An immersive sensory performance by Galway-based Rosán Sensory Adventures
Interview by Linda Rooney and Frances Devlin-Glass
© Anita Murphy 2025
We caught up with Rosán creator and founder, Phillida Eves as she was about to air- freight a crate with the set and props prior to taking Antarctica! to the Big Umbrella Festival at Lincoln Centre, New York. Rosán has been running in Galway for 10 years. Phillida, a sensory artist and special needs teacher based in Galway, is passionate about sensory theatre and trained extensively in England and New York before establishing Rosán, developing high-quality productions for Ireland, and is now taking Antarctica! to the international stage. This production was initiated by an artists’ collective, who take ideas into the classroom, the result, an immersive sensory adventure created with the input from students at St Joseph’s Special School in Galway. It is the story of Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton and the sinking of his ship, the Endurance, on his transatlantic quest to Antarctica. It is a story of extreme conditions and survival through teamship. It is a conceptual hat trick for Phillida, combining her love of children’s theatre, sensory experience and a good adventure story.
© Anita Murphy 2025
A team of seven artists, one of whom is Phillida, and that giant crate will travel first to New. York for the Big Umbrella Festival for neurodiverse audiences and later to Sydney. Phillida plays Frank Hurley, notable Australian photographer and explorer, who accompanied the crew on Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. The sensory aspects, the visualisation of the expedition, requires props of atmospheric importance, hence the big wooden crate. Props include a model of the ship, an ice table with foldable legs and specially designed collapsible ice bergs.
Typically Rosán sensory theatre plays to very small audiences of 6 or 7 high needs children accompanied by their carers. It is anticipated that the New York and Sydney audiences will be around 40 and will include family groups. Normally productions are adapted to suit a high needs audience, Antarctica! however, has been adapted to cater to an inclusive mainstream audience. It features sumptuous visual imagery and lighting, dance and music will cue moments of jeopardy on the ice. Performances tend to be child-centred, and guided by the experiences of participants: Phillida mentioned a child who arrived in a ballet costume who performed her understanding centre-stage.
Antarctica! promises to be a truly immersive sensory experience. An adventure story told by professional actors and musicians. And there is the ice, real ice. And the children will be invited to experience it with their hands and arms. When Shackleton’s ship becomes trapped in pack ice and ultimately sinks, the audience, sees and hears the cracking of the ice and can touch it too.
© Anita Murphy 2025
Antarctica! was commissioned by Baboró International Arts Festival for children, through funding from the RTÉ Toy Show Fund. The international tour is supported by Culture Ireland. Performances will be in April at the Big Umbrella Festival for neurodiverse audiences at the Lincoln Centre before travelling to Australia for a two-week run at the Sydney Opera House starting on the 24 July. Phillida is no stranger to Australia and looks forward to visiting again.
Phillida Eves is a theatre professional based in Galway who directs immersive theatre catering to special needs young people. She is a teacher who has trained in sensory theatre and introduced innovative programmes in this area in Ireland.
Linda Rooney and Frances Devlin-Glass are members of the Tinteán editorial collective with an interest in theatre.
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