The hidden lives of letter writers

Everyman Theatre writer-in-residence Carmel Winters is seeking letters for a unique Cork storytelling project.

It’s been said that there’s a book in everyone. Whatever about the veracity of that notion, there is certainly a letter in everyone – or, more precisely, a letter stored away as a keepsake or just gathering dust in an attic. The Everyman Theatre is seeking personal messages and letters for a unique storytelling project, ‘Dear Cork.’ This county-wide project is being run by the theatre with its writer-in-residence, Carmel Winters, and Cork County Council. The aim is to unearth and animate the hidden wealth of stories of Cork by inviting the public to take part.

As Winters says: “We believe there are thousands of such stories living in bottom drawers and bureaus, in boxes all over Cork and further afield. We invite the public to become an adventurer in this quest by searching out a letter with a story that deserves to be told and sending it to us.”

Letters sent to the Everyman will be read by Winters and artistic director of the theatre, Michael Barker-Caven. A selection of the stories in the letters will inspire a story-telling project. Also, a display of the letters will be available for the public with participants’ need for privacy fully respected.

Speaking about the genesis of the project, Barker-Caven says: “We wanted to find a project that is locally based and about local stories. There is huge importance attached to stories in people’s lives. The stories that matter can be small family stories that are actually massive to the family and yet they’re hidden. People would never say they have an amazing story as the letters containing them often get lost or are hidden away. But people often say something in a letter or recount an experience that could be classed as a journey of hope or a wish or an ambition. There could be a trauma written about in a letter. But also, something joyous could be contained in a letter. We are interested in the experience of people coming to Cork and leaving the city and county over the centuries, right up to today.”

Barker-Caven doesn’t want people dismissing their letters as uninteresting or non-dramatic. “We’re saying to people that we’ll decide if a story has meaning. That’s our job.”

He adds that the Everyman will find a way of dramatising the stories selected “in ways that are absolutely about the integrity of the story. We will bring the stories back to life.

“Obviously, we won’t disclose autobiographical details of the families involved. What we’re interested in is the story and its ability to communicate to a wide range of people who don’t need to know the people behind it.”

People of any age can take part. “The letters they send in don’t have to come from one hundred years ago. They could send in an email that they received four days ago. It’s about communication and the idea that these stories could disappear if someone doesn’t engage with them.”

Already, letters are being sent in for the project. “Some time in the autumn, we will start to formalise and publicise what we’re doing with the letters. It may be that we will dramatise the stories in the theatre. Whatever comes out of it, the project will take its final form on the stage of the Everyman.”

Letters can be submitted to local libraries or sent to the Everyman. They can be photographed or scanned and then emailed to the Everyman at [e-mail].

* Entry forms can be downloaded from www.everymancork.com/dearcork