Lyric Theatre, Belfast International tour of Agreement

Owen McCafferty’s play Agreement was written to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Following its initial 2023 run at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, this acclaimed dramatisation of the final four days of the historic 1998 peace negotiations embarked on an international tour in 2024. After a revival at the Lyric in March, the production travelled to New York for a four-week run at the Irish Arts Center followed by a month-long run at the Gate Theatre as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival. Charlotte Westenra’s production played to almost full capacity in both venues, with a reach of more than 37,000 globally, and resonated with audiences and critics alike.

Declaring it a landmark play, the Irish Times called it “a compelling political thriller with echoes of Greek drama,” while the New York Times described it as a “meditation for this moment”. When the production played at the Gate in Dublin, the theatre hosted post-show discussions featuring key figures involved in the negotiations, helping further contextualise events while also exploring the legacy of the agreement.

The tour strengthened the Lyric’s partnerships with international cultural institutions, building its relationship with the Irish Arts Center following a successful run of Good Vibrations in 2023, and bolstered its international reputation. McCafferty’s play helped generate dialogue about the Good Friday Agreement and the political figures who contributed to it as well as the wider topics of peace-making and peace-maintaining, providing a vital reminder that peace is achievable, even if the path to reach it may be fraught and complex, giving the play an extra layer of modern resonance.

Projekt Europa

A company with a clear mission, to support, develop, celebrate and champion migrant artists, Projekt Europa has enriched the UK theatre landscape in the process. Between December 2023 and November 2024, it supported more than 750 migrant artists and creatives – including asylum-seeking and refugee artists who have made the UK their home – from the company’s base in Kent via a number of inventive platforms and initiatives. Founded by director Maria Aberg, the company is able to draw on its members’ own first-hand experience as migrant artists to address the needs and concerns of those they work with.

In 2024, it partnered with Theatre Royal Plymouth to work with three migrant artists based in the South West on a micro-commissioning project. It continued to run Projekt Empower, a mentorship scheme that matches 10 emerging migrant artists with the UK’s most successful migrant theatremakers. 2024 mentors included Enda Walsh, Tanya Moodie and Hiran Abeysekera. Projekt Encounter, its ongoing community engagement programme, saw the company run regular workshops for refugees, asylum seekers and first-generation migrants with little or no previous experience of theatre.

The company’s work takes place against a backdrop of an alarming increase in anti-migrant sentiment in the UK, across Europe and the world. Systemic marginalisation of migrants in the theatre sector is also a very real and ongoing problem. Over 70% of people surveyed by the company said they’d encountered some form of xenophobia.

It’s an issue that Projekt Europa addresses in various, helpful ways while proving a vital reminder that true internationalism, making work that straddles borders and cultures can – and should – begin at home, and that the sector can only benefit from the voices and experiences that migrant artists have to offer.

Winners will be announced at The Stage Awards at the Royal Opera House on January 20. Tickets are available here.