New Play Derry Boys Tackles the Troubles with Wit, Warmth and Brutal Honesty

This month, Theatre503 will host Derry Boys – a new play by Irish writer Niall McCarthy. Equal parts riotous and raw, Derry Boys is a coming-of-age tale set in a city still scarred by its past, and still cracking jokes about it. This darkly funny play traces the lives of two friends from reckless teenage dreamers to disillusioned adults, as they navigate the legacy of violence, identity, and growing up in a place that doesn’t quite know what to call itself. With biting humour and unflinching honesty, Derry Boys doesn’t lecture - it entertains, disrupts, and hits hard. We caught up with Niall to find out how much of the play is true, why simplicity is key, and how he dodges the politics while going straight for the heart.

Can you describe Derry Boys to us?

Derry Boys is the story of two young lads whose greatest dream is to blow up Buckingham Palace and start a new sect of the IRA—unfortunately they’re idiots. The play is essentially the journey of their life, from young kids who idolise the terrorist/freedom fighter activities of the IRA into men with very different views of the world. Paddy just tries to do what’s right, and Mick sticks to the path that was predestined for him. The problem for Paddy is that sometimes it’s really difficult to escape your past.

How much of the play is drawn from personal experience?

Whilst the events of the play are not a true story, the things the characters say and the themes are very much based in the Derry experience and the experience I’ve had of being from Derry. I can pick out certain lines in the play and tell you exactly who said it to me and when they said it. One particular scene that had to be cut from the play for time was a first-hand experience I had. I think all people from Derry like myself harbour this chip on our shoulder from being this forgotten-about border town that nobody really wants on their team. People from the south will say you’re not Irish, but we don’t want to identify as British—so what are we? We’re just from Derry. It’s its own thing.

What do you think Derry Boys contributes to conversations about masculinity today?

I’m not too sure. To me, I think it’s just a cool story about friendship. With young male characters, I suppose the story is always going to have something to do with that adolescent experience—it’s about young people trying to find their place in the world. I think it would be easy to conflate that experience with young men searching for masculinity, transitioning from boys to men, but I don’t see it as a gendered thing at all. I think it’s something everybody goes through.

The play moves between timelines – how do you help the audience track the shifts?

We just put the date and location up on a projected screen lol. Keep it simple—I don’t want people thinking “when are we right now?”, because if they’re thinking then they’re not having fun and enjoying the play. The actors themselves also carry a lot of the work of conveying the characters as children, which they do a fantastic job of. A lot of the references to world events will also allow the audience to understand exactly when we are, and they’ll be able to track through how the world has shifted.

How do you approach directing scenes that carry strong political or ideological tension without alienating the audience?

Keep it funny and never lose sight of the characters. If people wanted to watch a recited essay on political ideologies, they wouldn’t. Because no one does—that sounds boring as.

What’s your favourite line or moment in the play and why?

My favourite lines are all the best jokes, which I’m not about to give away to you here haha (buy tickets!). But one of my favourites is a moment when Aoife asks Paddy if he’s “a bit of a homebird” and he says “naw, I’m a jailbird.” A younger me would have really related to that line, which I guess makes sense because an older me wrote it lol.

What message or feeling do you hope audiences take away from the play?

I hope their stomachs are sore from laughing and their eyes are sore from crying and their wallets are sore from throwing money at me.

Derry Boys will be at Theatre503, London from 20th May – 7th June. For tickets and more information, visit: https://theatre503.com/whats-on/derry-boys/