Love Matters

Lyric Theatre, Belfast

Mar 2-4 8pm £11/£9.50 lyrictheatre.co.uk028-90381081; Project Arts Centre, Dublin Mar 6-8 8pm 15/10 01-8819613 projectartscentre.ie

Fifteen years ago the Northern Irish playwright Gary Mitchell was branded a traitor by a renegade loyalist gang. His betrayal? He had accepted an award in Dublin (from the inaugural Irish Times Theatre Awards) for his Abbey play, In a Little World of Our Own. Like most of Mitchell’s theatre work, the play depicted tensions in his neighborhood, the working- class Protestant area of Rathcoole in north Belfast.

Worse came in 2005, when the playwright and his family were firebombed from their home by “rogue” members of the UDA, apparently incensed by his television work.

Such grotesque territorialism has led his theatre to unexpected places: Mitchell’s response, Remnants of Fear, was staged in West Belfast during Féile an Phobail.

So, how do we interpret the symbolism of his new play, Love Matters? It is a tragi- comedy, again set among loyalists in Rathcoole, performed as Gaeilge by Aisling Ghéar, which premieres at An Cultúrlann on the Falls Road, transfers to the Lyric and tours to Dublin’s Project Arts Centre.

Some may see that as a mark of defiance, disguise or confident accommodation. But its plot, involving a loyalist hardman released from prison who discovers paramilitary feuds and a family falling apart, suggests that no matter where he goes, Mitchell can never be bullied out of his home.

Can’t See That? Catch This

Love All Bewley’s Cafe Theatre, Dublin Ends tomorrow 1.10pm €8-€12 (lunch €4)