Drama Research Seminar Series / PGR Voices  

The marked absence of an overarching transitional justice mechanism in post-conflict Northern Ireland continues to negatively impact victims, survivors, and their families in their pursuit of justice for conflict-related and historical cases from the Troubles. The Legacy Bill, backed by the British Government, promises an end to prosecutions and justice for these people. In this landscape of impunity, a key question arises: what options are available to recognise these experiences?

This paper examines Jo Egan’s 2018 play, The Crack in Everything, and its acute engagement with the experiences of six families whose children were killed during the Troubles, their fight for justice, and their ongoing experiences in the wake of impunity. I argue that this play demonstrates the efficacy of the arts in mobilising victims, survivors and their families in participating beyond legal and verbal justice, rejecting the inaction of the state and relevant bodies in these cases, and can bring recognition to those who have been forgotten and marginalised by the metanarrative of conflict. Egan’s play retrospectively offers a lens through which the opposition to the Legacy Bill may be understood.

The response to the presentation of a reduced 60-minute version of the play at Westminster to a select audience of politicians, local artists, and charities in June 2022 highlights the important role theatre may play in victim participation. With the Legacy Bill lurking on the horizon, it may be that artistic and cultural practises are the only way that victims and survivors can participate in dealing with the past and pursuing justice.  

Emily Moore (BA Hons, MRes) is a third year PhD student at Queen’s University Belfast, funded by the AHRC Northern Bridge Consortium. Her research focuses on theatre and transitional justice (TJ) in post-conflict Northern Ireland and is primarily concerned with the impact of the Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill on victims, survivors, and their families in pursuing justice for Troubles-related cases. In the absence of any mechanism to support these people, theatre has flourished in engaging with these experiences and the themes central to TJ. Theatre perhaps now offers an alternative modality through which the legacy of the Troubles may be addressed.