Tenx9

December 9th 2018 was dull, wet & cold but in Belfast’s Accidental Theatre there was warmth & cheer with true stories on JUSTICE as part of the NI Human Rights Festival: Conor Houston with a family tragedy; Malachí O’Doherty & the bureaucracy of Swiss justice; Margaret McClory & the injustice of school punishment; Paul Hutchinson - an egg, the school hard man & Lord of the Flies. One or two well used F-words. Paul is your host.

Five stories from our first tenx9 in Derry at Sandinos bar & what an eclectic gathering: Delaware’s Casey Aspin who knows the place where she feels at home; Cork’s Richard O’Leary who was a tourist in Derry in 1969; Belfast’s Caroline Orr who knew that Nanny Orr’s home was no picnic; nomad Dearbhaille Bradley who carried her home on her back & Eliza MacCafferty who knows there’s no place like home.

Here are two stories from our evening at the Black Box when the theme was Belfast: Paul Hutchinson plays a dark game of hide & seek while Norman Meharry’s family are the envy of the street as they (attempt to) head off to the Isle of Man.

Carlo Gébler told this story at our fundraising collaboration with Fighting Words Belfast on 22 November 2018. The theme was Sink or Swim.

Three stories from our evening in the plush Titanic Hotel helping raise funds for Fighting Words Belfast on the theme Sink or Swim: Jennie Brown who made a bold teenage choice, Heather Hanna who now has a skinny-dipping story & Glenn Patterson who sank himself on television. Pádraig & Paul are your hosts.

Four stories, two events & a marvellous selection of accents. From an event with a group in Glasgow when the theme was Gifts: John Purves on the gift of laughter & Tracy LaMar on the gift of a Great-grandmother. Plus two more stories from our London Fear night: Heather Johnston who was lost in Crete & Ashleigh Arnott and the tale of a lost snake.

In a micro-brewery in Southwark on Hallowe’en night, nine people told true stories of Fear. Here are six of them: Afua who was too afraid to go home; Emma who has overcome (kinda) her terror of blood; Ida who was afraid the Home Office had come knocking; Fuzz who had more fears than he knew what to do with; Helena who feared she would never see her 30th birthday; Becca who fought her fears but knows her limits; Johanna is your London host.

A bonus story from regular contributor Malachi O’Doherty recorded at the Black Box on the theme Care. He got more laughs than he expected.

Three more stories from three more first-timers on the theme Care recorded on October 17 2018: Lydia Searle who cared for children who cared for her; Catherine Hunter the rookie physio looking for a shoulder that wasn’t there; Róisín Ireland who went for a diagnosis in the aftermath of St Patrick’s Day celebrations & Padraig has some tips on getting your friends to the podium.

The theme was CARE, it was a full house & here are four stories from that memorable evening Oct 17 2018 - they were all first-timers in the Black Box: Neil Mullan who took two people to a party thinking it would be a cake walk; Norman Meharry who made a friend of a stone-loving girl in school; Jo Dowell who shared the story of her life in the care system; Rosie Killick the reluctant barista who really didn’t care. Padraig & Paul are your hosts.