Enniskillen Drama Festival

Theatre 3 Newtownabbey 35 mins Open

Trifles by Susan Glaspell

Set in 1916 in a small Nebraskan farmhouse surly, and reclusive farmer John Wright was found murdered. His apathetic wife Minnie is the prime and only suspect and sitting in jail for the crime. Now a small group of people enter the home, looking for the clues that would explain why a woman would suddenly strangle her husband in the night. While County Attorney Henderson, Sheriff Peters and neighbour Mr. Hale roam the house looking for clues, the women (Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale) examine the ‘trifles’ of a country kitchen, such as frozen jars of preserves, and a poorly sewn quilt. But as the women look closer at Minnie’s world, they make a bone chilling discovery.

An Stoirm Chiúin 40 mins Confined

She Said, She Said by Michèle Ciba

After Liam O’Connor is arrested on suspicion of abusing his wife, the play returns to the events that led to his arrest. Concerned by Caoimhe’s behaviour, Mairéad arranges a book-club meeting so that she and Tom can assess Liam for themselves. His tense and confrontational manner appears to confirm their fears. When Caoimhe later arrives injured and frightened, they encourage her to report him. However, the same events are subsequently revealed from another perspective, exposing what occurred between Caoimhe and Liam in private and forcing the audience to reconsider who is controlling whom. Their competing accounts finally meet in a Garda interrogation where appearance, testimony and truth become dangerously difficult to separate.

A psychological drama about coercion, credibility and Narrative Control

Adult-content notice:

Contains strong language, themes of domestic and psychological abuse, staged physical violence, blood/injury effects, alcohol use and references to self-harm.

INTERVAL

Belvoir 45 mins Open

No Regrets by Deirdre Dooley

No Regrets is a dark memory-play in which Deirdre Dooley relives the events surrounding her sister Geraldine’s sudden death. The action shifts fluidly between a courtroom—where Deirdre stands accused of murder—and the run-down rural family home where the sisters’ final encounter unfolds. Characters transform in full view of the audience, blurring memory, guilt, and imagination.

Geraldine, a flamboyant but failing actress, returns home unannounced after years of absence. She has sold the family house without warning, forcing Deirdre to move out. Their reunion exposes a lifetime of imbalance: Deirdre, the dutiful older sister who endured their father’s violence and loss of her child; Geraldine, the indulged sister who escaped into drama school and chaos. Their conversations swing between affection, resentment and unresolved trauma.

Rat poison, heavy drinking, and a night of rain set the stage for Geraldine’s death — suicide, an assisted death, or something darker?

The audience, as the jury, are left to decide whether Deirdre is innocent or guilty; a caring woman driven by love or a murderer consumed by hate?