Gary Mitchell

The explosive contradictions of life in Northern Ireland ignite this drama of suspense and violence. Kyle is loyal to his wife, his best mate and his boss in the Ulster Defence Union – and they love him as a husband, a brother and a son – but, with changing times and the emerging peace process, Kyle finds himself lost in the shadows of transition, uncertainty, and betrayal. In a world turned upside down, peace and brutality walk side-by-side, while love and loyalty are sacrificed to the new order. Gary Mitchell's play As the Beast Sleeps was first performed at the Peacock Theatre, Dublin, in 1998.

An explosively topical play about institutional corruption in Northern Ireland. Caroline is a detective Sergeant in the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Used to doing battle against the ingrained sexism of her male colleagues, she begins to suspect something much worse: systematised collaboration between the RUC and the loyalist terrorists of the UDA. Gary Mitchell's play The Force of Change was first staged at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2000. It won the George Devine Award, and Gary Mitchell won the 2000 Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright.

A play about the bonds of trust in a tight-knit Loyalist community, and how easily they are shattered, from the multi-award winning writer of The Force of Change. Geordie is a UDA godfather on the Rathcoole estate in Belfast. He is unemployed but receives supplicants for 'jobs'. His diffident 15-year-old son, stunted by living in his shadow, is being bullied at school: Geordie and his tough-talking wife, Margaret, differ over the approach to take - he wants to ignore the problem, she wants to arrange a punishment beating. When he is approached for help by a British Army 'special' with an plan to go on the make, the trust begins to unravel. Gary Mitchell's play Trust was first staged at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 1999. It is published in the Nick Hern Books Instant Playscript series - designed to reflect the immediacy of the play on the stage. Printed only a few days before opening night, the aim is to give audiences at the theatre and readers all over the world instant access to the best of current new writing as it hits the stage.

Two plays from playwright Gary Mitchell, known for his powerful explorations of the conflicts troubling Northern Ireland. Tearing the Loom is a searing portrait of a community divided against itself, set in a weaver's cottage in County Armagh at the time of the 1798 Rebellion. It was first performed at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, in 1998. In a Little World of Our Own is a powerful illustration of how the conflict in Northern Ireland affects whole families, and of how the violence of the streets is brought into the heart of the home. It was first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 1997.