Freerein Theatre

28/09/2022

STRIKE! by Tracy Ryan tells the story of the 1984-87 Dunnes Stores Anti-Apartheid strike.

London and Dublin performances are confirmed but we need additional funds to take it out to Poole, Liverpool, and potentially Norwich, Coventry, Belfast and Derry.

Spare £1 (or more if you can!) and push us that little bit closer our fundraising target.

£1 = £2 thanks to an grant that matches every donation up £25,000.

If every follower gave £1, we'd raise over £2,000!

➡️ www.tinyurl.com/support-strike

Thank you for your support and thank you to everyone who has already given so generously.

22/03/2022

20/03/2022

Maggie O’Kane reports on conditions under apartheid in South Africa and how Dunnes Stores workers ended up on strike in protest.

19/03/2022

ARDENT'S CALL TO ACTION! We have just 72 hours to hit our Big Give target. It's ambitious; but not impossible! People power will make this production happen.
Spare just £1 then like and share this post. That's it. Give a quid and spread the word.
tinyurl.com/support-strike
"South Africa is like a pint of Guinness, where the white sits on top of the black"
Ni**od Sejake joined the Dunnes strikers on the picket line in the early days of the strike. Sejake’s knowledge and experience as a black South African trade union organiser helped the strikers understand the plight of black South Africans.
In 2013, the strikers visited Sejake’s family for the first time while they were in South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s funeral. The Irish Times reported their visit, and striker Karen Gearon summed up Sejake’s importance to their cause: “We kept going because of Ni**od”

Photo Derek Speirs

ARDENT'S CALL TO ACTION! We have just 72 hours to hit our Big Give target. It's ambitious; but not impossible! People power will make this production happen.

Spare just £1 then like and share this post. That's it. Give a quid and spread the word.

tinyurl.com/support-strike

"South Africa is like a pint of Guinness, where the white sits on top of the black"

Ni**od Sejake joined the Dunnes strikers on the picket line in the early days of the strike. Sejake’s knowledge and experience as a black South African trade union organiser helped the strikers understand the plight of black South Africans.

In 2013, the strikers visited Sejake’s family for the first time while they were in South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s funeral. The Irish Times reported their visit, and striker Karen Gearon summed up Sejake’s importance to their cause: “We kept going because of Ni**od”



Photo Derek Speirs

18/03/2022

Thank you everyone for your generous support so far! It has been a real honour to share the story of Strikers and their stance in the 1980s against apartheid in South Africa. They showed us then what international looked like and continue to inspire today.

Support Ardent Theatre Company tour Strike! and create an educational resource on the action. CHIP IN A QUID:
tinyurl.com/support-strike

Mandate Trade Union Unite the Union, Republic of Ireland Irish Congress of Trade Unions

2019 marked the 35th Anniversary of the Dunnes Stores Anti-Apartheid strike. To mark the occasion a rehearsed reading of Tracy Ryan's STRIKE! took place at the Liberty Hall Theatre in Dublin as part of a 2-day celebration organised by Mandate Trade Union

As the actors read out the names of each striker, the real strikers stood up in the audience. It was a powerful, moving moment.

In 2023, we're staging a full production in London, on tour and in Dublin. We can't do it without the generous support of our funders and donors.

Please help us to tell their story. Chip in a quid and it gets doubled thanks to the generosity of actor Ian McKellen.

CHIP IN A QUID:
tinyurl.com/support-strike

Photo (LtoR) Liz Deasy, Bernadette McAliskey, Mary Manning, Karen Gearon, Cathryn O’Reilly and Michelle (Sherlock now) Gavin.

Photo © www.rollingnews.ie

16/03/2022

It was on their return to , after they had been thrown out of South Africa, that Union Organiser named the Strikers the 'Most Dangerous Shop Workers in the theWorld!' Please support Ardent Theatre Company in raising the funds to tell the inspirational story of the Dunnes Store Workers Anti Apartheid Strike 1984 - 1987! #

Strikers travel to South Africa only to be refused entry.

15/03/2022

Only 7 days to go until our appeal ends to tell the story of 'the most dangerous shop workers in the world!'
tinyurl.com/support-strike

Check out this short trailer from a play reading of Tracy Ryan's STRIKE directed by Kate Saxon and filmed at the Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith in July 2021.

In 2023, we plan to produce the full play in London for 4-weeks followed by a national tour that ends in Dublin.

You can help make that happen. Thanks to actor Ian McKellen, any donation you make will be doubled!
tinyurl.com/support-strike



Mandate Trade Union Unite the Union, Republic of Ireland

13/03/2022

Day 6 of Ardent Theatre Company campaign to match a generous donation by Ian McKellan to get Strike! on in England and Ireland. All donations are so appreciated in these difficult days.

Click here for more info and to donate: tinyurl.com/support-strike

STRIKE! tells the extraordinary story of the Dunnes Store Anti-Apartheid strike that took place in Dublin 1984-87 when a group of 11 young shop workers took a stand against oppression in South Africa. Our aim is to raise funds for a production and education resource to share this story more widely.....