Girls Can't Whistle
By Maebh and James Butler
Age range
13 – 15, 16 +
Cast size
Under 10
Approx. running time
30 – 60 mins
Gender breakdown
Male: 3
Female: 5
Female: 5
Setting
Mainly empty stage with minimal props to suggest a small variety of settings.
Note
A contemporary drama for a medium sized group.
First performance
Stage 51 Youth Theatre Group Knocklyon, Dublin, April 2018.
Synopsis
The Transition Year girls have to attend a symposium in Trinity on equality but for some strange reason the boys get to spend the day in The Leprechaun Museum. Is this the best way in 2018 to celebrate the centenary of the vote for women in Ireland and to mark the election of Constance Markievicz as our first woman T.D.?
Síofra, Niamh and Grace definitely wouldn’t agree but Aideen is more concerned with organising a new WhatsApp group for the party she’s planning than she is in getting involved in the presentation the girls are making about that ‘Countess mad yoke with the gun.’ And Breda has her work cut out trying to get her friend Conor to admit how an incident on that trip to The Leprechaun Museum has impacted negatively on Fionn. But Aideen’s party turns out to be the best way for Conor to learn all about equality and for Fionn to realise it’s okay for a boy to show his true feelings.
The play is a light-hearted approach to a serious issue and is one that allows teenage girls to acknowledge the heroic struggles others made for equality while at the same time shining a light on the attitudes in society that might hinder their own future progress.
Síofra, Niamh and Grace definitely wouldn’t agree but Aideen is more concerned with organising a new WhatsApp group for the party she’s planning than she is in getting involved in the presentation the girls are making about that ‘Countess mad yoke with the gun.’ And Breda has her work cut out trying to get her friend Conor to admit how an incident on that trip to The Leprechaun Museum has impacted negatively on Fionn. But Aideen’s party turns out to be the best way for Conor to learn all about equality and for Fionn to realise it’s okay for a boy to show his true feelings.
The play is a light-hearted approach to a serious issue and is one that allows teenage girls to acknowledge the heroic struggles others made for equality while at the same time shining a light on the attitudes in society that might hinder their own future progress.