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Confession

‘Confession’ was a full-length stage play, which was produced by the Accidental Theatre Company. Funding for the production came from the Northern Ireland Centre for Entrepreneurship. The play ran for a total of eight performances at the Brian Friel Theatre, Belfast, in October 2008. 'Confession' was a play which used the device of an ostensibly penitent protagonist making his confession to a priest: he tells his story by confessing his many sins. The BBC review stated that the play ‘portrays the hypocrisies of our modern Ireland – secularisation, power, wealth, exploitation of immigrants, and entrepreneurial violence… at the end the audience needed to take a moment to ask: where did it all go wrong (for Ireland)?’ - thereby acknowledging its contribution to a wider understanding of the state of the nation. 'Confession' was directed by Richard Irvine Lavery, creative director of Accidental Theatre, and featured a cast of six professional actors and a crew of ten, including a production manager, stage manager, set designer, lighting director, costume designer, composer, marketing manager, poster designer and fight director. The play made a significant impact in the local media, gaining major coverage on BBC Radio Ulster, and earning positive reviews on bbc.co.uk and in local cultural publications. This undoubtedly contributed to the fact that throughout the play’s run, the 130-seat auditorium was full, or nearly full, every night. A number of the crew members were student volunteers from the Drama department at Queen’s University, Belfast, working alongside professional colleagues. Several of those who worked on 'Confession' have gone on to form the nucleus of Accidental Theatre ('Confession' was one of its earliest productions, and at the time, its largest), and helped it to become one of the leading new-writing theatre companies in Ireland.