Review

The Alternative – where does the power lie, who knows best, will anyone ask let alone listen? (Fishamble’s A Play For Ireland at Lyric Theatre until Sunday 13 October)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 10, 2019, 11:34 am

| Readers 760

Oisín Kearney and Michael Patrick’s playful counterfactual uses referendum concepts and lexicon – familiar from both Scotland’s indyref and the EU vote – to open up a conversation about who knows what is best for the people of Ireland, whether those who represent us actually listen to our views before making decisions, and ultimately where power lies in a society swayed by soundbite.

DUPed – defining the problem is only the first step (Accidental Theatre until Saturday 30 March) #ImagineBelfast

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 27, 2019, 11:28 pm

| Readers 1084

A playwright from Portadown, but now living in Dundee, John McCann wonders why the people around him aren’t aware of the “shitberg” of nonsense spoken by politicians in Northern Ireland, rhetoric that “in any normal functioning democracy would have cost someone their job”.

The Front Runner – Gary Hart’s campaign implosion and the fall out on the women around him – has much changed in 30 years?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 20, 2019, 9:00 am

| Readers 574

When should a politician’s private life impact their public campaign? In this film, while the replay of the 1987 editorial and political conversations around the investigations into Gary Hart’s personal life are interesting, and the mobile phone and early Apple Macintosh props are fun to revisit, it’s the invasion of privacy of young women involved with married politicians and the seeming continued absence of editorial protection that are perhaps most disturbing to watch thirty years later.

Hear My Voice – a cinematic companion piece to Colin Davidson’s Silent Testimony

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 11, 2018, 7:31 pm

| Readers 822

Hear My Voice is a cinematic companion piece to Colin Davidson’s Silent Testimony, a 2015 exhibition of 18 portraits of people who suffered loss during the local conflict, developed in conjunction with the WAVE Trauma Centre. The paintings are back in the Ulster Museum until Sunday 22 April and the exhibition is well worth a visit.

We’ll Walk Hand in Hand – a time-travelling analysis of NI civil rights in 1968 and 2018 (Lyric Theatre until 31 March)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 26, 2018, 9:30 am

| Readers 912

MARTIN LYNCH turns a long-duration historical event into a successful drama that resonates with contemporary audiences and deals with the contested understanding of the actions of people fifty years ago. Lyric Theatre until 31 March.

The Post – surefooted newspaper drama with obvious modern parallels

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 23, 2018, 11:01 am

| Readers 350

The parallels with 2018 are immense. The on-screen battle between politicians and the fourth estate may remind local audiences of politicians boycotting interviews with certain mainstream news outlets and harassed questioning the veracity and reporting of stories which are embarrassing. After nearly two hours, I also learnt that if you’re ever near the NY Times office, be careful crossing the road: nearly everyone in this film narrowly escapes being run over!

No Stone Unturned – a film that finally lifts the Loughinisland stones the RUC wouldn’t touch

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on November 2, 2017, 8:15 am

| Readers 6731

New documentary examining the Loughinisland massacre goes deeper into the evidence that any existing investigations, naming the chief suspects. An exemplar on how to tell an investigative story in a manner which gives dignity to the victims and their families, No Stone Unturned avoids politicisation and politicians, and exposes the messy ‘dirty war’ that was thoroughly intertwined with the paramilitary action during the Troubles.

Review – Maze – a balanced retelling of UK’s largest prison breakout (from 22 Sep)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on September 14, 2017, 4:00 pm

| Readers 2566

MAZE – Stephen Burke’s dramatisation of the Maze escape as republican prisoners seek a ‘spectacular’ to humiliate the prison authorities and UK government while the prison officers count the cost of being trapped in their jobs. General release across Ireland, north and south, from 22 September.

Review: Michelle & Arlene – two game politicians flip flop after staying in close contact over summer

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 25, 2017, 8:00 am

| Readers 684

What would it take for a Northern Ireland politician to change their mind on one of any number of intractable issues? A satirical play finds out what might happen if Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill spent time away together and faced up to some of the policy issues that divide their parties and stall political progress. Accidental Theatre produce Rosemary Jenkinson’s Rapid Response play.

Film review – Bobby Sands: 66 Days

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on July 19, 2016, 1:12 am

| Readers 4078

BOBBY SANDS: 66 DAYS is a documentary film that weaves together the story of 1970s and 1980s republicanism with day by day updates on Sands’ condition and diary entries throughout his hunger strike. It’s neither an apologetic nor a rose-tinted documentary. The film sets events firmly in context but the critique of the hunger strike, the decisions of the UK government and the protest’s long term effect is fairly lenient.

Review – The Truth Commissioner – can he deliver truth, healing and closure?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 9, 2016, 9:05 am

| Readers 1889

The Truth Commissioner had its world première screening in front of a paying audience in the Queen’s Film Theatre on Monday 1 February as part of their Made in Britain season. The adaptation of David Park’s award winning book (reviewed) examines some of the complexity of the legacy issues Northern Ireland has yet to fully grasp. Henry Stanfield is a serial peace-builder, a career diplomat who flies in to heal wounds and build bridges in conflicted regions of the world. …

Halfway House – Philip Orr’s new play exploring 1916 from the vantage point of 1966

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 19, 2016, 12:30 pm

| Readers 826

HALFWAY HOUSE – Half way home for two women disrupted by a blizzard on the Glenshane Pass the pub doubles as a half way point between 1916 and today to look back at the Easter Rising and the Somme in Philip Orr’s new play.

Eat Your Children: chasing the lost unicorn of Irish citizen protest #bff15

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 20, 2015, 1:40 pm

| Readers 682

“We’re not Ireland, we will resist” (Greek austerity protest chant) Has Ireland lost its protest mojo? Flatmates Treasa O’Brien and Mary Jane O’Leary bailed out of Ireland to study in London and Barcelona. Partly motivated by the Greek chant and surprised by the contrast behind high profile citizen action in countries like Spain and the lack of news reaching them from Ireland, the friends came back to their homeland and toured around in a white Transit van to make a …

Danny Morrison’s “West Belfast”: a coming of age novel set against the backdrop of a city in conflict

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 8, 2015, 4:35 pm

| Readers 1684

I grew up hearing Danny Morrison’s name on the radio at breakfast time as Sinn Féin’s Director of Publicity. More recently I’ve known him as chair of Féile an Phobail and spotted his attendance at many of the festival’s events in St Mary’s and the annual West Belfast Talks Back debate. But I’d never realised he was an author until his book (re)launch earlier this year at the end of January. Spread over a decade, West Belfast is a coming …

Donaldson in review

Andy Boal on January 29, 2015, 1:41 am

| Readers 727

It is a pity that coverage of the Donaldson review has focussed on his comments on the number of hospitals in Northern Ireland relative to its population. It is true that he remarks on this, but his report is a lot broader than considering whether skills are being spread too thinly across too many hospitals – something korhomme discusses here, and I comment on briefly with regard to locations. What stands out is that Sir Liam considers the Northern Ireland …

“We, Too, Sing Belfast” … perhaps subtitled “We, Too, Snap @NewBelfast!”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 18, 2014, 6:07 pm

| Readers 698

364 days, an estimated 2,000 engagements, thousands of handshakes, around 25,000 tweets, and goodness knows how many selfies … that was a year in the life of Máirtín Ó Muilleoir as Lord Mayor of Belfast. I’m sure many people rolled their eyes or tutted when they heard that the Lord Mayor had agreed to allow a professional photographer to follow him around. From August 2013 through to June 2014, Donal McCann captured images wherever Máirtín Ó Muilleoir went, including travelling …

Review: My Only Crime was Loyalty (Jamie Bryson) – “Compromising isn’t my style”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 24, 2014, 10:30 am

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I am not a diplomat and nor would I want to be. Compromising isn’t my style. When people talk to me about Jamie Bryson there are a number of questions they repeatedly pose. Is he stupid? Has he gone away? How did he end up a flag protest leader? The first two questions can be answered with ‘no’. And along with the third, they’re at least partly explained in Bryson’s latest book My Only Crime Was Loyalty which he has …

A is for Activist

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 28, 2013, 7:27 pm

| Readers 345

From an early age, children are introduced to animals, right and wrong, concepts of fulfilment and disappointment, fear and joy, all through chewed hardback books. Princesses are in need of rescue, dogs misbehave and talk, mice covet strawberries. Wealth is equated with happiness, poverty with sorrow. How do you introduce the concepts of social justice, gender equality, caring for the environment, and the responsibility for citizens to fight for each other’s rights? Innosanto Nagara wrote A is for Activist. Originally …

Belfast 400: People, Place and History (Sean Connolly, editor)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 10, 2012, 9:00 am

| Readers 144

Ten days ago I finished reading Belfast 400: People, Place and History, a book published to mark the four hundredth anniversary of the city’s charter. In the light of last week’s reawakened community tensions and violence, it is interesting to look back at the roots of the city and its journey into the twenty first century. Belfast 400’s chapters are written by a series of experts and edited by Prof Sean Connolly from QUB School of History and Anthropology. The …

The extraordinarily small gene pool for NI Civil Service reviews

Mick Fealty on June 30, 2011, 3:46 pm

| Readers 232

Here’s an interesting snippet. It’s an Assembly Question from Patsy McGlone to Tom Elliott regarding “the independent board of inquiry that was convened to consider the disciplinary charges” against Paul Priestly. It’s interesting for a number of reasons: To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister, in relation to the independent board of inquiry that was convened to consider the disciplinary charges against a senior civil servant, to detail (i) the terms of reference; (ii) the members on the …