When actor Ruairi Conaghan was asked to play the part of Patrick Magee who tried to assassinate Margaret Thatcher and her government in the 1984 Brighton Bomb attack, it triggered memories of an act of IRA violence upon his own family when he was a child.
On 16 September 1974, Judge Rory Conaghan was shot dead on his Belfast doorstep whilst holding his 9 year old daughter’s hand. Ruairi Conaghan is Judge Conaghan’s nephew.
After playing Magee, Ruairi’s next role was the Player King in Hamlet at the Barbican opposite Benedict Cumberbatch. It was only then that the true consequences of his decision to play Magee were revealed. Shakespeare’s words stirred up Ruairi’s memories of the murder of a loved one and the lasting trauma that flowed from it, leading to a physical and mental collapse that threatened his life. It was only the love of his family and the community of theatre that brought him back from the brink.
At a time when shocking and divisive conflicts play out before us daily and truth and reconciliation have never been more needed, Lies Where It Falls explores the legacy of the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’, and celebrates the healing powers of theatre, using song, poetry, humour, cinema and Shakespeare to tell a courageous story of recovery with life-affirming, soul-bearing honesty.
2024 marks both the 50th anniversary of the murder of Judge Conaghan, and the 40th anniversary of the Brighton Bombing.