Agreement – Gate Theatre – Review

Part of the Dublin Theatre Festival 2024

LYRIC THEATRE AND GATE THEATRE – AGREEMENT – BY OWEN MCCAFFERTY

The final negotiations for the Good Friday Agreement took place “in Castle Buildings in Stormont, a pretty drab 1970’s office building”  the designer Conor Murphy states in his programme notes. In recreating the ambience of the last 72 hours of the negotiations a designer could have chosen a revolving stage with static desks so all the offices of the various participants could be seen at the same time. Alternatively, the designer could choose a static stage with the desks and their occupiers being mobile. The second option was chosen and it works even if the cast in the 100-minute duration of the action have to move chairs and desks innumerable times in complex ways. It is a stratagem that complements the complexity and frustrations of the tense negotiations that are being portrayed.

The master of ceremonies for these negotiations is the redoubtable US Senator George Mitchell (Sean Kearns) who begins by making it clear there is a time limit on the proceedings. We are then introduced to the key players David Trimble (Ruairi Conaghan), John Hume (Dan Gordon), Gerry Adams (Aaron McCusker), Tony Blair (Martin Hutson), Bertie Ahern (Ronan Leahy) and the only female Mo Mowlam (Andrea Irvine). These actors portray the very different personas of each of the characters as they seek to defend their bases but yet try to find some common ground. It is a tortuous process but it is greatly alleviated and a joy to watch as McCafferty has injected into the text a fair degree of humour and humanity by highlighting some of the idiosyncratic hallmarks of the participants. Tony Blair, in particular, was fair game in this regard. McCafferty also reminds the audience the mundane world continues outside the negotiations as snippets of news broadcasts are heard and reports of the ever-changing Irish weather.

Even though everyone in the audience knows the end result, McCafferty manages to keep the suspense going until the end as the audience is reminded more than once by George Mitchell that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. When things are looking tense one has the calming tones of Bill Clinton (Conleth Hill) in a voice-over, speaking from the White House. What the play shows, in an engaging way, is the efforts each of the participants went to in order to achieve the end result.

The entire creative team have managed to create what on paper in advance would seem an impossibility, namely to construct a rivetting piece of theatre out of the final tortuous negotiations of the Good Friday Agreement. There is no interval so the audience is captive for the entire piece as the infuriating stubbornness of the participants is almost impossible to undermine. In this regard, the character of Mowlam, the sole female in the proceedings, adds a different dynamic to the proceedings even if her boss Tony Blair has to be reminded by her that she exists.

In a programme note, Dr Mark Phelan states “A year on from the premiere of this production in April 2023 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, and our politicians have resolved their differences once more resumed a power-sharing government at Stormont after years of stalemate.” This play may well have helped in its own unique way in achieving that valuable outcome. Agreement is a brave project, imaginatively brought to life and brilliantly executed.

AGREEMENT by Owen McCafferty, directed by Charlotte Westenra at the Gate Theatre Dublin 2024. Featuring L-R: Dan Gordon. Photo by Ros Kavanagh.

Directed by Charlotte Westenra
Set and Costume Design: Conor Murphy
Music and Sound: Kate Marlais
Video Design: Eoin Robinson
Movement Direction: Dylan Quinn
Lighting Design: Mary Tumelty
Cast includes: Ruairi Conaghan, Richard Croxford, Dan Gordon, Martin Hutson, Andrea Irvine, Ronan Leahy, Aaron McCusker, and the voices of Conleth Hill, Jonathan Blake and Ann-Marie Foster