A MAJOR new play is set for the Waterfront Hall later this year, based on the tragic events surrounding the McGurks Bar massacre. 15 Catholics, including two children, were killed in the UVF bombing of the North Queen Street pub on the evening of December 4 1971. It was the deadliest attack in Belfast during the Troubles. In the aftermath of the bombing the RUC spread disinformation blaming republicans on the bomb, claiming that it was being handled by members of the IRA in the bar at the time and exploded prematurely. In 1977 UVF man Robert Campbell was sentence to life for his part in the bombing. Since then, the families of those who died in the massacre have fought a long campaign for the truth surrounding the bombing and the subsequent cover-up. The McGurk’s Bar Tragedy by playwright Martin Lynch will take to the Waterfront stage from November 9-14. The play is based on the stories of the 15 victims who died in the bomb. Actos Paddy Jenkins, Conor Grimes, Richard Clemence, James Doran and Thomas Galashan are part of the professional cast. The McGurk’s Bar Tragedy is perhaps Green Shoot Production’s most ambitious project in its 25 year history. It has been written to an epic scale, with a cast of seven professional actors and 30 community actors from the North Belfast area. The story is based on the real events of December 1971 when a bomb went off at McGurk’s on North Queen Street in inner-city North Belfast. This loss of life left a profound wound within the New Lodge that has lasted and resonates to this day. Veteran New Lodge community worker Paddy McCooey described the production as “a momentous idea”. He went on to say, “This play isn’t just about the McGurk’s bomb, it represents all the innocent people who have been killed in bombs during the Troubles, elevating it to a powerful legacy for all bomb victims and their families.”
