Joint Winner of The Hector MacMillan Best New Scottish Play 2019
Photograph by Mihaela Bodlovic
The Play
Jay is the American Oscar-winning actor leading a new play that connects with his Irish roots. Leigh is the English director who will do anything to get noticed. And Ruth is the Northern Irish playwright whose voice must be heard. The stage is set for success but when they meet to discuss the play’s challenges and provocations a line is crossed, and their heated discussion quickly escalates into violence.
Ulster American is a Traverse Theatre Company production.
The Playwright
David, a playwright, screenwriter, and actor from Belfast.
His first play, What the Animals Say, debuted at Oran Mor, Glasgow in 2011.
In 2012, he served as Playwright-in-Residence at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. That same year, Tinderbox Theatre Company produced his second play, Everything Between Us, for which he won the Meyer Whitworth Award.
In 2016, David brought Cyprus Avenue, starring Stephen Rea, to the Royal Court Theatre in London and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, before transferring the production to the Public Theatre in New York. The play earned the Irish Times Award for Best New Play and the James Tait Black Award in 2017.
His 2018 play, Ulster American, opened at the Traverse Theatre during the Edinburgh Fringe. The play won a Scotsman Fringe First and the Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland for Best New Play. In 2023, Second Half Productions revived Ulster American at Riverside Studios, London, with Woody Harrelson, Andy Serkis, and Louisa Harland in the cast.
His other plays include Not Now, Sadie, Yes So I Said Yes, The End of Hope, and Can’t Forget About You.
David’s first TV series, The Lovers, aired on Sky Atlantic in 2023. His latest series, Cold Water, starring Andrew Lincoln, is in production and will broadcast on ITV in 2025.