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Taking that negative and turning it into a positive, in this current climate it’s important,” O’Gorman told the Irish Post. Even though I was into drama so young, I didn't step foot into a theatre until I was sixteen. That was Live's Youth Theatre [in Newcastle]. It was a whole different world. I never felt like... I could go to the theatre? With the Theatre Royal, too. I only went there recently, even though I walked past it every single day. It didn't feel for people like me. The theatre world is still so white. I saw Ankles at the Northern Stage and there were only nine non-white people in the audience. Having over a hundred chairs in there, and having nine non-white people in the audience is good. Alphabetti is staging a lot more work by non-white people. We want people to take up space [through SoreSlap].

We liked this idea, thinking about whether we are really guilty, or if the world makes people do things to make them guilty. Or, are we our behaviour? Are we our actions? Rhian: [Papi and I] met at university. We put on a show called Poetry Slap, which was spoken word and physical theatre, and was very much about female identity and male identity, race, and sexuality. People seemed to really connect with that because they hadn't seen that story being told yet - not just "man-meets-woman-and-falls-in-love". So, that was a new thing for a lot of the young, queer artists that we knew at the time. Papi Jeovani and Rhian Jade are Northeast-based artists and founders of SoreSlap theatre. BroadwayWorld grabs a moment with them after one of their performances to ask them about staging complex narratives, making theatre more inclusive, and the ethos behind their company.

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The narrative follows Ailish and Marcus, both incarcerated and reflecting on what brought them to their current situation. As you encounter their reality, there's a poetic quality to the script that adds an element of ethereal escapism. Moments of the play take your breath away. And the Global Majority artists are there too - there are artists to champion and to stage. What has SoreSlap offered you, Rhian? We chose the slogan for this project as communities were inspired by its empowering and unifying message, with one participant saying, “It says it all”. We want to thank Richy and Taurayne for coining the now iconic slogan and supporting our project. The piece from SoreSlap Theatre will run at the Newcastle upon Tyne venue from 15 November – 3 December 2022. Irish were often young single men who rounded off a day’s hard graft with a session at the pub. Their reputation was one of hard-working, hard-drinking, hard-fighting men. Many people went to bed early in those days,probably not long after 9pm, they did not want a man coming home pissed and banging on the door at 11pm. It’s really rather understandable.

SoreSlap Theatre aims to inspire its audiences and create a safe space where anyone can enjoy theatre to make them stop, laugh, and think. Set in the not-too-distant future, where toxic masculinity is rewarded and femininity is seen as weak, worlds collide when two people are confined to neighbouring prison cells. Only when they are given no other option, do they find that their lives are more similar than they could have ever imagined. Writing in the Guardian, Professor Steve Bruce from the University of Aberdeen issued a plea to readers: “If No Irish signs were as common as is asserted, there should be plenty of them remaining in private collections, local archives and the like. Twenty years ago I tried without success to find one and had to fake one for a book cover. Can we please see some?”

How have you both found practicing your art in Newcastle? Especially Papi, as a Global Majority artist? Have you found you have both had to make space for yourself through SoreSlap? Some people don’t understand where the message originally came from, so it’s about educating people.’ Papi: We've been doing that since we met. When doing spoken word poetry, Rhian spoke about sexuality and being a woman, and I about race, so we intertwined them with each other. I don't like it when people compare oppressions - it doesn't work like that.