The Marian Hotel by Caitriona Cunningham

I am Patricia Byrne, Artistic Director of Sole Purpose Productions. We are a theatre company based in Derry, Northern Ireland. We have been making award winning theatre on social and public issues for 28 years. We have toured in Ireland, the UK and the USA.

We want to raise funds for a play called The Marian Hotel by Caitriona Cunningham. The play is based on the writer's lived experience of being in Marianvale mother and baby home in Newry, Northern Ireland. It is a searing portrayal of a dark time in Irish history with a 70s/80s soundtrack. The young women hold each other up with sharp, dark humour. The cast of eight female actors take the audience on a journey that is mesmerising and intensely moving. The Inquiry in the North of Ireland has just begun. This play is a call to all impacted to come forward and raise their voices so that they may never again be silenced and shamed for being human.

The play toured in 2024 across the north of Ireland. It sold out at 14 shows in 6 venues, extra shows and venues were booked due to public demand. There were rapturous standing ovations. The PR for the play in print, TV, radio and on social media reached nearly 50 million people across the UK and Ireland.

This is a very important play that touched so many people when it toured in 2024. It brought the subject of the mother and baby institutions out of a place of shame and secrecy into the open in the public arena. It enabled some people to talk about their experience for the first time. Tens of thousands of birth mothers, adoptees and families have been affected by these institutions across Ireland, the UK and further afield.

Audiences are asking when will it tour again and will it go to other parts of the UK. We were planning a tour in autumn this year, we had 11 venues in Ireland and i in Liverpool provisionally booked and ready to go, depending on funding.

We made many funding applications but were not successful, the funding situation is very difficult at the moment, so we had to cancel the tour. We have a small bit of funding to take the play to Liverpool in February 2026. This will cover travel. accommodation and cast and crew fees, but will not cover rehearsal costs. We will need to rehearse for two weeks, with eight actors and four production team. We pay Equity Union rates, the cost will be £10,000. This will also help to take the play to other venues.

If you can help in any way, to make a small or large donation, we will be so grateful. It will help this story to be told and help so many people who have been impacted to have their experiences validated, to lift the shame and secrecy and bring light back into their lives. A £10 donation would be very helpful.

Audience comments:

“I am a birth mother. The Marian Hotel brought back what it was like for me in the Mother and Baby home, it made me remember other girls who were there with me, it made me so emotional that I wanted to get up and scream and shout at the end . This play is so powerful that I want EVERYONE to see it, it is so real to life, to how it was for us all and it might help people to stop feeling shame. I loved it all. There are thousands of us who can’t speak up so the writer Caitriona did it for us.”

Anonymous, Birth Mother

"The Marian Hotel is more than just a play; it’s a cathartic experience, a call for acknowledgment, and a tribute to all the mothers, daughters, and children affected by this history. I left the theatre deeply moved, feeling as if a weight had lifted. The writer Caitriona has given us an unforgettable gift, one that will resonate with generations who carry the memories of Marianvale and other places like it.” Mark McCollum, adoptee

“I have seen the play in Newry, Derry and Belfast and each time was moved by the excellence of Caitríona's writing, Patricia's direction and the cast's brilliant performance. It has taken the hidden realities of mother and baby institutions, Magdalene Laundries and workhouses to a wide audience ... I think that this tour is the beginning.”

Professor Phil Scraton, Truth Recovery Design Panel