The oldest church in a city stuffed with churches and aching with history is filled with the urgency of the present in this riveting new production of Stewart Parker's play, set during the United Irishmen's 1798 Rising.
The choice of this austerely beautiful building, where the leaders of the Rising met in secret 200 years ago, is an inspired one which immediately prompts so many questions about time and memory that we are catapulted into the landscape of Parker's ambitious history play before it even begins.
A co-production between the Tinderbox and Field Day theatre companies and the Belfast Festival at Queen's, it is directed with clarity and conviction by Stephen Rea, simply designed by Bob Crowley and strikingly lit by Conleth White.
The pivotal role of Henry Joy McCracken, the Presbyterian leader of the United Irishmen in Antrim, is played by Conleth Hill with energy, warmth and sympathy.
As McCracken contemplates the collapse of the egalitarian ideals of the movement, he relives the momentous events of the preceding decade. Over the course of a single night, key scenes from the progress of the United Irishmen are re-enacted in the dramatic styles of Farquhar, Boucicault, Wilde, Shaw, Synge, Behan and Beckett. While this dazzling display of theatrical ventriloquism could come across as an arid exercise in style, Stephen Rea has injected it with energy and wit, embracing Parker's pastiche rather than hiding behind it. The deliberate distancing effects mediate the emotion, but on this occasion the passion is undeniable.
At times the play seems to be too programmatic, with McCracken making rhetorical speeches prompted by his young lover, Mary (Annie Farr), whose role is underdeveloped. But, seeing it 13 years after its premiere, it seems less of a lament for the irretrievable loss of Enlightenment ideals of democratic secularism than a celebration of them.
The people of Ulster, McCracken says bitterly, "misremember everything". This fine production seems to strive towards the reclamation of memory.
Continues until December 5th. Booking from the Belfast Festival Box Office: Belfast 665577.