Owen McCafferty – författare

- he hadn't forgotten i was there - he just didn't care whether i was there or not - it would've been better him forgetting rather than not caring at all Gerry and Iggy face the ends of their lives in a London hostel. As they drift from present concerns - the funeral of an old drinking partner, the relative sizes of their swollen livers, tube routes, street names, God and the lure of Belfast - to remembering ghosts from long ago, we catch a poignant glimpse of what might have been. Owen McCafferty's The Absence of Women, heartrending and darkly comic in turn, premiered at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, in February 2010.

At 11.40pm on 14 April 1912, the RMS Titanic, on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, struck an iceberg. At 2.20am the following morning, the ship sank. 1,517 people died.In response to the disaster the British Government ordered an immediate inquiry and Lord Mersey was appointed commissioner. The British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry sat from 2 May to 3 July 1912. It took testimony from 97 witnesses.Full of intrigue, bravery and human frailty, Owen McCafferty's Titanic retells the survivors' stories, using dialogue taken word-for-word from the hundred-year-old accounts. The play premiered in April 2012 as the inaugural production of the MAC, Belfast.

At 11.40pm on 14 April 1912, the RMS Titanic, on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, struck an iceberg. At 2.20am the following morning, the ship sank. 1,517 people died.In response to the disaster the British Government ordered an immediate inquiry and Lord Mersey was appointed commissioner. The British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry sat from 2 May to 3 July 1912. It took testimony from 97 witnesses.Owen McCafferty's Titanic retells the survivors' stories, using dialogue taken word-for-word from the hundred-year-old accounts. Full of intrigue, bravery and human frailty, this courtroom drama premiered in April 2012 as the inaugural production of the MAC, Belfast.

Do you want to know why I'm here?Northern Ireland are playing Poland on the TV. Jimmy and Ian, two middle-aged Belfast men, are meeting tonight for the first time. They have a shared past. They need to talk.A powerful story about violence and forgiveness, Quietly marked Owen McCafferty's Abbey Theatre debut, as part of the Great Irish Writers Season, November 2012.

Owen McCafferty's first collection brings together one short- and four full-length plays set in the author's home city of Belfast. Shoot The Crow'Tragicomedy of character and circumstance that makes McCafferty look like a ribald Northern Irish Chekov.' Guardian.Scenes From The Big Picture'An epic that attempts to put the whole of human life on stage - birth, death, love, sex, work, families - the whole damn thing... McCafferty offers us a wise and compassionate view of the human heart.' TelegraphClosing Time'The existence of a writer as good as McCafferty induces a perverse, paradoxical hope.' GuardianMojo Mikibo'A razor sharp evocation of time and place.' Irish Times

we're still ourselves when we lieJoan and Tom have been married for nearly thirty years. Tara lies alone while Peter works nights. How far will people go to hear their heart beat again? What does it mean to be unfaithful to those you love?A stark and searing glimpse into two tangled relationships, the unspoken desires, the piercing regrets, and the postponed conversations.Owen McCafferty's Unfaithful premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 2014.

what if i'm not funny though - what if i go out there and i'm not funnySteve Johnston, guided and inspired by his girlfriend, is a small-time comedian, raw, original and true. Until he's spotted by an agent, who suggests he could be so much more: his act just needs to change. It's a Faustian pact. As tension builds over the course of four gigs, so too do the audiences. But at what cost?Death of a Comedian by Owen McCafferty premiered at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, in February 2015 in a co-production with the the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and Soho Theatre, London.

Owen McCafferty's second collection includes plays that span from the sinking of the Titanic to the lingering aftermath of the Troubles in twenty-first-century Belfast.Absence of Women'A fine example of theatre at its small-scale best.' Evening StandardTitanic'Owen McCafferty's rigorous verbatim play provides an antidote to Titanic fatigue... Two months of hearings from 97 witnesses are whittled down to nine... What remains, even after a century, is a disturbing sense of moral ambiguity: 1, 517 dead and no one to blame.' GuardianQuietly'Vibrates with a violent tension so taut that if you were a bystander... you'd hardly dare to breathe.' New York Times'Remarkable. inspired. The piece packs sweeping questions about forgiveness and accountability into a tightly plotted encounter.' Daily Telegraph'The most powerful theatrical production I have had the privilege of seeing... McCafferty's script is perfectly taut... This play is extraordinary and completely unmissable.' Metro HeraldUnfaithful'McCafferty excels with tight plotting and pithy, painful dialogue.' The Times'McCafferty writes with empathy and a wry humour that makes for an absorbing - if painful - hour.' Financial Times'Owen McCafferty is a sly observer of the human heart.' GuardianDeath of a Comedian'Despite the humour, McCafferty's play is a tragedy. his most accomplished work to date.' Belfast Telegraph

Absence of Women'A fine example of theatre at its small-scale best.' Evening StandardTitanic'Owen McCafferty's rigorous verbatim play provides an antidote to Titanic fatigue... Two months of hearings from 97 witnesses are whittled down to nine... What remains, even after a century, is a disturbing sense of moral ambiguity: 1, 517 dead and no one to blame.' GuardianQuietly'Vibrates with a violent tension so taut that if you were a bystander... you'd hardly dare to breathe.' New York Times'Remarkable. inspired. The piece packs sweeping questions about forgiveness and accountability into a tightly plotted encounter.' Daily Telegraph'The most powerful theatrical production I have had the privilege of seeing... McCafferty's script is perfectly taut... This play is extraordinary and completely unmissable.' Metro HeraldUnfaithful'McCafferty excels with tight plotting and pithy, painful dialogue.' The Times'McCafferty writes with empathy and a wry humour that makes for an absorbing - if painful - hour.' Financial Times'Owen McCafferty is a sly observer of the human heart.' GuardianDeath of a Comedian'Despite the humour, McCafferty's play is a tragedy. his most accomplished work to date.' Belfast Telegraph

sit on the deck - have a few drinks put the world to rights - and watch working-class protestants burn some tyres and sticks and shout some shit - if that can't make a middle-class ex-catholic happy what canTwenty years on from the Belfast Peace Agreement, Tom and Maggie are enjoying a glass of wine or two on Gerry and Rosemary's deck, waiting for the Eleventh Night bonfire to be lit in the estate below. But there is tension in the air; and what these neighbours of old think of one another, truly, feels just one unguarded moment away on this hot summer's night.A companion piece to Owen McCafferty's play Quietly, Fire Below (A War of Words) is a co-production between the Lyric Theatre and the Abbey Theatre and premiered at the Lyric Belfast in association with the Belfast International Arts Festival in October 2017.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 CHRISTOPHER EWART-BIGGS MEMORIAL PRIZE'An outstanding evening, a landmark play, a thoroughly deserved five stars . . . Owen McCafferty's searing dramatisation is a political thriller with echoes of Greek drama.' Irish TimesOwen McCafferty examines the negotiations leading up to the Good Friday Agreement and weaves potent drama out of this complex, momentous event.what takes courage is to compete in the arena of democracyThe clock is ticking. It's April 1998 and representatives of the British Government, the Irish Government and the main political parties in Northern Ireland try to hammer out a deal that could pave the way for peace. Every word, every movement, every stare means something. This is the last chance saloon and no one is leaving until agreement is reached, one way or another.Agreement opened at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, in March 2023, and was revived there in March 2024.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 CHRISTOPHER EWART-BIGGS MEMORIAL PRIZE'An outstanding evening, a landmark play, a thoroughly deserved five stars . . . Owen McCafferty's searing dramatisation is a political thriller with echoes of Greek drama.' Irish TimesOwen McCafferty examines the negotiations leading up to the Good Friday Agreement and weaves potent drama out of this complex, momentous event.what takes courage is to compete in the arena of democracyThe clock is ticking. It's April 1998 and representatives of the British Government, the Irish Government and the main political parties in Northern Ireland try to hammer out a deal that could pave the way for peace. Every word, every movement, every stare means something. This is the last chance saloon and no one is leaving until agreement is reached, one way or another.Agreement opened at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, in March 2023, and was revived there in March 2024.

JP Miller's 1962 film Days of Wine and Roses, adapted brilliantly for the stage by Owen McCafferty.Donal and Mona leave Belfast for a new start in 60s London. Strangers in an unfamiliar city, they fall in love with life, each other and the drink. A whirlwind of discovery starts to spiral out of control as the young alcoholic drags his wife with him into the swamp of addiction - from which only one of them can escape.Owen McCafferty's Days of Wine and Roses is a free adaptation of JP Miller's screenplay of the same name for a 1962 film directed by Blake Edwards.The play was first performed at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in February 2005.

what if i'm not funny though - what if i go out there and i'm not funnySteve Johnston, guided and inspired by his girlfriend, is a small-time comedian, raw, original and true. Until he's spotted by an agent, who suggests he could be so much more: his act just needs to change. It's a Faustian pact. As tension builds over the course of four gigs, so too do the audiences. But at what cost?Death of a Comedian by Owen McCafferty premiered at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, in February 2015 in a co-production with the the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and Soho Theatre, London.