The high drama of the negotiations that led up to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago

is coming into sharp focus again as we prepare to mark the anniversary of that significant political moment.

And this week we've brought red lines out of the studio and onto the stage of the Lyric Theatre in Belfast,

where a new play about that very process is currently in rehearsal.

Agreement is written by the celebrated Belfast playwright Owen McAffordy

and it focuses on some of the key political players who thrashed out that deal

a quarter of a century ago under the watchful eye of Senator George Mitchell.

Owen McAffordy is sitting alongside me, I'm pleased to say,

and we've been joined by the play's director, Charlie Westonra,

by Dan Gordon, who plays John Hume, and by Andrea Irvine,

who's taking on the role of Mo Mo Luhlum.

So, welcome to you all.

Charlie, we should set the scene here before we go any further.

We're sitting on the lyric stage where the play opens next week, but you just finished rehearsals about 20 minutes ago and you are right in the middle of it. How's it going?

It's been a long process getting here. I feel like I've been working with this play

actually for about five years now because it was about five years ago that Owen and I first spoke about

it. And then suddenly everything seems to be going very quickly and I can't believe that we're going to

open next week. And I think perhaps that was a little bit like the negotiations themselves which went on

for a very long time and then suddenly the last four days everything surprisingly came together so

I feel like I'm channeling a little bit of George Mitchell going we can get there where the

the end is in sight the deadline is looming.

So that's a little bit how I feel.

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