ON Wednesday May 19th, BBC N.Ireland's Newsline programme previewed a new play set on a Tyrone mushroom farm. The play entitled "Darkie" by Damien Gorman had its world première in the Belfast Institute for Further and Higher Education in East Belfast.
The play tries to highlight the hostility encountered by immigrant workers and asylum seekers while working alongside local people - in this case it is Bosnian workers on a Tyrone mushroom farm.
The news preview had scenes of mushroom pickers and packers working alongside each other, conveying a sense of impending racial and cultural tensions erupting. The playwright says that he is hoping to get a message across to the audience and hopefully people leaving the theatre will have a changed perspective.
Stalkerwould love to hear from anyone who makes it to the show who might fancy reviewing the play.
It has to be the first time that there's been any facsimile of, never mind actual, commercial mushroom picking done in East Belfast. In this instance the old luvvie injunction "break a leg" would be better left unsaid – rather just hope the show went well!
