New play delves into campaigners for gay rights in Northern Ireland

New play delves into campaigners for gay rights in Northern Ireland

25 September 2024

A PLAY celebrating the fearless early campaigners for gay rights in the Northern Ireland will be performed in Downpatrick next month.

Callings, produced by Belfast-based theatre company Kabosh, goes on stage at Down Arts Centre on October 26.

It celebrates the activism of the dedicated people who set up the helpline Cara-Friend 50 years ago to offer support and friendship at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in Northern Ireland.

The drama, written by Dominic Montague, is set in the offices of Cara-Friend in  Belfast’s University Street five years after the helpline was set up.

Dominic said it was an opportune moment to highlight the themes in this important drama at a time when the LBGTQIA+ community is again being targeted and abused by reactionary forces.

“Cara-Friend is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago, its founding principles of community and connection just as vital. In increasingly divisive times, remembering our past is an important reminder that we can shape the future. There are still many fights to be won.”

As volunteers answer calls from a succession of anxious people trying to come to terms with their sexuality, the witty and poetic delves into the dark, repressive days when gay people lived in fear of arrest, of losing their jobs and of being disowned by loved ones.

Throughout the play the protagonists maintain a sense of humour and solidarity in adversity as the Kafkaesque forces of the state seek to interfere in their private lives.

Interspersed with some popular tunes of the day, they talk of their need for positive role models, heroes and stories of gay people ‘out there, changing the world’.

Callings is steeped in the atmosphere of the late 70s and early 80s when attitudes to gay people were changing.

Adam Murray, Community Development Manager at Cara-Friend said: “This revival of Callings perfectly aligns with Cara-Friend’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

“As we look back over 50 years of activism and the foundation of the LGBTQIA+ community in Northern Ireland, Callings is a visionary portrayal of the hopes, heartaches and hurdles faced by gay and lesbian rights activists prior to decriminalisation in the North.”