PRESS
EVEN THE DEVIL HAS DEMONS BY CAITLIN BARNETT
DANCE ART JOURNAL, FEB 2024
Words by Katie Hagan.
How often do you think about our political leaders? Not so much about their policies or how some of them are devastatingly out-of-touch with reality, but the role their backgrounds play in defining them, specifically the boarding schools they attended?
This question is the basis of Caitlin Barnett Company’s new work Even The Devil Has Demons, which I saw at Streatham Space Project last Friday...
COMRADES IN THE DARK
THE RECS UK, APRIL 2022
By Steve Coats-Dennis
Comrades In The Dark is a contemporary dance work that The Recs rates as unmissable. Find out why.
Contemporary dance seems perhaps an unusual medium to act as a timely reminder of a dark moment of our not-so-distant history. And yet this is the aim of Comrades In The Dark, choreographed by Caitlin Barnett, which is performing at Brixton House as part of their Housemates Festival.
The Anglo-British politics of almost 41 years ago are the catalyst to this highly physical piece. Some people will remember Bobby Sands from the events at the time – as the then-leader of the IRA, who died aged 27 at the Maze Prison in Belfast following 66 days of a hunger strike to restore his political status as a prisoner. Others may know of this moment of history through Steve McQueen’s unflinching debut film, Hunger...
THE STORY OF BOBBY SANDS TOLD THROUGH CONTEMPORARY DANCE
THE IRISH WORLD, APRIL 2022
By David Hennessy.
The hunger strike of Bobby Sands has inspired a display of contemporary dance that can be seen in London this week.
Comrades In The Dark by Caitlin Barnett is described as an exhilarating and visceral portrayal of one man’s attempt to maintain his identity told through poetry, dance and Irish music.
The piece features as part of Brixton House (formerly known as Oval House)’s inaugural Housemates Festival, a two-week event which showcases a mix of live theatre, comedy, spoken word and dance...
POWERFUL... EXTREMELY EMOTIONAL
BOBBY SANDS TRUST, SEPT 2021
The Irish premiere of a contemporary dance, inspired by the writings of Bobby Sands and resistance to oppression, was staged in the Devenish Complex in West Belfast on Wednesday, 22 September, sponsored by Féile an Phobail. Communities Minister Deirde Hargey was introduced by Féile director, Kevin Gamble. She spoke about the importance of the arts and public peformances and how the Corona Virus pandemic had devastated the arts community.
Comrades in the Dark received a standing ovation and prolonged applause from the audience, many of whom had travelled from outside Belfast for the event...
BELFAST PREMIERE TONIGHT FOR DANCE PERFORMANCE INSPIRED BY BOBBY SANDS
ANDERSONTOWN NEWS, SEPT 2021
By James McCarthy
A dance performance inspired by hunger striker Bobby Sands’ poetry will have its Irish premiere tonight (22 September) in the Devenish.
'Comrades in the Dark' was conceived by London-based choreographer Caitlin Barnett who says she was moved to come up with the piece after watching the film Hunger.
“I was looking for inspiration for a brief that I had been given and my partner who is half Irish suggested I look at the film Hunger,” she said. ...