Catherine Moore<\/span>BBC News NI<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n West Belfast actress Geraldine Hughes is back in Belfast, directing a critically-acclaimed play about abuse in the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n Unreconciled is an autobiographical play written and performed by Pennsylvania-born Jay Sefton.<\/p>\n The one-man show tells the story of a teenage actor cast as Jesus in a school play directed by a parish priest.<\/p>\n It also chronicles his journey to speak out as a survivor of sexual abuse and navigate a reparations programme set up by the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ms Hughes said she wants to bring “important stories” to Belfast – stories she is “proud to tell and be associated with”.<\/p>\n She grew up in west Belfast in the 1970s and 1980s, before leaving for the USA to pursue an acting career.<\/p>\n “I’m really happy to be back at the Lyric Theatre,” she told BBC News NI.<\/p>\n “Belfast is special. Belfast is the best city.<\/p>\n “I travel for work, I go to many different places, and Belfast is the greatest audiences, the most hospitable and welcoming and responsive audiences, and the Lyric team are fantastic.<\/p>\n “I love being here. It’s a beautiful space.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ms Hughes’ career has seen her act, write, direct and produce. <\/p>\n It has led her to work with big Hollywood names, including Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood and Richard Gere, and she even nannied for Danny DeVito.<\/p>\n She said she has had “incredible opportunities to work with great people” and described Mr Sefton, who she has known since the late 1990s, as a “special performer and storyteller”.<\/p>\n “It’s just been such a beautiful lovely thing to be reconnected as friends and also to be working on this.<\/p>\n “It’s an incredible story with – believe it or not – some chuckles and laughs and enjoyment.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Set in the Catholic suburbs of Philadelphia in the 1980s, Unreconciled originated from Mr Sefton’s experience participating in a victims’ compensation fund created by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and a newspaper article he wrote which connected him with other survivors and their stories. <\/p>\n He worked with co-writer Mark Basquill to bring his story to the stage, focusing on two key events: being cast as Jesus at age 13 and taking part in the compensation fund at age 47.<\/p>\n He was also inspired after seeing Ms Hughes’ play Belfast Blues, a one-woman play based on her time as a pupil at St Louise’s College. <\/p>\n “Seeing Geraldine’s Belfast Blues was the inspiration for thinking maybe I could try something in the solo form,” he said, adding that he plays about 12 different characters in Unreconciled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mr Sefton’s hope is that audiences leave the play with “an understanding of how prevalent [sexual] abuse is”.<\/p>\n “From a theatrical standpoint there’s a lot of humour in the play, there’s a lot of joy in the play and a lot of hope in the play so I hope people come away with a full experience of the theatre as well,” he added.<\/p>\n “That’s why I wrote it, why I thought theatre is the medium for this \u2013 we get to sit together in a room and hear somebody’s story and hopefully we all feel a little more connected after that.”<\/p>\n Ms Hughes added that she hopes people will “think about their own stories” and about “having the courage to tell their own stories”.<\/p>\n “Also to have hope no matter what their circumstances are – to have hope and to continue to live a life well-lived no matter what they been through,” she said.<\/p>\n “That’s important.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/1c49\/live\/c92968c0-ab46-11f0-86b3-2dd47a6542fa.jpg.webp\")
BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nHollywood names<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSharing stories<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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