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The Playhouse in partnership with The John & Pat Hume Foundation presents

BEYOND BELIEF- The Life and Mission of JOHN HUME

31st March 2023 ~ 30th April 2023
Tickets: £10 to watch online

THE LIFE AND MISSION OF JOHN & PAT HUME

"profoundly affecting ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐" the observer
 

 

Watch back the sold out performance on demand.

A major new musical drama to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

HUME- Beyond Belief presents John and Pat Hume’s lives and odyssey for peace, the right to decent life, and the right to hope.

 

"extraordinarily moving. The cast themselves are beyond belief" Marie- Louise Muir, BBC Radio Foyle
 

While he has been described as a “Titan”, a “Giant” and a “Hero” of peace-making and reconciliation, Beyond Belief, in its words and music, will reach for the man: the man who achieved all he did not glibly, without struggle or alone, but as a human being; a human being just like the rest of us.

In re-presenting John Hume, his life and his mission – a mission never fettered by shibboleth, dogma or fossilised tenet – Beyond Belief will seek to inspire through words, music, song.

The anniversary performance in the Guildhall Derry - Londonderry on 7th April 2023 was broadcast live and is now available to stream until 30 April.

CLICK HERE to listen to the BBC World Service documentary about the making of the show.

 

Rooted in facts, it has an emblematic quality that suggests a connection to universal struggles for peace and justice" the observer

"With a beautiful set, a moving score, and a talented cast, Hume — Beyond Belief was an elaborate, artistic commemoration worthy of the titular peacebuilders." Shared Future News
 

 

 

Book and lyrics by Damian Gorman

Music by Brian O’Doherty

Directed by Kieran Griffiths

Produced by The Playhouse

    

 

This production is supported by Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Foyle Foundation, Irish League of Credit Unions and Derry Credit Union Limited  to mark John and Pat Hume’s contribution to the Credit Union Movement in Derry-Londonderry and throughout Ireland. 

 

 

 

 

Please note- This show contains strobe lighting, strong language, violence and scenes of a potentially distressing nature.

Recommended 14+ (parental guidance advised)

 

 

Damian Gorman- Writer
Damian Gorman is a poet and playwright born and reared in Northern Ireland, now living in Wales. His work has garnered awards as diverse as a Better Ireland Award and an MBE, a Golden Harp and a BAFTA. For more than 30 years he has also worked with other people on their stories. In the mid 1990s he was founding director of An Crann/The Tree, a project which worked to "help people tell, and hear, the stories of the Troubles" through the arts. More recently he worked for almost 10 years with young Israelis and Palestinians on the ground-breaking Olive Tree project, using writing and story-telling as tools of dialogue and understanding. Damian has been appointed a fellow of the Oxford Initiative for Global Ethics and Human Rights.

Brian O’ Doherty- Composer
After graduating from the Royal Academy of music in composition and classical guitar.  Brian toured Europe and the Americas extensively. Currently he divides his time between London and Sydney where he is active as a composer and performer in a myriad of musical genres. He has collaborated with The Playhouse on several occasions, including composing and orchestrations for the Playhouse’s recent production The White Handkerchief.

Kieran Griffiths- Director and Producer, The Playhouse
Kieran Griffiths is The Playhouse’s Director and Producer. Kieran joined The Playhouse team in 2012 in preparation for Derry.Londonderry’s City of Culture year producing and directing 13 critically acclaimed productions in 2013. He has since gone on to implement The Playhouse’s legacy strategy, creating new work and touring important theatre around the island of Ireland.

 

The Irish League of Credit Unions

The Irish League of Credit Unions is the prime representative body for credit unions in Ireland. A credit union is a group of people, connected by a 'common bond' based on the area they live in, the occupation they work in, or the employer they work for, who save together and lend to each other at a fair and reasonable rate of interest. Credit unions offer members the chance to have control over their own finances by making their own savings work for them. Every credit union is owned by its members — the people who save with it and borrow from it. Credit unions exist only to serve members — not to profit from their needs. Surplus income generated is returned to the members by way of a dividend and/or is directed to improved or additional services for members. Members' savings are used to fund loans to other credit-worthy members of the credit union. So, the money in a credit union always remains in the local community or 'common bond' that the credit union serves. 

www.creditunion.ie