Dark comedy Flags & Emblems to explore legacy of conflict in Northern Ireland
"Some jokes and images may be considered extreme but I am adamant that I have not included anything which does not hold some basis in fact"
A new dark comedy play is set to "take aim at murals" as it debuts in East Belfast this summer.
Argonaut Theatre Company makes its return to The Sanctuary Theatre with their second production Flags & Emblems, an "outrageous" original comedy written by Andrew McNeill and directed by Thomas Pollock.
Set in modern-day Belfast, the play follows an art student's desperate attempts to stop the painting of a paramilitary mural on his house.
A description reads: "A sharp knock at the door awakens Liam from his latest hangover. Enter head of the local 'community association', Bob, who presents his plans to paint a new paramilitary mural on the wall of Liam's end-terrace house.
"Liking to consult the residents in the process, Liam is given a choice from a list of progressively more violent and controversial designs.
"Offended and terrified, Liam tries to veto each concept on its artistic merits alone, while struggling to keep his Catholic heritage hidden from an increasingly suspicious Bob.
"Through a darkly comedic lens, Flags & Emblems explores the legacy of conflict in Northern Ireland, as well as how the glorification of violence continues to linger in plain sight."
Writer Andrew McNeill said that seeing paramilitary murals on both sides of the peace wall inspired him to write the dark comedy.
Andrew said: "Living in unionist areas my entire life and seeing these murals on a daily basis is what inspired me to write Flags and Emblems.
"My issue lies less with a community wishing to commemorate its past and celebrate its culture, but more so what I consider to be a glorification of violence, a justification of terrorism and, ultimately, a warning to individuals not to step out of line, lest they suffer the consequences.
"Bold statements perhaps. Some might even call them hyperbolic. But this is precisely my point. These images and the ideas they represent have become so normalised within our society that it is rarely questioned where we might be if we finally moved fully from under the shadow of the gun."
He continued: "In spite of my strong feelings on the subject, I was inspired by playwrights Martin McDonagh and fellow Belfast-man, David Ireland, and immediately drawn to the genre of dark-comedy as the means to examine this theme.
"These organisations and the individuals that run them are worthy of mockery, and through humour I aim to expose the hypocrisy of those who claim to protect the communities that they paralyse with fear.
"Some jokes and images may be considered extreme but I am adamant that I have not included anything which does not hold some basis in fact."
Flags & Emblems stars Andrew McNeill, Richard McFerran and Saorlaíth Brady and will be performed from Wednesday 2nd - Saturday 5th July at The Sanctuary Theatre with tickets on sale now.
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