While the issue of drug use in Ireland is particularly prevalent at this point in time following the highly publicised death of Katie French last year as well as the constant media attention given to gang wars arising from the selling of illegal substances and government reports that suggest usage here is now at an all time high, Jenna say's the purpose of this production is, first and foremost, to provide a more candid view, one which approaches the subject from a number of perspectives without resorting to preaching or shock value.

"The spotlight placed on drugs by today's media sometimes appears only to aid their glamorisation. The current hype surrounding cocaine use is a prime example. Drugs are everywhere, but then again, they have always been around. It is though fair to say that they are now more talked about, more debated, and indeed easier to get hold of than ever before. You would be hard pressed to find someone without first hand experience of either personal drug use or drug use by someone close to them. On the one hand society is becoming increasingly liberal and open-minded: drug experimentation among teens is seen almost as a rite of passage into adulthood, on the other hand nets are closing in on drug dealers, drug users and traffickers: laws are becoming more rigid and prison sentences are de rigeur for the offender. Who decides where the blind eye will be turned and where it won't?

"Chasing The Dragon does not seek to preach about drug legislation and what is right or wrong, it doesn't turn a blind eye nor does it damn. What this production does do is present several points of view because somewhere amidst the addiction, the broken lives, the sex, the money and the excuses there is a decision to be made. The audience is both judge and jury to every character they encounter and in turn, to their own lives. Chasing The Dragon can only endeavour to give them a fair trial, it does not seek to make up other people's minds for them."

"The purpose of Chasing The Dragon is not to shock but to display a truth. There is very little shock value left in society today so to have approached the production from that angle would not have done the subject matter justice. In stripping each of the characters down to their very bones, in providing aural and visual stimulation through the use of recorded sound and image projections and in taking down the boundaries between stage and auditorium, the audience is compelled to watch, to listen and to understand the 'who', the 'what' and the 'why'. The compulsion does not come from graphic scenes of addicts shooting up but from the atmosphere and trust created between ensemble and audience to examine this story and what it says in the context of their own lives. If you look closely you'll find that we're all addicted to something, it doesn't matter how trivial that addiction may be.

"Chasing The Dragon does indeed deal with drugs and drug addiction, but in a broader sense it also speaks of relationships – be they family, business, social, sexual or otherwise – and the things these relationships can drive us to do. Power and control go hand in hand with drugs and wealth in today's world and Chasing The Dragon goes some way to explaining why."

Chasing The Dragon runs at the Half Moon Theatre until Friday, May 2, with shows taking place twice daily at 11AM and 8.30PM.

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