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A Newry actor is set to take to the Belfast stage this June as part of the first ever production of Bold Girls by a Northern Irish theatre company. Centre Stage will bring the celebrated play back to the Lyric Theatre after 36 years.
Mairead McKinley has been cast as Nora in the production, which runs from 9 to 13 June at the Naughton Studio, Lyric Theatre. Written by Rona Munro and directed by Michael Quinn, the revival also marks the 40th anniversary of Centre Stage.
Set in west Belfast in the early 1990s, Bold Girls follows three women, Marie (Caroline Curran), Cassie (Hannah Carnegie) and Nora (McKinley), as they hold together the fabric of everyday life while violence and uncertainty unfold beyond their front door. When a quiet young stranger, Deirdre (Annie McIlwaine), arrives unexpectedly, long-suppressed truths begin to rise to the surface.
First staged in 1991, the play won Munro both the Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. It emerged at a time when depictions of the Troubles were largely dominated by male perspectives, placing working-class women firmly at its centre to explore friendship, loyalty and the uncomfortable truths beneath everyday survival.
Director Michael Quinn said: "While rooted in a specific time and place, Bold Girls continues to resonate far beyond its setting. What makes Bold Girls extraordinary is its refusal to foreground the off-stage conflict. Instead, it asks what such hostilities does to people - specifically to women who are left to carry on, to cope, and to survive. It's about endurance, but also about the cost of that endurance."
Hannah Carnegie, Centre Stage General Manager, who is also playing Cassie, said: "We are honoured to bring Bold Girls to the Lyric Theatre. It marks three major milestones - the return of the play to Belfast after 36 years; performing it at the Lyric during its 75th anniversary year - on whose stages my mum Roma Tomelty often performed; and the 40th anniversary of Centre Stage. The play asks what happens when you can no longer avoid the truth."
The production is suitable for audiences aged 15 and over. Tickets are available at lyrictheatre.co.uk. Further information on Centre Stage can be found at centrestageni.org.
