiona Bawn Thompson.
Performed by Margaret Toomey as Dolores, Ella Brady as child and Fiona Bawn Thompson and Romana Testacecca as women, directed by Mary Moynihan.
Dolores Ibárruri, or La Pasionaria (1895-1989), from Spain, was a revolutionary leader, political activist and Communist. Dolores was a crusader against Fascism during the Spanish Civil War and created the famous cry ‘They Shall Not Pass’. In this film, screened on stage, Dolores recalls her struggle for freedom and the achievement of women’s rights.
Mary Moynihan, writer, poet and Artistic Director of Smashing Times says ‘we are delighted to be touring The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of World War II to the Cyprus Theatre Festival. The show on tour features the stories of four extraordinary women from Europe – Marta Hillers from Germany, Maria Eugenia Jasińska from Poland and Neus Català Pallejà and Dolores Ibárruri, La Pasionaria, both from Spain. These are powerful women who stood up for equality and human rights and it is an honour to share their stories with our audiences across Europe’.
Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality are one of twelve partner organisations from the Creative Europe Project Theatre in Palm presenting a live show on tour to public audiences as part of the annual Cyprus theatre festival in Nicosia, Cyprus from 11 to 13 April 2025.
