ALMOST ten years ago, Mirjana Rendulic left her life in Croatia and came to Ireland. She evolved a career as an actress and writer and will soon be on RTE screens this Autumn in a new four part drama, ‘Amber’.
Next week we can see her on stage at Lunchtime Theatre in the Savoy on Thursday August 29 (1pm and 6pm) and Friday 30, 1pm in her own work, ‘Broken Promise Land’.
It’s an interesting piece, a study of a young immigrant here, Tea (pronounced Thaya) who works as an exotic dancer. The Irish Times and Sunday Times have given it rave reviews.
“It is the story of a young girl from Croatia who embarks an a quest for an American education,’ the soft-spoken Rendulic says.”There’s a lot in ‘Broken Promise Land’ of the characters she meets along the way to achieve in a dream…and how far a person would go to achieve it. Young emigrants found in her situation are quite often described as victims – if you hear of a girl in that situation, working in the underworld, you often suppose a set of circumstances”.
Rendulic is clear about her own life feeding into the play, drawing on experiences as an au pair in Britain, having travelled, her decade here and of course, there is a fictional element. She credits director Aoife Spillane-Hinks with shaping the final work to where it is today: “Her guiding me was invaluable”.
Tea arrives in Ireland of the Celtic Tiger, when many immigrants were coming here. Her mindset is “very much about watching US television growing up, the Beverly Hills of 92010 and she dreams of going to Berkelee College in California.
“Her arrival in Ireland is a culture shock, a reality shock”.
Reader, fear not a tale solely from the dark as we are promised humour and frankness to leaven the rough of a living earned gyrating for strangers.
Book at www.limericktheatre.com for 1pm shows Thursday 29 and Friday 30 and 6pm show Thursday 29.
