C alto
Four stars
Growing up in Belfast during the 1970s, when the Troubles were at their height, was a traumatic time for Ruairi Conaghan. Especially when his uncle, a judge, was assassinated on his doorstep by gunmen. By the time of the 1984 Brighton bombing, when a device exploded in the hotel then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was staying in during the Conservative Party conference; Conaghan was set on escaping for an actor’s life in London.
When he is asked to play the man responsible for the bombing in a brand new play that, unlike the victims of violence, might have another life, the experience of meeting him opens up a long buried wound for Conaghan. What follows in Patrick O’Kane’s production is part memoir, part exorcism, as Conaghan squares up to his own past and a brush with near death in a fearless performance that doesn’t flinch from the damage done. As Conaghan comes to terms with old ghosts, his powerful and deeply personal purging reveals a matter of life and death that comes straight from the heart.
C alto until 25th August, 2.30pm
The List, August 2024
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