Liverpool Irish Festival Presents Body And Blood

Body & Blood is a new play that explores a buried cultural history – arranged marriages in Ireland. Inspired by the writer’s grandmother who had an arranged marriage, Body & Blood, by Lorraine Mullaney, is a dark comedy that tackles a tough subject with humour and live music.

It’s 1956, and young Aileen comes to London looking for her sister, who fled Ireland to escape an arranged marriage to an elderly farmer “with a face like the Turin shroud”. But instead of finding her sister, Aileen finds a new life of freedom and possibilities. Will Aileen choose this new life or return to Ireland and make the sacrifices required to stay true to her roots? And will she discover why her Uncle Colm refuses to return home?

Body & Blood explores the conflicts and culture clash that result from migration and the pull of traditional Irish values, highlighting how far Ireland has come since the 1950s.