Casting Announcement

AGREEMENT
BY OWEN MCCAFFERTY
APRIL 11 - MAY 12, 2024

We are thrilled to announce the cast for our upcoming presentation of Agreement, a production of the award-winning Lyric Theatre, Belfast, which comes to New York following a critically acclaimed run last spring. This Off-Broadway transfer of writer Owen McCafferty's “searing new play” (The Irish Times, in a five-star review), which “expertly conveys” (The Guardian) the volatile final days of peace negotiations that culminated in the Good Friday Agreement, is the second collaboration between the Lyric and IAC in less than a year, following the U.S. premiere of the Lyric’s punk rock musical Good Vibrations.

This presentation of Agreement also heralds the dedication of the JL Greene Theatre at Irish Arts Center, following a major gift from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation.

A stellar cast of actors from London and Belfast join us for the April 11–May 12 engagement at Irish Arts Center. Tickets are on sale now!

CAST LIST:

Ruairi Conaghan as David Trimble

Ruairi has worked Off-Broadway in All That Fall with Michael Gambon and Eileen Atkins; in the West End with Philadelphia Here I Come and at the Royal Court, the National Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, the Bush, and Southwark Playhouse in productions including Trust, Molly Sweeney, Educating Rita, and Scenes From The Big Picture. He was also the Player King to Benedict Cumberbatch's Hamlet at the Barbican. Ruairi has appeared in eight productions at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, including The Crucible, Fire Below, and Lies Where It Falls. Television credits include Downton Abbey, Silent Witness, and Waking The Dead.

Chris Corrigan as Gerry Adams

Chris's theatre credits include Dockers, Group—the Musical, and La Chunga (Lyric); Cyprus Avenue (Royal Court, Abbey, MAC Belfast, Public NYC); Re-Energize (Derry Playhouse); The Titanic Boys (Grand Opera House, Belfast); Chronicles of Long Kesh (Tricycle, Waterfront Hall, CQAF, NI tour); Antigone (Waterfront Hall); and Don Juan in Soho (Donmar). TV and film work includes Hijack (Apple TV+), FBI International (CBS), The Capture (Heyday/BBC), The Musketeers (BBC), The Fall (Artists Studio/BBC), Omagh (Kirwan Prods), Eureka Street (BBC), The Return (Othaca/Picomedia), and Ballywalter (Empire Street).

Richard Croxford as George Mitchell

Richard's career has included acting, writing, and directing for numerous theatre companies in London's West End and internationally. Favorite acting roles include Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd, Tiger Brown in Threepenny Opera, Shylock in Merchant of Venice, Dracula in Dracula, and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. He was artistic director of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast from 2008–2013, overseeing the launch of the new theatre's artistic program. Most recently, Richard has been working as a freelance actor again in TV and feature films.

Dan Gordon as John Hume

Dan is an actor, writer, and director from Belfast. Recent TV appearances include Three Families, Ruby, Shopped, Rat, and Bloodlands. On stage he has performed his plays The Boat Factory (UK, Ireland, Brussels, NYC) and Frank Carson: A Rebel Without A Pause (Edinburgh Fringe), which was also the subject of a BBC documentary. He wrote and directed The Belfast Blitz—It’ll Never Happen Here (W5 Belfast); other directing credits include Snow White (Dundee) and one-woman shows by Roz Sheridan and Nuala McKeever. Dan is a trustee of Arts and Business NI and a passionate advocate and lobbyist for the arts.

Martin Hutson as Tony Blair

Martin most recently performed in God of Carnage (Lyric Hammersmith). Other theatre credits include Small Island, The Voysey Inheritance, and The Mandate (National Theatre); Candida (Orange Tree Theatre); Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus, The Heart of Robin Hood, and As You Like It (RSC); The Master Builder (Old Vic); Butley, Taken at Midnight, Ghosts, Taking Sides, and Collaboration (West End); The Rivals (Bristol Old Vic); The Jew of Malta (Almeida Theatre); and The Tempest (New Vic Theatre). TV and film credits include Endeavour, Foyle’s War, A Very British Sex Scandal, Dragonheart, and Atonement.

Andrea Irvine as Mo Mowlam

Andrea has worked extensively in theatre throughout Ireland and the UK. Most recent productions include Sadie at the Lyric Theatre and Cyprus Avenue, which toured to Belfast, Dublin, London, and New York. Both are by David Ireland and Sive at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, with Druid Theatre Company.

Recent TV work includes Line of Duty (BBC), Red Rock (Virgin Media), and Blue Lights (BBC).

Film work includes The Teacher, by Farah Nabulsi, and Baltimore.

Ronan Leahy as Bertie Ahern

Ronan is a theatre, film, and television actor whose credits include Drum Belly, King Lear, Curse of the Starving Class, Macbeth, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Romeo and Juliet, Henry IV, Da, Observatory, At Swim Two Birds, The Passion of Jerome, By the Bog of Cats, The Doctors Dilemma, The Well of the Saints, The Corsican Brothers, and Philadelphia Here I Come! (Abbey); Translations and Living Quarters (Lyric/Abbey); Borstal Boy (Gaiety); Wuthering Heights, An Enemy of the People, Festen, and All my Sons (Gate); Amongst Women (BBC/RTÉ); and Batman Begins (Warner Bros).

Owen McCafferty, Writer

Owen’s first screenplay, Ordinary Love for Candleblinks Films and Out of Orbit, was shot in Belfast during the summer of 2018 and stars Liam Neeson and Leslie Manville. The world premiere was at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2019. The film went on to win Best Movie 2020 at the Irish Film & TV Awards.

Owen’s latest play, Agreement, sold out at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, in April 2023 and returns March 9 through March 30, 2024, before transferring to Irish Arts Center. He is working on a number of new screenplays, including Breathing and Amongst Women.

Charlotte Westenra, Director

Charlotte is a stage director and dramaturg specializing in political theatre and new writing. After graduating with first-class honors for drama at the University of Manchester and training at Augusto Boal’s Centre of the Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro, Charlotte’s career started at the Donmar Warehouse, where she was the resident assistant director between 2004–2005. For the Donmar, she directed Kiss of the Spider Woman and Lower Ninth (Trafalgar Studios). Charlotte was also associate director on Frost/Nixon to Michael Grandage and Piaf to Jamie Lloyd for both the Donmar West End transfers at the Gielgud and Vaudeville, respectively. She has worked extensively in theatre, and is currently developing two new ballets.

In 2023, Charlotte won the BroadwayWorld Ireland Award for Best Director for Agreement.

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