You mean when people pretend it’s the last one, but go on as it’s good marketing?” jokes Gerard. Large agrees: “They’ve gone as far as they can go. There’s a kind of happy ending, with a sting in the tail.”

As you may have gathered, his work on the Dundonald Liberation Army has proved a useful safety valve for venting Large's frustrations with certain aspects of everyday life here. While some take to social media to rant about what irks them, it's all grist to the DLA's mill. The CYM could be considered as the forerunners to the DLA after they smuggled the first consignment of Super Soakers into the area during the early Nineties. The DVF took a no nonsense approach to the vandalizing of flower beds belonging to local residents, while the short-lived OMD disbanded over regrets they had named themselves after an Eighties new wave synth group. The ambition is huge and if Stormont isn’t functioning so cannot be stormed at the moment, there’s always the Lisburn and Castlereagh Council chamber. Stephen’s debut screenplay Normal Lives (2018-2020), about the dance scene and life in post-Good Friday Agreement Northern Ireland is in development with the Northern Ireland Film Board. There have been so many personal and professional highs that have peppered with these devastating lows, which take time to process and recover from. But the writing and seeing the shows has been great. And I've needed that, personally. It keeps you going.”The DLA’s style—bling, fake tan, ostentatious facial hair—is unmistakably that of loyalist criminal godfathers. Their performances have attracted working-class Protestant men who might not normally be theatre-goers. Yet at times the dotty rhetoric is reminiscent of Irish nationalism. Stephen Large, creator of both the DLA and “Three’s a Shroud”, insists he is an “equal-opportunity offender”, who tries to show proper disrespect for all sides. It constantly seems to be ordinary people taking it upon themselves to raise money or awareness,” he added. As the DLA waged its watery war across the new borough, they watched on in dismay at how their struggle was being portrayed via the media. The army council decided if they were going to win this war then they would need to fight on all fronts and therefore they required a political strategy. The D.I.C. (Dundonald Independence Committee) was established with the objective of having a legitimate political agenda running in tandem with the DLA’s armed campaign. I've moved round different areas but I haven't managed to get out yet. But I haven't had any problems – everyone sees it for what it is and no-one is taking it too seriously. I take the p*** out of a lot of working class things, but it's all stuff that I have experienced – I used to take my PE kit to school in a plastic carrier bag. The Dundonald Liberation Army has announced they are standing for election and want you to cast your votes when they take to the stage of the Grand Opera House later this year.

After navigating their way through a global pandemic, Davy and Horse realise their dream of an independent republic of Dundonald will only be achieved with a political strategy. Stephen G. Large says with feeling that “theatre is the only unfiltered version of what’s going on. People may say you should rein it in, maybe if you’re working for the BBC”. Meanwhile, on Derry’s storied walls, which loom large in Protestant memory because of a Catholic siege in 1689, the balance teeters between hope and historical obsession. This year an Anglican cleric—working with Mr Burgess, the playwright, who is Presbyterian—is using the fortifications to stage an Easter passion play. But, as is usual with public events in the city these days, people of all faiths and none are helping out. ■ Talking to the Vote DLA gang in an otherwise empty studio space at the Grand Opera House, it’s clear they are having fun with the climactic show. They even put up Vote DLA posters round town in the run-up to the recent council elections, maybe confusing some voters in the process.New show Vote DLA sees ambitious ideologue Davy hoping to swap violence for votes in his quest to free his home town from the grasp of Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council - and he’s dragging his reluctant compadre along with him. Following a recent sell-out run in The MAC, the Dundonald Liberation Army are set to cause havoc on the Grand Opera House next year.

Film credits include: Ups and Downs (BBC); U Looking At Me (Channel 4); Betrayal of trust and Father Father (BBC NI). For Stephen, along with that sense of accomplishment will be the memory of three young men who lost their lives in the last few years. In honour of them, he has teamed up with the suicide prevention charity PIPS to offer billboard advertising throughout the promotional campaign for Vote DLA, as well as pledging to make a donation at the end of the run. And then when you go and see these shows and you see a room full of people belly laughing at your jokes, it's a great feeling.

Team

Stephen expressed his frustration that for all the fine words that ‘it’s okay not to be okay’ and that we should all be open about our mental health, there’s been very little tangible progress. Yet the arts community has as much spirit as Ms Donnelly’s characters, Susie who is “feisty” and Norma who will go toe-to-toe over her principles because she knows she is right. As Donnelly observes, many in the business have worked away in London or elsewhere but choose to return: “We may not make much money but theatre matters. We’ll say, there isn’t a lot of funding but let’s put something on anyway.”