Drug users find their future in the theatre

Opening tonight in Dublin’s Smock Alley theatre, A Hundred Years Ago is a new play by RADE, a social project that helps drug users through immersion in the arts.

It’s the follow-up to their acclaimed 2012 show, The Last Ten Years.

Staging events from the Dublin lockout of 1913, A Hundred Years Ago features songs and ballads, and brings to life the Dublin spirit of that time. “It’s a mix of vaudeville and burlesque,” says Michael Egan, drama co-ordinator at RADE. “It’s bawdy and fun. While we depict the drudgery of life in the tenements, we also try to capture the humour that people in the city have always turned to.”