Belfast Girls NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsShow-Score Member Reviews (84)
See it if you want to learn about a part of ~1850 Irish history through an entertaining, absorbing play with stellar acting! I was fascinated by it!
Don't see it if you don't like plays about historical events or can not follow Irish accents, but they seemed relatively easy to follow here. Read more
See it if You are interested in Irish history dating from around1850. A period of history I knew nothing about, but was fascinating!
Don't see it if You are not interested in this period of Irish history. Sometimes it is hard to understand the Irish dialect, but you get the gist of it. Read more
See it if You want to experience a brilliantly written play based on a book by the same writer about true events in 1850 Belfast. ……..
Don't see it if The only reason not to see this powerful fascinating play is if you can’t deal with listening to dialogue spoken in a heavy Irish accent ! Read more
See it if You like serious Irish plays. Slow beginning, then 2nd Act rips your heart out! Great acting & writing. Plot twists you don't see coming.
Don't see it if You want a light, fun evening. The 1st Act is painfully slow. Some left at intermission. But the 2nd Act is powerful &leaves you trembling! Read more
See it if You enjoy some history with your entertainment. Based on true stories it is very interesting and well-acted
Don't see it if You prefer fantasy
See it if If you like history, plays based on true facts
Don't see it if If your are expecting an funny comedy
See it if you like historical drama that is very relevant today..Stories that have an authentic feel by a gifted playwright who knows the subject well
Don't see it if Forget it, Just go. The second act takes an unexpected twist that justified all the preliminary character=building in act one. Strong acting
See it if You enjoy powerful stories well told.
Don't see it if You have trouble with accents or don’t like all-female casts
Critic Reviews (8)
"Until the final moments, when the women stand on deck and contemplate their future, 'Belfast Girls' never quite manages to reach out from its world into ours, which is what makes a drama like this feel essential. For a shipbound play, it only rarely raises anchor."
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"'Belfast Girls' offers a welcome fresh perspective on the myths that still dominate popular narratives about the immigrants of a previous era. It wasn't all rugged adventurers, nor were British emigration schemes merely a way to make the very poor disappear. The truth lies somewhere in between, in the wide ocean between here and there."
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The Irish diaspora is the source of many gritty tales and Belfast Girls can stand up to the toughest of them…If director Nicola Murphy might arguably do more to tauten the action of the first act, she orchestrates a second act full of fury and suspense. She also stages a simple, yet stirring, finale, in which the women step onto dry land to warily face an unknown future.
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"At the 'Belfast Girls' end, the women represent anyone anywhere attempting to keep a dream awake, if such a thing can be done. That’s even as the dream appears to be fading. This is often described as hoping against hope. McCarrick quite impressively presents a poignant version of it."
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"McCarrick’s play, predictably, is not a happily-ever-after tale. We meet her characters, five women of questionable age and background—those boarding the ships were supposed to be 'morally pure' teenagers, but were often older and more, well, experienced—as they’re about to set sail, and leave them as they arrive in Sydney. What we learn in between—of their back stories, their aspirations and the worlds they are departing and entering—gives us cause for both hope and dread."
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"Close quarters, wild seas and boredom bring out the worst in some and the best in others. In her thought-provoking play 'Belfast Girls' Jaki McCarrick seizes on a third option — actively contemplating being 'mistresses of their own destiny.'"
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All the performances are strong, forthright, and colorful, adorned with the authentic Irish accents you invariably hear at this bastion of the brogue, but none, for me, were able to break through the veneer of artificiality the play imposes. I was happy to go along with the history lesson being taught, but not so much the emotional journey on which it sought to take me.
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"'Belfast Girls' is at its best when it offers a rich character study of these five fascinating women. The play’s sea legs, though, become much wobblier when it veers into political diatribe and social militancy."
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