Tensions are high and there is much at stake in Owen McCafferty’s political drama Agreement, which recently opened at the swanky Irish Arts Center in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. Transferred from Belfast’s Lyric Theatre, it tells the true story of negotiations that occurred four days before the Good Friday agreement.
McCafferty’s tale joins a smattering of political dramas that have descended upon New York Stages this season. Earlier this month, Lincoln Center staged Corruption, a piece that uncovered Rupert Murdoch’s unscrupulous scheme to tap and record phone lines of high level British politicians, celebrities, and average citizens in order to get scuttlebutt for their newspaper empire. Grenfell, a transfer from England’s National Theater, is a docudrama currently playing at St. Ann’s warehouse that charts the political aftermath of a 2017 fire in a London high-rise. It claimed at least 70 lives. Another British transport, Patriots, examines the making of contemporary president Vladimir Putin, thanks largely to a billionaire oligarch.
The agreement dealt mostly with land sovereignty and would recognize Northern Ireland as part of the UK. Yet McCafferty’s play gets deep into the weeds with strands and specifics, that it is sometimes hard to follow. What may be a feast for policy wonks and politics is sometimes an overstuffed buffet for casual viewers.
Still, there is much to admire here, including a cheeky performance from Martin Hutson. Hutson portrays then Prime Minister Tony Blair, widely known for his irresistible charm and ability to persuade. Here, he is somewhat lampooned but in a tastefully playful manner.
The story is told through the lens of George Mitchell (Richard Croxford) , the U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland who was largely credited for making it happen, despite his challenge to “simultaneously juggle knives and balloons.”
Conor Murphy’s sparse, yet effective set forces his actors to walk in a circle throughout the show’s hour and forty-five minute running time. It serves as a perfect metaphor for their frustration to reach a deal. Also metaphorical is the large circular sphere hanging above the action that also doubles as a projection screen. Globe like in design, it reminds us that all of the world was watching.
Near the end, Mitchell delivers a rousing speech, that could well be applied to US politics of 2024:
“to those who disdain democracy – whose tools are bombs and bullets – your way is not the right way – you will never solve the problems of northern Ireland by violence – you will only make them worse – it doesn’t take courage to shoot a policeman in the back of the head or to murder an unarmed taxi driver – what takes courage is to compete in the arena of democracy where the tools are persuasion fairness and common decency – you should help to build a society instead of tearing it apart – this agreement points the way.”
Agreement shows us how well the politics of democracy work when there are civilized, intelligent, and rational adults in the room. In our fractured state, it’s just not a good reminder-it’s a vital one.
Agreement is now playing through May 12th at the Irish Arts Center (726 11th Avenue at 51st St., NYC). For tickets and information, click here : irishartscenter.org, lyric theatre agreement
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