Pull Back the Curtain: Eimear Burns' Domestic

Following two years of full-house performances, Pull Back the Curtain returns next week with new theatre works written by some of Hong Kong's very best youth voices! This year, we have selected Eimear Burns' Domestic to be transformed into a full production. Our evening performances are now full-house, so book your tickets quickly here for the final few Saturday matinee performance seats!

My inspiration...
Inspiration to write my piece came from many sources. I moved to Hong Kong in August and my job here involves working with kids so naturally I have a lot of interaction with their nannies and helpers. All of whom have been bubbly warm and caring individuals who I grew rather fond of. Seeing them on Sunday in Central at church and on the beaches with their food, games, music and makeshift beauty salons made me even more fascinated by them. I was so impressed with how positive and upbeat they are, even through dealing with being over-worked, under appreciated and missing love ones and children back home. A standout moment for me was when, having forgotten a helpers name, I asked my student. Their helper had been with them for 2 years and they didn't know. This shocked me and all of this lead me to be inspired to write this piece, to show the lives of these women. 

The key issue...
The key issue I want to get across is that we should do more to get to know the women behind the role of helper or nanny. They should have a voice and an identity here in Hong Kong and maybe even a place to go on Sunday.

I grew up in an Irish household with two working parents so I've also always had nannies or child minders which is why the lives of domestic helpers resonate with me on a personal level. I think the play with resonate with young people here in Hong Kong as many of them have grown up with one of these ladies in their Household and I've even heard some teenagers refer to them as their second mum. 

Biggest challenges...
Trying to pen the colourful way the Filipino ladies and Indonesian ladies interact with each other. I wanted this to be as truthful as possible and as a result find myself eavesdropping on ladies conversations on the MTR. Strange, I know. Another challenge was trying to communicate the physical element of the play. I had paragraphs and paragraphs of stage directions and many times would go back, scrap it all and begin again. I had a strong image of the physical sequences but found it difficult to communicate at times. 

What I loved and learned...
To be honest the whole programme and process of writing was a never-ending learning cycle. Throughout the course we were provided with endless resources, tips and writing tools. We explored our written exercises practically and read extracts from a wide range of theatre, all of which made the daunting task of putting pen to paper that much easier. Writing has always been something I have shied but throughout the course I grew in confidence. The next challenge was my topic. I knew right from the beginning that I wanted to create a piece of theatre about domestic helpers but I was afraid that what I wrote wouldn't successfully communicate the message I wanted to convey or I would somehow be insensitive to the situation. So, personally I did a of research on domestic helpers here in Hong Kong so that was another great learning experience for myself which I hope to continue.