Observe the Ulster inmates

A unique revival of Frank McGuinness's play, in Belfast's Hydebank prison, features a cast of eight young offenders, writes Jane Coyle

This time last year, an unusual group of visitors filed through the high-security gates and turnstiles of Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre on the outskirts of Belfast - actors, journalists, playwrights, politicians and the director general of the Northern Ireland Prison Service among them.

They were there for a unique revival of Frank McGuinness's Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, performed by inmates. In the hands of a cast of eight young men - including three armed robbers, two perpetrators of grievous bodily harm and a murderer - McGuinness's intense play took on unimagined new resonance and relevance and featured a handful of performances that would have stood up to serious critical scrutiny in the public arena.

At the curtain call, the individual situations of the actors were not wasted on the audience, who were sensitive to the fact that while they could walk out of the prison and resume their normal lives, these young men would soon be discarding their uniforms and their replica rifles and be escorted back to their cells.

This week, A four-part documentary about the making of the production will be screened on consecutive nights, from tonight, on BBC Northern Ireland. It follows director Dan Gordon and co-worker Mike Moloney of the Prison Arts Foundation as they attempt to perform something of an artistic miracle.

"When we started on this journey, I didn't dare hope that it would turn out so well," says Gordon. "It was a real roller-coaster ride - we had plenty of tantrums and walk-offs. But we realised that we were dealing with very serious personal issues among a group of troubled young guys struggling to find purpose and meaning in their lives. And I was always acutely aware of the victims' perspective, too."

Producer/director Brendan J Byrne of Hotshot Films was inspired to make the film by a Lyric Theatre production of the play four years ago. "I knew a lot of the actors," he says. " I remember them telling me how this was not just another play. They become totally immersed in their characters and went off to the Linen Hall Library to research the background and context.

"For a while I had wanted to make a kind of alternative documentary about the first World War and I thought it would be interesting to do it through the lens of a group of professional actors preparing for this fantastic play. The fact that 2006 was the 90th anniversary of the Somme was a happy coincidence.

"Then the notion of doing it in Hydebank came to me and I talked to Mike Moloney, who initially thought it was a crazy idea, but who opened doors for me. I felt that the key to the series was the connection between the characters and the cast, who are about the same age as those who marched to their death at the Somme."

It took only the mention of the play's title to bring Hydebank governor Stephen Davis on board. His enthusiasm was shared by the prison's principal officer of security, Cyrus McCormick, who was planning to write a book about the Somme. Byrne invited McCormick to talk to the cast about the historical background to the play. "You could have heard a pin drop. They were not used to this kind of chat from a prison officer," recalls Byrne. "He described to them how the guys in the play are not ghosts, but real-life heroes. It had a real effect on them. In fact, looking back, Davis would say that the experience absolutely altered the relationship between prison officers and prisoners - both in the prison community and among those who were in regular direct contact.

" The programmes are certainly not an advertisement for prison. We had a responsibility of truth to ourselves, the cast, the prison, the audience and the victims. We needed the viewers to engage with the cast as human beings."

Gordon's abridged adaptation of McGuinness's original text is in itself a skilful piece of work, remaining faithful in spirit and content. It deals sensitively with one of the play's central themes - the latent homosexual relationship between the main character Piper and fellow soldier David Craig - and excludes the famously controversial kiss scene.

"We felt this was a bridge too far in a prison context", says Byrne. "These guys had already put themselves up for ridicule in an environment where you have to look out for yourself on a daily basis.

"Prison is a place where it is a case of every man for himself. The play demands a big element of trust from the actors, yet this is not the case in their normal environment. There were a lot of risks being taken in terms of getting close to other people, which nobody could ever afford to do on the landings.

"There were times when I thought one or two of them wouldn't manage to conquer their fear of failure and walk away. But, to a man, they stepped up to the mark. Hydebank has given these guys a second chance and we examine whether, in adopting the role of characters who never had that luxury, it would make these young fellas think twice about re-offending."

Sons of Ulster runs from tonight until Thurs on BBC1 at 10.35pm