SURVIVORS - a rehearsed, staged reading in English. Directed by Henrik Norman. A world premiere written by Copenhagen-based Irish writer Billy O’Shea. A ghost story, a love story. A joy to watch.

Daniel sits working in the operations room manning the radar in Helsingborg, overseeing sea traffic between Sweden and Denmark, when a familiar, cheery voice enters the room. It’s Maggie…

Maggie?? When Daniel first met Maggie, - funny, flirty, feisty Maggie - over drinks on board the MS Estonia, he thought it was just a casual hook up.

Maggie teases and makes us laugh. It’s fun. But both Daniel and Maggie it turns out have secrets… What was she keeping in her cabin that night? And then things changed. Forever. When disaster strikes, who can we rely on? Can we trust a stranger? Can we trust ourselves? And all these years later, why is Daniel the only one who can hear her, see her…Who really are the survivors? In the end, we must hope, love will conquer all.
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Survivors is a play that asks searching questions about what it means to be a human being today. The play is an entirely fictional account, set against the tragic background of the events of 28 September 1994 when the ferry MS Estonia sank in the Baltic Sea, en route from Tallinn to Stockholm, with the loss of 852 lives. 461 of the dead were Swedish.

The setting is also very loosely based on the VTS coastal radar stations that have been established along the Sound (Öresund) between Sweden and Denmark. The station is given an imaginary location outside the harbour of Helsingborg in Sweden, from where the Danish town of Helsingör (Elsinore) and ‘Hamlet’s Castle’ (Kronborg) can be seen on the opposite shore.

For those who wish, after the play, at 21:00 hrs there will be a panel debate about issues covered in the play SURVIVORS and the possibility to ask questions. Present will be a clinical professional specialised in trauma and PTSD, as well as the playwright, the director and cast.

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On stage: Alun Thomas (UK), Vanessa Poole (UK) & introducing Roger LeBlanc Jr (US)
Director: Henrik Norman
Light & Sound Designer: Andrew Christiansen
Stage manager: E. Kelessidi
Logistics & support: Kevin Benn
Soundscape & live music: Specially composed by Basic Baby
Projection & V/O recording: Rikosechett
Props: Robin Gott

This performance is a one-time event. A rehearsed, staged reading in English in the hands of an experienced director.

*The date of performance, 28 September 2024, has been specifically chosen to respectfully mark the passing of 30 years to the day, since the sinking of the MS Estonia, the worst peacetime disaster involving a European passenger ship since the Titanic sank in 1912.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT Billy O’Shea is an established Irish writer who has lived in Copenhagen since 1981. After studying at Trinity College and working for some years at the Irish national television station RTE, Billy took to the road and travelled around Europe, surviving on odd jobs and busking with his guitar. When he first arrived in Copenhagen in the middle of an icy winter, he was penniless, slept on the streets. While working as a bar musician he learned Danish, eventually gained a Master’s degree from the University of Copenhagen, and for the past 25 years has worked as a writer and translator. Billy has written four successful novels, two plays and a number of short stories, one of which won the 2020 short story award of the Danish Science Fiction Association.

This staged reading of SURVIVORS on 28 September 2024 is the world premiere of the script.

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