I have never considered Belfast a city of 300,000 or whatever. Rather there is a neutral city centre and the River Lagan divides East from West. Arterial routes from the City Centre go north, east, south and west…..effectively making four charge towns. It is NOT just about the Troubles. I was conscious that West Belfast was MY town and that other areas of the town ….Belmont, Dundonald, Ardoyne, Greencastle were just destination signs on a red bus.
I was conscious that famous people lived in West Belfast. Gerry Fitt (politician) was the MP But it was a short walk across Millfield to look at his house. James Kelly (journalist) lived on the Glen Road. Actors like Lily Begley, J G Devlin and Joe Tomelty were familiar faces. And boxer Johnny Caldwell and Jim McCourt were also well known.
I am far too old to know boxers like Michael Conlon and singer Brian Kennedy.
Somehow it is acceptable that we know OLDER famous people. But being five years old and kicking a ball with an older boy who goes on to London and to,play for Norn Iron is strange. Or going to the teenage ceili in Clonard Hall with a guy who becomes a senior person in Sinn Fein….or be a near neighbour to a young man who becomes a playwright.
Frankly I have never rated Martin Lynchs plays. Most if not all plays about Norn Iron…whether by Sam Thompson, Graham Reid or Martin Lynch are cliches. Yet fair play to Martin Lynch lionised in New York and London as some kinda authentic, primitive voice of West Belfast.
His play ” History of the Troubles According to My Da” is probably his best work. And well wort seeing. It will get a re-run at the Grand Opera House next month. It is actually a good idea….adequately written.
My sons now in their mid to late twenties will have heard my stories for maybe twelve years. Hard to get them interested in 1999 but in 2013 they are hungry for stories.
Martin Lynchs big idea was to recognise this phenomenon and write a play. Fair play to him. Watching the AUDIENCE watch “Accordin To My Da” is actually more fun than the Play.
The people in the audience from Turf Lodge recognise the scenario. The folks from the Malone Road….fur coat and no knickers….don’t get it. But they WANT to get it. Conflict Resolution works the same way.
Keeping An Eye On the Czar of Russia 
Your list of famous people reminds me of another cowboy song FJH.
http://www.vevo.com/watch/miranda-lambert/famous-in-a-small-town/USGQ40700001?source=instantsearch
Whatever happened to Robert McLiam Wilson? He was from up your way. I enjoyed “Ripley Bogle” and I was impressed (at an impressionable age) that he used the leverage his prize winning provided to release “The Dispossessed”.
Ah the Eureka Street man. Not thought of him in years.
He is in that younger generation with Brian Kennedy etc.
Never read his books and only watched the TV thing off and on to check if Mark Mullholland was in it.
There was some kinda legislation passed that Mark Mulholland had to play Mark Mulholland in any drama set in Belfast. When he made his first appearance in Eureka Street, I switched off as I had done my duty.
There was a check list of Norn Iron character actors who lived off the cliches. John Hewitt Roy Heaybred (sp), with the occasional returning star like James Ellis and English import required for ratings purposes like Julie Walters.
Ultimately none of these shows were any good.
They present a sanitised version of events.
There ws even a series of books for teenagers…boy meets girl kinda thing. One was called “On The Twelfth Day Of July”
But rather like GRANGE HILL was a scriptwriters cliched version of an inner London comprehensive school, all Norn Iron kitchen sink drama misses the target completely.
I’ve never seen one I thought was actually any good.
Actually there WAS one written in advance of the cease fire and much of it set in Long Kesh and the guys playing the prisoners seemed to “get” it.
Hard men from South Armagh, a couple of Irish speakers, mbitious politicians. Im thinking Ronan Bennett might have written it.
Didn’t Patrick Magee, the Brighton bomber do a PhD on this very subject?
“Love lies bleeding”. I remember that.
I missed Eureka Street. I think it might just have been an NI thing and I was away for a bit. I didn’t watch much telly in the ’90’s anyway.
I can’t recall the name at all.
“Loves lies bleeding”
Here’s a book all about it.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-HfEj7RJBrwC&pg=PA204&lpg=PA204&dq=ronan+bennett+love+lies+bleeding&source=bl&ots=qbdGybJODV&sig=12to6DfmM5NAhRWi_50RfkiHtW0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GT5xUfcPp6jRBY-JgYgE&ved=0CHgQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=ronan%20bennett%20love%20lies%20bleeding&f=false
I can’t find the IMDB entry.
I just found this FJH. Brendan Gleeson as the “Collins” character. Or maybe someone else..
http://www.imdb.co.uk/title/tt0145054/?ref_=fn_al_tt_8
I saw Mark Rylance’s Benedick with an Ulster accent in Much Ado About Nothing. I thought he was brilliant. After seeing Love Lies Bleeding I also thought that was really his accent. It was in the West End. An American woman behind me complained about the “Irish twang”. So we don’t have a “lilt” or a “brogue” FJH. We’ve a “twang”.
Love Lies Bleeding on IMDB.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145054/
Not many stars there which means its probably the one that Im thinking of.
As I recall the theme is IRA working with Brits to eliminate people likely to oppose a cease fire.
Me,you and Marley a play about joyriders in West Belfast a lot of the same cast as Love Lies Bleeding but written by Graham Reid.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105878/
Elephant a play featuring a series of random shootings in Belfast no real dialogue.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097270/