Prime Cut Productions Northern Ireland, East West Cente, Bosnia - Herzegovina and Mladinsko Theartre, Slovenia present

 

THE CONQUEST OF HAPPINESS

 

The Conquest of Happiness is a unique theatre event which had its world premiere at the UK City of Culture Derry/Londonderry in September 2013 at Ebrington Square and later on touring cities across Europe including Mostar, Sarajevo, Novi Sad, Rijeka, Ljubljana, Belfast... An international cast of artists from Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia - Herzegovina, Belgium, UK, Italy and Slovenia explored through music, dance and drama the illusive and tantalising possibility of happiness in our increasingly unhappy world. Can we be happy? The work was inspired by Bertrand Russell's famous essay on happiness, The Conquest of Happiness. It resulted in a multiartform large scale open air event which was supported by a community chorus in every city in which it was presented. 

 

Inspired by the writings of Bertrand Russell

Direction: Haris Pasovic, Emma Jordan

Choreography: Thomas Steyaert

Performers: Sasa Handzic, Mona Muratovic, Thomas Steyaert, Damjana Cerne, Zeljko Hrs, Cornelius Macarthy, Shane O'Reilly, Matthew Faris, Dermott Hickson and Patrick J O Reilly

Music: Neil Martin and Rod McVey

Light and scenography: Ciaran Bagnall

Costumes: Irma Saje and Vanja Ciraj

Sound technician: Enrico Fidone

Technical director: Gianluca Tomasella

Stage manager: Monica McNally

 

Special thanks to Christofer Simpson! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A co-production between three theatre companies – Prime Cut Productions Northern Ireland, East West Centar Bosnia-Herzegovina and Mladinsko Theatre Slovenia – The Conquest of Happiness opened to phenomenal reviews as part of the UK City of Culture 2013 celebrations in September. Receiving four stars from the Financial Times, The Independent and Belfast Telegraph, it was described as the “theatre event of 2013” by a senior BBC correspondent. This epic show surrounds the audience with a variety of military vehicles, immersing them in the performance and making them part of it as it plays out in breathtaking style some of the worst atrocities of the 20th and 21st centuries. Scenes included are from Bloody Sunday, the Holocaust, Cambodia’s Killing Fields, Pinochet’s Chile, 9/11 and the Siege of Sarajevo.

Following its highly acclaimed World Premiere in Derry~Londonderry the cast and crew experienced what can only be described as a highly ironic and unexpected event when when en route to Mostar to open Festival MESS, (Bosnia’s leading arts festival) four of the creative team were arrested at the George Best Belfast City Airport. A costume jacket purchased from a vintage store was found to have 12 live bullets sewn into its lining.The four, which included co-director Emma Jordan from Belfast’s Prime Cut Productions and the Belgian choreographer Thomas Steyaert, were released without charge and although shaken, the irony of the situation did not pass them by – The Conquest of Happiness is inspired by the work of world renowned pacifist, the late British Philosopher Bertrand Russell. A strong anti-war message is at the heart of the project and while this daring and epic show centres on a dynamic combination of first hand accounts and dramatisations of some of recent history’s most horrific acts of war, its focus is humanities capacity for endurance, love and generosity in even the most desperate circumstances.

The first show at the MESS Festival received a resounding standing ovation from the audience who watched the performance staged under Mostar Bridge infamously bombed during the Bosnian war and rebuilt as a symbol of unity and beauty. Unfortunately, the following night the company received a NATO weather warning and the second and final performance in Mostar was cancelled due to one of worst thunder and lighting storms in recent history.