Fringe benefits: Spotlight gives Northern Irish shows room to grow

Karis Kelly, an award-winning playwright from Northern Ireland, knows the feeling. The 37-year-old has one of her plays running at the giant arts festival for the first time this year and knows it’s important not only to sell tickets in Edinburgh, but also to make the connections that can lead to it being performed in other cities in the UK and abroad.

Fortunately, Karis’ play Consumed – a “twisted comedy” examining trans-generational trauma among four generations of Northern Irish women from a family in Bangor – is already making waves. Having won the Women’s Prize for Playwrighting in 2022, it has earned overwhelmingly positive reviews in its first days at the Fringe and its month-long run at Edinburgh’s 300-seat Traverse theatre is almost sold out.

But what happens when the Fringe is over? In the case of Consumed, its chances of being performed and toured elsewhere are being boosted by its inclusion in a National Lottery-funded scheme called Spotlight on Theatre and Dance from Northern Ireland. Now in its seventh year, the scheme provides participants with a high-profile Fringe showcase that puts their work in front of arts programmers and producers from around the world.

The showcase will be held at Edinburgh’s Dance Base National Centre for Dance on Tuesday 19th August 2025. Karis will give an 8-minute presentation about Consumed to a room of movers and shakers; the kind of international delegates who attend the Fringe to pick up hot new shows they can stage or tour in their own territories. The other productions selected for this year’s Spotlight showcase are Anthem for Dissatisfaction by Gina Donnelly and Shame Show by Colm McCready and Fergus Wachala-Kelly.

Karis, who lives in Bangor, but grew up in London after her Catholic father and Protestant mother left Northern Ireland during the Troubles, is optimistic her play will resonate with audiences across the world. She said, “It explores identity and the idea of growing up in London and moving back to Northern Ireland. There are so many places in the world where the Irish diaspora has settled that I think there’s a fantastic opportunity for the show to travel and have an impact.”

Karis would love to tour Consumed in America – “because Irish Americans hold their identity tightly” – as well as Canada and Australia which have significant Irish communities.

Niamh Flanagan, Executive Director at Theatre and Dance NI, said the works selected for this year’s Spotlight “exemplify the innovation, ambition, and artistic excellence that define Northern Ireland’s creative sector”.

She added, “Over the years we’ve built up particularly good relationships with events such as the Adelaide and Melbourne festivals and the San Francisco International Arts Festival. We’re constantly trying to extend our network of contacts so that work included in the Spotlight on Theatre and Dance from Northern Ireland have the best chance of being picked up.

Proof of the Spotlight’s effectiveness can be found in the list of artists and companies from Northern Ireland who have used the Fringe showcase as a springboard to international success. For example, Green and Blue by Kabosh Theatre Company has toured the UK, Ireland, Canada, and the USA. Hard to Be Soft: A Belfast Prayer by Oona Doherty was voted The Guardian’s top dance show of 2019 and has toured widely to cities including New York, Paris, and Rome.

Shows selected to be part of the Spotlight on Theatre and Dance from Northern Ireland are also given funding to allow key members of the creative team to attend the festival. Karis said, “I’m using [the funding] to come to the event and meet as many people as possible after they’ve seen the show. The Spotlight gives you the opportunity to extend the life of your current production and the inspiration to create future work.”

8th August 2025