c21’s Creative Director Stephen Kelly, backed by the British Council’s Connections through Culture grant, arrived in Australia in June 2025 to collaborate with playwright Fleur Murphy at the National Celtic Festival in Portarlington. The brand-new piece of writing, created over the last six months, saw Stephen direct Australian actors for one week before they presented a rehearsed reading at the high-profile festival just outside Melbourne. Never Always Ever Was explores themes of legacy, migration, and climate change, connecting the coastal communities of Port Fairy (Australia) and Portaferry (Northern Ireland).
The reading received deep, moving audience feedback, and affirming the work’s emotional resonance, poetic language, and ability to provoke meaningful conversations around place and climate.