Watch: Long Kesh play to tour to Belfast and Dublin

Written by multi award winning Irish writer Seamas Keenan, ‘Over The Wire’ is touring to The MAC, Belfast and the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin in January and February 2015 with the help of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Arts Council of Ireland Touring Fund.

The play follows five prisoners in Long Kesh prison, pitched into a world of violence, paranoia and hunger as they struggle against British soldiers, each other and their own personal demons, and launched the 2013 programme of events for Londonderry’s Playhouse, one of Ireland’s leading Award Winning multi-disciplinary Community Art Resource Centres.

The play’s sterling local cast, powerful yet provocative script and the unusual set, which involves audiences surrounding a bespoke Prison fencing company’s real prison cage and barbed wire meant the production was met with critical acclaim.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity to build new artistic connections beyond this city during its year as City of Culture, connections that perfectly celebrates the tremendous reputation and thirst for gripping, challenging and unique theatre” Producer and Director Kieran Griffiths said.

“‘Over the Wire’ is a play that explores universal themes in a very real and honest way, it’s not just about the extraordinary story of five men’s survival during the burning of Long Kesh, it’s about how normal men respond when placed under extreme stress, hunger and cold.”

‘Over The Wire’ by Seamas Keenan will run at The Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin from January 26 to 31 and at The MAC, Belfast from February 10 to 14. For more information visit www.derryplayhouse.co.uk