Lies where It Falls – Quaker Meeting House

Written and performed by Ruairi Conaghan, Lies Where it Falls is heartfelt and full of love. Conaghan (an ensemble actor with major shows such as Downton Abbey under his belt) takes us on an autobiographical, topical and socially important journey through the impact of growing up in Derry. It explores the lasting personal reverberations of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. And not in a Derry Girls kind of way.

Conaghan’s uncle, the Catholic Judge Rory Conaghan, was shot and killed by the IRA as he held his young daughter’s hand on his own doorstep in 1974. Conaghan was just eight at the time. And, sure, everyone gets on with life as best they can under the circumstances.

When Conaghan later took flight from Northern Ireland to study drama in Liverpool, he thought he’d escaped. But trauma lives under the skin and when acting parts call upon our personal experience to make them real, the tension between life, fiction and creative expression can be crushing.

Conaghan bravely acts out his story so we can appreciate the deep and dark legacy of British Rule over its foreign neighbour. The human cost is a debt not easily repaid. National anguish lingers to this day with Brexit and border issues rubbing salt into the wound and a parliament that appears to be choked by its own ingrained grief at family losses on both sides of the divide.

Through this dramatic recollection, Conaghan finally finds reconciliation and a personal peace of some sort. It is emotional and moving. The piece is rendered with grace and perfect pacing. It deserves to be seen. And we, on the mainland, deserve to understand our own history and appreciate the personal impact of what many in Northern Ireland considered a war cloaked in the pseudonym of The Troubles. 

Reviewer: Kathleen Mansfield

Reviewed: 4th August 2024

North West End UK Rating: