We'll Walk Hand In Hand

We'll Walk Hand In Hand

We'll Walk Hand In Hand  was  produced by Tom for GreenShoot Productions. The production premiered in The Lyric Theatre, Belfast before embarking on a regional tour.

Written by critically acclaimed playwright Martin Lynch, the play marked the 50th anniversary of the Northern Irish Civil Rights movement, We’ll Walk Hand in Hand explored the struggle for Civil Rights in 1968 and how some are still struggling for civil rights in the present day.

The play charts the lives of two working-class students from Belfast who meet at University in 1967 and soon find themselves at the centre of the explosive student reaction to the civil rights movement. Their involvement leads to heated confrontations with their disapproving families and ultimately to conflict with each other. In the second act, audiences are then presented with modern-day Belfast and the civil rights challenges of the present day.

The project was developed in collaboration with Martin Lynch (writer & director), Matthew McElhinney (assistant director), David Craig (set designer), Chris Hunter (deputy set designer), Susan Scott (costume designer), Conleth White (lighting designer), Katie Richardson (musical director & sound design), Garth McConaghie (musical director. 

The cast included professional Actors Conor Grimes, Emer McDaid, John Travers, Maria Connolly, Michael Lavery, Noel McGee, Susie Kelly worked alongside a community cast of 10. 

Alongside the professional production Tom also produced and facilitated a community engagement programme involving groups and individuals right across Belfast. The engagement programmed explored both historic and current  civil rights struggles.