Freefalling by Georgina Miller

A commission by Lime Tree Theatre | Belltable

Co-produced by Rough Magic and Lime Tree Theatre | Belltable

 

In 2021, the Lime Tree Theatre | Belltable commissioned the Limerick based actor and artist Georgina Miller to write a play. The resulting script was Freefalling, an autobiographical story of survival against the odds. It explores both the liberation of a body pushed to thrilling limits in the pursuit of adrenaline-fuelled experiences, and an imprisonment within that same body when it ceases to function as it should.  It is a true story based on the performer’s own lived experience.

 

Whilst travelling the world solo­—jumping out of planes, diving with sharks and generally living her best life—Georgina contracted a very rare auto-immune condition called Guillain Barré Syndrome, which led to an ascending paralysis of her body.  Stranded on the island of Samoa, she needed a ventilator before the paralysis reached her lungs—a ventilator that the tiny island didn’t have. To save her life, she would have to be evacuated by air to Australia. Moments before her plane landed, a massive earthquake struck, followed by a tsunami that wreaked havoc on the island and forced the plane to leave without her.

This is an incredible story told in an incredible way.  The play focuses on the events leading up to these dramatic moments and the determined efforts to get Georgina back on her feet.  Aerial harness is used as a narrative device throughout the show to great effect.  It captures the freedom and joy of living life to the full, and the restrictions of living life in a body that refuses to work.  The aerial device is not just used as spectacle, but as another character in the play—the forces beyond our control.  It’s an epic theatrical tale with a weighty subject, but told with lightness and humour.

The play was co-produced by Rough Magic Theatre Company and the Lime Tree Theatre| Belltable in the spring of 2023, previewing in Belltable and then opening for its world premiere in the Everyman, Cork as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival 2023. Garnering four-star reviews from The Guardian and the Irish Times, the play also had a hugely positive response from audiences.

 

The show will be re-staged at the Lime Tree Theatre in September 2024 ahead of a run in Draíocht, Blanchardstown as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival.

 

This project has been part-funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

 

Tá an tionscadal seo páirt-mhaoinithe ag an Roinn Turasóireachta, Cultúir, Ealaíon, Gaeltachta, Spóirt agus Meán.