STARRING Adrian Dunbar and Michael Shea, this 20-minute short film is based on the real-life struggle of Belfast actor/director James Ellis and writer Sam Thompson to stage their 1959 play Over The Bridge – one of the first local productions to tackle the religious divide in the north.
Thompson, a shipyard worker turned playwright, infamously approached Ellis in the street and proclaimed "I have a play here you won't touch with a bargepole".
However, Ellis took the script – centred on a sectarian dispute among shipyard workers – and brought it home to his father, another former shipyard worker.
Having secured his seal of approval, Ellis agreed to stage the play at Belfast's Group Theatre: its chairman promptly asked for it to be changed beyond recognition.
Directed by the late acting legend's son, Toto Ellis, with a cast also including Conleth Hill and Michael Smiley, Two Angry Men documents Ellis and Thompson's subsequent battle with the Belfast establishment to stage their controversial work, which was eventually seen by thousands – including Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier, the latter of whom took it to the London stage.
:: Tickets £4 via Belfastfilmfest.org. Adrian Dunbar will be in conversation with Brian Henry Martin following the screening.
