Drama and Theatre

Kenneth Branagh is famous for many things, not least for bringing Shakespeare to the big screen. A lesser known fact about the actor and director is that he was born in Belfast.

Born in 1960, Branagh spent the first seven years of his life in the north of the city. He grew up surrounded by a large extended family and a story-telling tradition that typified his parents’ generation. Read on  

Nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Schindler’s List, Liam Neeson needs no introduction.

William John Neeson was born into a working class Catholic family in Ballymena, County Antrim, on June 7, 1952. An only son of four children, his early ambition to become a butcher ended at the age of eleven, when his English teacher gave him the lead in a school play.

At the age of nine Neeson also began a successful career in amateur boxing at All Saints’ Youth Club. A broken nose in his teenage years contributed to his distinctive onstage presence. Read on  

Owen McCafferty’s play Scenes from the Big Picture has already attracted huge critical attention since its 2003 premiere at the National Theatre in London.

McCafferty’s play is being staged in Washington by Solas Nua (New Light) Theatre Company under the directorship of exciting young Belfast director Des Kennedy, from May 17- June 24. McCafferty will be in attendance at the opening weekend for a Q&A. Solas Nua specialise in both feted and esoteric works by contemporary artists in Ireland. With McCafferty’s play they’ve found a modern classic, a play which The Observer called ‘A Belfast version of Under Milk Wood’.

Des Kennedy is one of Northern Ireland’s most exciting young directors. From Belfast, Kennedy trained at Queen's University, Belfast and King’s College, USA. He works extensively with new writing and theatre for young people.  

He is now bringing Owen McCafferty’s play Scenes from the Big Picture to Washington, working closely with Tinderbox Theatre Company in Northern Ireland and Solas Nua in DC.
Read on...

Playwright Marie Jones is one of the most prolific and successful theatre artists ever to emerge from Northern Ireland. Her lively, often humorous, quick-fire, and highly theatrical work, has engendered popular and critical acclaim. Her play Stones in His Pockets, a wry take on the film industry in Ireland, won a ‘Best Comedy’ Olivier Award and was nominated for three Tonys.

Born in Belfast in 1951, Jones worked as an actress in the 1970s. Frustrated by the nature and scarcity of work for women in theatre, she and four other actresses founded their own company, Charabanc, in 1983.