Safelight

Reading with Chris Moran

Duration: 1.5 hours in total including 30 mins Q&A

John finds a shoebox of photos from the early 2000s. The photos were taken by John's brother Jamie, a gay arts student who died at a cruising site in 2003. They're full of faces and places that John doesn't recognise – John realizes he never knew his brother at all. John decides to recreate Jamie's photos in modern day Dublin, where he meets Lucas, a queer Brazilian unhappy with life in Dublin. But when their project is interrupted by a sudden outbreak of violence, John and Lucas realise they are not looking at the same city.

Superimposing Dublin's past and present, Safelight is a new play about memory, rising violence, and the limits of empathy, performed by an Irish and a Brazilian actor.

This reading is supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature Small Grants scheme. Initial development of Safelight took place in 2024 at the Irish Queer Archive with support from the The Arts Council and Pavilion Theatre Dún Laoghaire Studio Residency. Further development in 2025 was supported by Backstage Longford ACTIVATE Residency. Excerpts were shown in 2026 at the Scene+Heard Festival and TalentLAB Festival at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg. Special thanks to Photo Museum Ireland, Brian Teeling, and Seán Kissane (IMMA).

We would be delighted if you could join us for this rehearsed reading and the conversation that follows, hosted by poet Rafael Mendes.