Gary Mitchell - dramadóír a bhfuil an saothar is déanaí óna pheann á léiriú i nGaeilge ar dtúis

AS he grew up on the loyalist estate of Rathcoole in north Belfast, Gary Mitchell never for one second thought he would be writing a play for production in the Irish language in Dublin.

The play Love Matters opens in the Project Theatre this Tuesday. Commissioned and produced by Belfast production company Aisling Ghear, the play deals with the consequences of the release from jail of a loyalist who finds that his wife has been having an affair with the son of the policeman who put him in prison.
It’s a universal theme set in a scene frequently associated with Mitchell, a writer who has been described as a “loyal writer” and someone who writes from the perspective of the working-class Protestant community.
His work has won him many awards and plaudits. He was the resident playwright in the National Theatre in London and his plays have been staged by the Abbey Theatre, as well as being translated into several languages and produced internationally.
But all this love matters little when compared to the most telling criticism of Mitchell’s writing. In February 2005, his family home in Rathcoole was attacked by loyalists angered by his depiction of them in his drama.
His car was targeted with a petrol bomb and his wife and son ran in terror from their home as the missile exploded. Since then, the family has been living in undisclosed locations throughout the North.
His plays and TV dramas about the loyalist community at a time when it was feuding and fracturing — a process which is still ongoing — apparently sparked the attack on his family home and that of his uncle in the estate in which he had grown up.
Since that attack, a stream of work from his pen has dwindled to a trickle.
A prolific writer — Love Matters will be his 40th significant work — he entertained aspirations of writing for Hollywood. Since 2005, he has written just five plays for RTE Radio and a play for the Belfast theatre company Dubbeljoint.
He was told by BBC Northern Ireland that, if he wanted to work with them, he should write about the peace process but with an emphasis on its positive aspects — an invitation Mitchell did not take up. That situation persisted until a change of personnel at the BBC and now he’s working with them on a non-peace process drama.
Two years ago, he was toying with the idea of getting a “real job” until he ran into the manager of Belfast’s Irish-language theatre company in the thriving Culturlann on the Falls Road. That chat turned into a commission and since then he has received five other commissions — none of which are about the loyalist/protestant community.
Growing up, the thought of becoming a playwright in any language was outside of his comprehension.
“I never saw myself as any type of playwright,” he says. “I doubt I even knew what that meant and I had enough trouble trying to learn English without even considering attempting another language.
“In my school — Rathcoole Secondary, a school that kids got expelled into — we had French and everybody thought it was a joke. It took the average pupil five years to learn how to count to five.”
One of his constant struggles has been to overcome the perception of him as a ‘loyalist/protestant writer’, as if his background limited him to writing on one subject.
“This project will be my 40th — most of them I would say were about the Protestant/loyalist community and I wrote them against a backdrop of resistance. What I mean is that every time I wrote a play I faced a real challenge to get it produced.
“I have been told time and time again that nobody is interested in the loyalist/ Protestant community. I was told it was briefly interesting or served occasionally as a counterpoint to IRA plays or films but was never going to be of any real importance and couldn’t sustain any type of popularity.
“This was problematic for me as nobody believed I was good enough to write about anything else.”
Although he tries not to dwell on the attack, a trauma which he says is losing its edge with time and distance, he understands the thinking behind it and feels sorry for those involved.
“The Protestant community believes itself to be under siege and at odds with the rest of the world and therefore doesn’t trust the media or the arts. It views them as sympathetic to its enemies.
“I was brought up to believe that the arts were for the Catholics and that the BBC was on the side of the IRA, so when I worked for the BBC or picked up awards in Dublin I was well aware how it would be perceived.
“I was also aware that they would not take the time to read or attend a play or even listen to one on the radio.”
It’s unlikely that many loyalists will go to see his latest work, either in Belfast or Dublin. A community at war with itself doesn’t have time for frivolity or culture.
Previously, when Gary Mitchell went to Dublin to view a play or pick up an award — his work In A Little World Of Our Own won the Best New Play award in The Irish Times Awards in 1997 — he would return home to be accused of “selling out” by hardline loyalists.
In his youth, the word ‘Irish’ was the butt of jokes among his friends. They laughed with gusto at Paddy-Irishman jokes and didn’t know about the existence of the Irish language.
His opinion now? “Overall, I would have to say jealous — envious. Irish-language theatre, Irish-language TV, Irish language cinema… beautiful, awesome, humbling.”
He faces the future now with five new commissions under his belt. We will hear more from Gary Mitchell.