THEATRE

The Celtic Cross - a new play by Matthew Jackson - has its Seattle premier this August. Come see it before the West Coast Tour takes us on the road.



"The Celtic Cross is a beautiful, harrowing, captivating play with heartfelt, heartbreaking characters and the perfect mix of history, timeliness, and looking forward. In the tradition of so much good theater, Wanderweg's two-person traveling production feels grand and sweeping even as it hits so close to home."

- Laurie Frankel, Author ("Atlas of Love" and "Goodbye for Now")



In Northern Ireland, two communities are at odds with each other. Their conflict is not only political, but ideological. The Protestant Loyalist side believes that Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom. The Catholic Nationalist side believes that Northern Ireland should become part of the Republic of Ireland. “The Troubles” refer to the thirty years of violence and terrorism between these two groups. Peace resolutions in the late 1990s brought an end to the sectarian violence, but the peace achieved is a shaky one.



The Celtic Cross is the story of the unlikely friendship that forms between Jacob and Thomas, two young men in Belfast, Northern Ireland; Jacob is a Protestant Loyalist and Thomas is a Catholic Nationalist. Set in the early 1990s, before the peace agreement, these two men have lived their entire life during “the Troubles.” Although they are conditioned to hate each other, an improbable friendship unfolds, but their circumstances force them to choose between their friendship and their beliefs.



This powerful new drama explores what it means to be Protestant, Catholic, Irish, British, too powerful for your own good, but too weak to change anything. But at its deepest – at its core – the play shows these two characters in their struggle to find humanity; in their friend, in their enemy, but most importantly – in themselves.