Unlocking Maze secrets

CORRECTION: In the original version of this article we mistakenly stated that Martin Lynch was a member of the Provisional IRA. We are happy to clarify that he was in fact a member of the Official IRA and had no connection with the Provisional IRA. We apologise for any offence caused. 

Published: 11 March 2010
by JOSH LOEB

A WISTFUL drama about a Hollywood star adrift in Donegal kicked off a season of Irish plays at Kilburn’s “home of political ­theatre” earlier this year – but the Tricycle will return to its hard-hitting roots next week with the gripping story of Northern Ireland’s Maze prison.

Chronicles of Long Kesh by celebrated Ulster writer Martin Lynch opens on Monday – in time for St Patrick’s Day on Wednesday – and concerns the infamous jail, also known as “Long Kesh”, where paramilitaries, including two of Lynch’s brothers, were incarcerated in the 1970s. 

Lynch is a former member of the Official IRA and was a participant in bitter protests at the height of the Troubles. As part of his research, he interviewed ex-prison staff – something he says he found extremely difficult even though he now rejects the violent methods used by paramilitaries.    

“It was a bit of a leap for me to interview the people in charge or running the prison where my brothers were held,” he says, “But I was moved by the human experience of the guards.” 

Long Kesh, which explores the individual experiences of inmates and their families, was a smash hit at the Edinburgh Festival and has been acclaimed by critics for its pace and physicality. It tells the story of The Maze from its opening in 1971 to the day it closed in July 2000 as a result of the Good Friday Agreement, taking in the major events at the prison such as the 1974 burning of the camp, the Dirty Protest, the Hunger Strike and the Great Escape.

Its Tricycle run has already been extended to cope with demand. 

This will be the second time Lynch’s work has been performed at the Kilburn playhouse. In 2003, his play The History of the Troubles (Accordin’ to my Da) played there – to poor reviews from critics but, Lynch insists, a good reaction from punters.

The playwright, whose family were Belfast dockers (“that’s dockers,” he remarks, “not doctors”), has a strong social conscience that informs his writing. And he insists there are parallels between the situation in Ireland in the 1970s and conflicts in other parts of the world today. 

“When you see what’s happening in Palestine or Iraq, when you hear about people shot when they refuse to stop at roadblocks, it’s impossible not to look at that and think, ‘That’s us. That was us in 1972 or 1973’.” 

The play is part of the Tricycle’s Irish season, which has also featured Greta Garbo Came to Donegal by Frank McGuinness and The Dead School by Patrick McCabe. 

Look out for two films being screened in the Tricycle Cinema as part of the season: animated fantasy The Secret of Kells (Saturday, March 20) and  Eden (Sunday, March 21), a drama about ­marriage.

• Chronicles of Long Kesh is at The Tricycle, 269 Kilburn High Road, NW6, from March 15-April 17. For theatre and cinema tickets call 020 7328 1000.