Titanic Town

The Catholic McPhelimy family moves into Anderson-stown, Belfast, in 1972 just as the estate descends into a battle zone, with the Brits and IRA fighting it out across the front lawns. Stunned into action by the death of an old friend in crossfire, born fighter Bernie (Walters, making a fine fist of her role), the mother of the brood, is emboldened to champion the cause of peace in an attempt to halt the pointless loss of life. This entails not only making demands on the Stormont representatives and challenging the IRA leadership, but overcoming the violent scorn and anger of local Catholic neighbours. Loosely adapted from Mary Costello's semi-autobiographical novel, the story is told from the point of view of the daughter Annie (O'Neill), with the certain partiality that entails. A little dramatically unsophisticated, and heir inevitably to some political simplification, it's none the less an arresting and timely drama.