Waiting on the resurrection

The grieving characters in Carthaginians respond to Bloody Sunday by camping out in a cemetery, says Colette Sheridan

ONE of the few enduring plays of the Troubles, Carthaginians, by Frank McGuinness, runs at the Everyman Palace Theatre from Mar 26-31. The play, set in a graveyard, is an elegy to the Bloody Sunday killings, 40 years ago. A group of men and women camp out in a graveyard, awaiting the rising of the dead. Each character’s response to the tragedy is examined. Dido, played by Chris Robinson, is part of this grieving community and outside of it. He brings food and cigarettes to the three women and three men confronting their loss.

Robinson says Dido is a generation removed from the bereft characters. “He is a kind of voice for the future and is a foil for the others, who are dealing directly with the events of Bloody Sunday. He is also the characters’ link to the outside world. He’s a kind of chancer and is also an openly gay man who deals with gender politics. The others react towards him with varying degrees of acceptance. They realise they can rely on him and he also brings a bit of entertainment and light relief to the scene. He is accepted as an over-the-top character,” he says.