‘Parallel Games’ and Queer Memories: Performing LGBT Testimonies in Northern Ireland

This essay explores how the notion of ‘parallel games’ works to queer memory in two productions of Northern Ireland's first publicly funded gay theatre company, TheatreofplucK, led by artistic director Niall Rea: the testimonial monologue D.R.A.G. (Divided, Radical and Gorgeous) (2012), written by Rea, and the performed archive installation, Tr<uble (2015), written by Shannon Yee. As post-conflict memory works, both productions trouble a progressivist understanding of ‘moving on’ from the conflict: instead of memories being harnessed to the ethno-nationalist template established by the Belfast Agreement, the plays ‘move’ memory work in different directions at the same time, giving rise to a diverse set of emotions.