THE pandemic has affected no industry harder than arts and entertainment but after a spell away from the stage, Brassneck Theatre are back and raring to go with a new play as part of this summer’s Féile an Phobail.

Written by West Belfast woman Maria Connolly and directed by Tony Devlin, ‘Conversations with Angels’ will perform at the Devenish Complex from August 9-13.

From the people who Brought you 'The Holy, Holy Bus', 'Man In The Moon' and 'A Night With George', it is a hilarious, uplifting and ultimately inspiring new play which will leave all of us feeling that little bit closer to the angels.

2Gallery

Tickets went on sale on July 1 and just six days later, have already sold out and Maria is beyond excited.

“Tickets have sold out in six days. We are hoping with further easing of restrictions that we can bring it on tour to theatres across the North,” she explained.

“It just shows you how quickly people are desperate to come back to live events.

“This is my first play in front of a live paying audience inside. Everything I have done in the past year and a half has been outside, with social distance and I have even performed plays on the phone.

“I still had time I hadn’t had in years. Conversations with Angels was written over a very long period of time. It was meant to premiere last year with Brassneck but it had to be delayed due to the pandemic.”

The play sees world-famous Angel Medium, Tori Adams, in Belfast for one night only and the faithful flock have turned up in their thousands for the chance to meet her in the flesh. 

They hope to get to speak to their own guardian angels and if they're really lucky, maybe even get a wee message back from them.

“I wrote it based on an experience I had myself when I went to see a woman who said she could see angels. I stood in a queue for nine hours in Belfast to meet her.

“The experience was about all the people I met there that day and the reasons why they were there. They all had different reasons but they were all there because they believed in angels and that was what was going to get them through life.

“I wrote the play in an attempt to understand myself a bit better. The play is a comedy drama about whether angels are these spiritual messengers sent from God to help us and guide us or whether angels are people that live among us.

“I was questioning myself why I went there that day. I found it fascinating that there were so many women in the nine-hour queue.

“The play is about the women who are there to see Tori Adams – the best-selling author who they are all there to see and bring them their individual message.

“People are going to laugh, cry and shout during the performance. I think people will walk away with hope which is what we need right now.”

Maria has described the play being part of the huge West Belfast community festival as a “dream come true".

“The play is part of the Féile which is huge for me,” she added.

“I grew up going to see whatever play was on every summer and even when I was training in London, I always made sure to come back and see it.

“I remember dreaming, maybe I will have a play at Féile one day and it has happened! I can’t believe it. It is a message to everyone to follow their dreams.

“We are back into rehearsals in a week and a half. The script is ready to go. It’s a credit to Tony Devlin the Director for making my dream come true. It takes a lot of courage to send a play to anybody but I felt the play belonged to him.”

Brassneck Theatre company presents ‘Conversations with Angels’ at the Devenish Complex from August 9-13 at 8pm.

The play is supported by The Arts Council, Féile an Phobail, Devenish Complex and Terry Bradley.