CO ARMAGH playwright Joseph Crilly may be gone, but his work lives on: three years after the Derrymacash man's suicide, Crilly's play On McQuillan's Hill has recently premiered in London to rave reviews while raising funds for the mental health charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).
First produced in 2000 for the Lyric in Belfast, On McQuillan's Hill is currently wowing critics at London's Finborough Theatre with a cast including Cullybackey actor Helena Bereen, who has returned to the role she originated.
Set in the aftermath of the Belfast Agreement, the play centres on IRA volunteer Fra Maline and a celebration in the local community hall that turns to chaos, leaving the peace on a knife-edge.
"The sad reality is that had Joe survived, this production would never have happened," comments director Jonathan Harden of the play, part of the 'Crilly Trilogy' published in 2018.
"We are here because, like 18 others in the UK every day, a man took his own life."
:: On McQuillan's Hill runs at the Finborough Theatre (finboroughtheatre.co.uk) until February 29.
