Co-produced with Field Day Theatre Company and the Belfast Festival at Queen’s.

Henry Joy McCracken, leader of the United Irishmen in Antrim, is hiding on Belfast’s Cavehill. It is late at night. While his young lover sings their child to sleep, McCracken tries to make sense of the events which have seen the United Irishmen rush forward to the brink of success and now teeter on the point of failure. He must keep the flame of the United Irishmen alive, he must stop the disintegration of all he believed in, he must preserve hope. If he fails all fails Northern Star is a theatrical tour de force.

Stewart Parker describes the progress of the United Irishmen with more than a little help from Ireland’s leading playwrights. Farquhar, Bouicault, O’Casey and Beckett, to name a few, all play their part in this story of the seven ages of Henry Joy.