McCafferty marks 25th anniversary of Good Friday Agreement

Published: 1 March 2023
Reporter: Michael Quinn

Poster image for Owen McCafferty's Agreement Credit: Lyric Theatre, Belfast
Rufus Wright, Owen McCafferty, Andrea Irvine, Patrick O'Kane, Richard Croxford, Ronan Leahy, Dan Gordon and Packy Lee Credit: Lyric Theatre, Belfast
Jimmy Fay, Patrick O'Kane, Andrea Irvine, Owen McCafferty, Charlie Westerna and Packy Lee Credit: Lyric Theatre, Belfast

A major new play by Owen McCafferty is to bring the political negotiations that led to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and paved the way towards peace in Northern Ireland after 30 years of sectarian violence to the stage.

Agreement is set in the final days and hours of negotiations as key players from Northern Ireland’s political parties and the British and Irish governments raced to meet a looming deadline under the stewardship of American Senator George Mitchell, conscious that time was running out and that “every word, every movement, every stare means something”.

The cast includes Richard Croxford as Mitchell, Dan Gordon as the SDLP’s John Hume, Pack Lee as Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, and Patrick O’Kane as Ulster Unionist David Trimble. Irish Taoiseach will be played by Ronan Leahy and British PM Tony Blair by Rufus Wright, with Andrea Irvine as then Secretary of State, Mo Mowlam.

Commissioned by the Michael Grandage Company, Agreement will be directed by Charlotte Westenra, with a set design by Conor Murphy, lighting by Mary Tumelty, sound design by Kate Marlais and video design by Eoin Robinson.

Agreement opens at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre March 25 and runs until April 22.

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  • Agreement - Owen McCafferty (Lyric Theatre)

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