Beyond Belief, written by Damian Gorman and composed by Brian O’Doherty, centres on two of the prime movers in the Northern Ireland peace process, SDLP leader John Hume and his wife, Pat. Commissioned to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement (in partnership with the Hume Foundation), it is the second musical drama in Derry Playhouse’s peace-building trilogy, following on from last year’s The White Handkerchief, which marked the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, widely regarded as the start of the Troubles.
The thrust-stage floor is piled with rich brown earth. The gnarled trunk of an ancient oak rises from a grassy knoll, young twigs sticking out from its broken branches spattered with green leaves: “doire” is an Irish word meaning “oak grove”, which is what the place where the action is set was before it became a walled town (Tracey Lindsay’s design). Over 32 scenes, the action progresses chronologically from the late 1950s to the 2020s. Rooted in facts, it has an emblematic quality that suggests a connection to universal struggles for peace and justice.
John’s younger, fiery self is played by Conor O’Kane; his older, more weary but tenacious self by Gerry Doherty. Pat, almost always the more sure and solid, is played throughout by Naiomh Morgan. Vignettes of family life (a summer by the sea; a flight from home following a threatening phone call) are intersected by intense dialogues (a near-verbatim reproduction of John confronting a British army colonel; him telling an incredulous Ian Paisley that one day he will talk peace with Gerry Adams; Pat engaging in a coded conversation with Martin McGuinness that results in a life being saved). Violence erupts; the horror is not shirked but tempered, under Kieran Griffiths’s direction, by stylised movement. Always, the emphasis is on talk.
Encounters rooted in reality are taken to another dimension by the music. John, with Pat beside him, faces Adams (Odhrán McNulty). If anything can unite all sides in the mid-1990s, it’s alarm that John insists on maintaining dialogue with Adams. Around them a crowd sings accusingly: “John Hume you’re completely/ Beyond belief.” John tries to persuade them: “There is a chance here… A chance for peace… And hope for a time that’s beyond belief.” That time arrives.
Performed by a professional, community and youth company numbering about 45, to music played by a 10-strong orchestra (conducted by Sarah de Tute), this is a terrifically ambitious project. Not everything works. Events can be difficult to follow if you are not familiar with the history of the period; some of the humour falls flat; on opening night the sound system was faulty. Set against the whole, though, such issues do not blunt the impact.
Particularly effective is the movement of actors through the auditorium. Many among the audience knew the characters now reappearing among them. Delivering his Nobel peace prize acceptance speech, John says: “We owe this peace to the ordinary people of Ireland.” The performance affirms the power of individuals, acting together to bring about change: it is profoundly affecting.
The anniversary performance of Beyond Belief: The Life and Mission of John Hume on 7 April was broadcast live via derryplayhouse.co.uk and is available to stream until 14 April
