Sole Purpose Productions

In 1997 Patricia Byrne co-founded the Derry-based theatre company Sole Purpose Productions, seeking to explore human relationships, raise awareness of contemporary issues, and support social justice through theatre. To date, their plays have explored challenging topics around marginalised communities, domestic violence, addiction, gender politics, and more. Blinkered, a play about mental health and suicide, written by Patricia Byrne, was performed at ‘Origins’ the first Irish Theatre Festival in New York, 2019, where it won the Special Jury Prize. Patricia Byrne was awarded the Noel Walsh Freedom Award in 2012 and the Helen Harris Freedom Award in 2014 for her significant contributions to LGBTQ+ rights through theatre work with Sole Purpose Productions. In 2014, the Sole Purpose play Life and Love: Lesbian Style received the Eva Gore Booth Award for Best Female Performance at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, for which the playwright Hilary McCollum was also nominated for The Oscar Wilde Award for Best New Writing.

This archive contains photographs, leaflets, scripts, reports, and reviews from a variety of Sole Purpose plays, including: Snow White, the Remix; Without the Walls: A Greek tragedy about Policing; Life and Love: Lesbian Style, The Shopper and the Boy; Under the Carpet; Samara’s Shop; Blinkered; Mothers Out Front; and Don't Say a Word.