Body Count

Body Count, a new play by Gary Mitchell, runs at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 November. It's a two-night run in the Naughton Studio, so you'll have a choice of three performances across the weekend: 20:00 on the Friday, and 15:00 and 20:00 on the Saturday.

Mitchell developed the play in conversation with Women's Aid, and it takes an unflinching look at the aftermath of sexual assault and the culture that thrives on it. The story follows a family who keep the trauma as their own secret: a daughter in crisis, a mother wondering whether to share her own experience, a father struggling with his sense of masculinity, and a son feeling helpless and enraged. It's staged with an intimate, stripped-back approach that puts the audience right in the middle of the action, and it asks how society fails victims and what happens when misogyny and harmful ideas take hold. The play also looks at a world where young people are increasingly exposed to online conversations around masculinity and the manosphere.

It's directed by Janice Kernoghan-Reid, with a cast of four: Cathy Brennan-Bradley as the Mother, Paddy McDonnell as the Father, Eimear Bailie as the Daughter, and Robert Patrick Hamilton as the Son. Mitchell is an internationally recognised, multi-award-winning writer, and critics have called him Northern Ireland's greatest playwright and one of Europe's most talked-about voices.

The production is suitable for ages 15 and over. It runs on Friday 13 November at 20:00, and Saturday 14 November at 15:00 and 20:00, all at the Lyric's Naughton Studio.