The Plays The Thing!

As part of the Ulster Cancer Foundation's (UCF) Think Pink! breast cancer awareness campaign, the charity has announced that the play, Unravelling the Ribbon will be performed in Belfast for the first time.
The play, by Irish writers Mary Kelly and Maureen White, is being brought to life by the Belvoir Players Drama Group and will run from Thursday 8th October – Saturday 10th October 2009.
It tells the touching story of three women who come together to help each other cope with the changes that breast cancer brings to their lives and the impact that it has on their families.
The play has three central characters - Rose, Lyndsey and Lola. Rose is a young mother struggling to come to terms with her breast cancer diagnosis.
Lyndsey is her 11-year-old daughter who thinks her life is over because she’s had a fight with her best friend and Lola, who had breast cancer five years ago, is having trouble letting go of her dead husband.
The play is very sensitively directed by Richard Mills, Artistic Director with Belvoir Players who has directed over 100 productions for this ambitious theatre company.
For Barbara Girvin, stage director for the Belvoir Players production, the play mirrors her own experiences when she was diagnosed with breast cancer just last year.
Barbara said: "I can really identify with the play. It is a very honest and sensitively written piece and I can relate so much to both the Rose and Lola characters.
"I shared their fears and worries on initial diagnosis and I love the way the play uses humour – which definitely helped me through some of the bad times like losing my hair.
"I was diagnosed on 11th June 2008 after experiencing a 'heavy' feeling at the side of my left breast.
"I just knew that something was wrong so I went to see my GP and after referral to the breast specialist I had a mastectomy followed by six sessions of chemotherapy and 25 sessions of radiotherapy.
"Treatment wasn't a very pleasant experience and I was constantly worrying about whether or not I would survive," she said.
"I would encourage everyone who has been touched by breast cancer to come and see the play," she continued.
"It gives a very honest account of what women and their families go through when breast cancer is diagnosed.
"A diagnosis of cancer is not the end of the world although it may seem so at the time - there is light at the end of the tunnel."
Tickets for Unravelling the Ribbon are available from Belvoir Players Studio Theatre, 94 Belvoir Drive, Belfast, BT8 7DT, Tel. 028 9049 1210 and cost £8 for adults and £6 concessions.
(BMcC/GK)