Twenty-Four Hours
Twenty-one Stories
Belfast City

A hot Summer’s Day, a screaming baby, a young lover’s kiss, a colourful affair, a lost son’s shoes, a rotting secret, a hard day’s graft, a business deal, a clatter of pints, a shouting match, a long cool swim, a stolen moment, a dead man’s suit, a good boke, a splash of blood, a serious hiding, a drop of whiskey, a new dress, a battered old suitcase, a night sky, a quiet old man.

PrimeCut Theatre Company Presents
SCENES FROM THE BIG PICTURE
Irish premiere, Belfast Waterfront Hall

By Owen McCafferty
Directed by Conall Morrison 

Scenes From The Big Picture swept the boards in 2003, winning the John Whiting, The Meyer Whitworth Awards and the Evening Standard Charles Wintour Award for New Playwriting.

Conall Morison is the current Artistic Associate of the Abbey theatre and “The sharpest Director in Irish Theatre” Sunday Times December 2006.

What the Critics said:

“Picture this cast. Anyone who is anyone in acting in Ulster turns up for a must-see McCafferty drama. Watching Prime Cut's production of Owen McCafferty's Scenes from the Big Picture is akin to checking off a list of who's who in Ulster acting.  Conall Morrison directs Marcella Riordan, Eleanor Methven, Niall Cusack, Maria Connolly, Gerard Jordan, Julia Dearden, Ivan Little, Séainín Brennan, Chris Corrigan, Packy Lee, and Marc O'Shea - to name just some of the 21-strong cast - in this snapshot of a day in the life of Belfast… McCafferty is one of our most successful contemporary playwrights, collecting awards for almost every drama he writes. For too long, his work seemed to appear mainly on London stages. Prime Cut has seized the stage at the Waterfront Studio, to put on one of the biggest productions seen in Belfast for some years.
Belfast Telegraph, Grania McFadden

“Scenes from the Big Picture has come home. And come home to an appreciative audience. One that guffaws when it should, and has the decency to shed a sly tear when the heartstrings are tugged. One that gives a first night standing ovation.”
Culture Northern Ireland online, Kirsten Kearney

“Belfast audiences have greeted the Irish Premiere of Owen McCafferty's Scenes From The Big Picture with standing ovations. Don't miss your chance to experience this fast-paced show following 24 hours in the lives of 21 Belfast citizens.”
Culture Club Magazine

“Conall Morrison's tight, purposeful direction, supported by Sabine Dargent's spare set, uses a continuous collage of grainy, back-projected images to capture the great depressing sweep of Belfast street life...Characters step forward to present their stories, which begin as isolated narrative pools, but slowly, unrelentingly intersect and collide. As each chapter ends, the individual journeys continue, with the actors returning to their seats by a maze of routes. Prime Cut deserves huge praise for bringing home this complex, swirling play, with its cast of 21 actors, who never leave the stage…At almost three hours, this is not a short play, but, with the pace building, the interval comes as an unwelcome interruption.”
The Irish Times, Jane Coyle

“McCafferty's canvas is packed with vivid characterisations.”
* * * The Guardian, Helen Meany

“The pulsating momentum of the play is driven by the intense and completely convincing acting. The actors create incredible texture to each one of the characters in their space of time on centre stage, and consequently to the play itself. A compelling magnification of the meandering lives of these few people… The play clocks in at almost three hours but the continuous quality of surprise and the fast pace held the audience transfixed throughout. I would doubt if anyone could resist succumbing to this well-crafted and superbly acted play.”
Belfast Newsletter, Ciara Hickey

“A whole world is evoked in this multi award winning dramatic tour de force.”
Emigrant online

“Do not miss this multi-award winning play!”
Community Arts Forum Magazine

 “Owen McCafferty’s multi-award winning Scenes From the Big Picture has finally come home…Scenes From the Big Picture remains streets ahead of anything else you’re likely to see this year. Not once in the two and a half hours does time drag…See it. Admire it. Be proud that Belfast has produced a playwright of McCafferty’s calibre and a ballsy theatre company like Prime Cut.”
Culture Northern Ireland Magazine, David Lewis