An Interview With Karis Kelly About Debut Play ‘Consumed’

Writer Karis Kelly’s debut professional play Consumed arrives on tour following its win at the Women’s Prize for Playwriting in 2022. A darkly comic and powerful look at trauma passed down through generations, the play brings four Northern Irish women together for a 90th birthday party – but all is far from celebratory. Touching on mental health, repression, and the need to confront the past, Consumed draws on Karis’s own experiences and research into Northern Irish identity. Here, she shares more about the personal journey behind the play – and what audiences can expect from the UK tour.

How would you describe Consumed?

Consumed is a pitch black comedy, which starts as a domestic, kitchen-sink drama, transforming itself into a surreal piece of magical realism. Eileen, Gilly, Jenny and Muireann are reunited for Eileen’s 90th birthday party in the family home in Bangor, Northern Ireland.

Through the reunion of these four women across four generations, the story explores the divisions within families, the trauma passed down through the generations in the North of Ireland, as well as attitudes towards violence and mental health.

Can you discuss the development process? What inspired you to write this type of story?

Consumed was written within the confines of lockdown after I was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It took me until my 30s to understand what was going on, but essentially, OCD can serve as a mechanism of control when you feel powerless. I decided to investigate where my OCD had originated, and I started by looking at my ancestry. Northern Ireland has one of the highest prevalence of OCD in Europe, with 20% of the population on anti-anxiety meds. I’d also battled with an eating disorder in the past and discovered that this can be yet another way to gain a sense of control. Through my research, I went on an interesting journey around Northern Irish trans-generational trauma; how that has impacted on my mental health today, and what is passed down through genes.

Consumed is a product of this research – showing how the four generations of women experience this trauma, which is all brought to the fore through a 90th birthday party.

The play also looks at the change in the genes that occurs due to starvation and the long-ranging effect of conflict across generations. When I first wrote the play five years ago, what I was exploring felt distant and nebulous. Now, it feels more pertinent than ever. Ultimately the play urges us to consider – how do we end cycles of violence? How do we find hope amidst repeated trauma, and more importantly, how do we find our ways back to each other? This is a question that feels incredibly important for audiences today, and so, although the play is primarily about Northern Ireland, I feel it has a real global appeal.

Consumed won the Women’s Prize for Playwriting in 2022. What did that achievement mean to you?

The world! When I won the award, I had been seriously considering quitting writing and retraining.  It was in the depths of lockdown where the government was telling ballerinas to retrain in tech. Winning the award was the boost of validation I needed, right at the time I needed it the most. It has opened so many doors for me, and honestly, elevated my career immeasurably. I’d been writing for 14 years, but self-producing, so this is my first professional production, which feels incredible, and very pivotal for my career.

The play includes a lot of dark humour. Why was that important to you in telling this story?

It’s how Northern Irish people function. I think the darkest humour arises out of trauma as a coping mechanism. My mum always says “You’ve got to laugh, haven’t you?”, and I think the rest of that sentence probably goes “otherwise you’ll cry!” People in the North are so quick-witted and hilarious and love to “sleg” each other (tease) and that’ll usually be done in a playful, funny fashion, so you have to keep your wits about you. So to be authentic to Northern Ireland, although the play handles quite dark subject matter, it was always going to be done with dark humour and wit!

What did you hope to illuminate about intergenerational family dynamics in the play?

That repression and not talking about things doesn’t mean those difficult feelings go away, they just get buried within us and passed down to the next generation. Famed psychiatrist Gabor Maté says “children swim in their parent’s subconscious”. The body really keeps the score, and that trauma comes out in obsessive and addictive behaviours and mental ill health.

The main aim of this play was to encourage people to feel all the difficult feelings and talk. We have to feel it to heal it, after all. The North has a real knack of turning away from anything related to the troubles, or wanting to face difficult truths. It was a coping mechanism, which was needed to survive, but now is the time to look at the thing we all refuse to look at. We have to confront what’s going on if we want to heal it.

What are you most looking forward to bringing this show on tour around the UK?

I just can’t wait to see the audience response. I write plays for the audience. I’m so looking forward to discovering the parts they laugh at, where they feel uncomfortable, and where they’re moved. I can’t wait to be in amongst the audience experiencing it with them. It’ll be a huge learning curve for me, as this’ll be the largest scale audience I’ve ever had my work in front of!

What do you hope audiences take away from Consumed?

I hope they laugh, I hope they’re moved, I hope all the mothers and daughters in the room feel seen and validated. The characters are all incredibly cruel to each other, but who hasn’t been cruel to a family member? I hope that it sparks conversations around trauma and addiction and mental ill health. I hope that it leads people to research trans-generational trauma. Perhaps they’ll be able to better make sense of themselves!

What is your relationship to Paines Plough?

Funnily enough, I interned for Paines Plough during uni back in 2008, as I hugely admired them as a company, so this is a real full circle moment. I couldn’t ask for a better company to launch my professional career. The talent that they’ve showcased over the years – I feel I am in incredible company. It’s a dream come true.

Do you have any local links to any of the venues where Consumed will perform?

My very religious Irish godmother lives in Guildford, I’ve been joking that I hope she continues to speak to me after seeing Consumed. She doesn’t like swearing, so she’s in for a nasty surprise! Caoimhe Farren, who plays Jenny lives in Birmingham, so is looking forward to performing on her home turf when in Coventry. I was also learning Irish this year, online and a number of the participants were from Sheffield, so I’m hoping to have a little Irish class reunion at one of the shows.

Consumed runs at Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse, Sheffield between Wednesday 24 September and Saturday 11 October. Tickets are on sale now from sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.

Image: Rachel McCarthy