Derry’s troubled past explored in McGee’s uneven stage debut

Jamie-Lee O’Donnell and Jennifer Barry brought tenacity and vulnerability to Girls and Dolls

Girls and Dolls, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, By Lisa McGee, Rating: ***

A flickering TV screen sets the tone for Sodabread Theatre’s production of Girls and Dolls, the debut play by Lisa McGee, celebrated writer of the Channel 4 series Derry Girls. As the picture switches between memorable ads and soap opera intros, director Gerard McCabe pitches the play somewhere between 1980s nostalgia and serial melodrama.

The action may be set in Derry at ...