Dublin Theatre Festival 2018 / Project Arts Centre 2018 / Mermaid Arts Centre 2018

‘I didn’t want to get involved.' Anonymous Neighbour

The Bystander is an intriguing and adventurous production by multi-award winning dance theatre innovators Junk Ensemble. Taking its name from the
‘bystander effect’ phenomenon of the murder of Kitty Genovese outside her apartment in New York City in 1964, whereby thirty-eight witnesses saw or heard the attack, yet none of them called for help, The Bystander brings to the surface some of the murkier and complex behaviours of contemporary society.

Performed by an internationally acclaimed cast and drawing on the expertise of a psychologist, The Bystander gets under the skin of how we behave as individuals and groups. What makes us help someone and what makes us simply stand by?

‘The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.' Albert Einstein