(Andy Webster’s article appeared in The New York Times, 4/24; via Pam Green.)
Just before Nate Rufus Edelman’s winning drama “The Belle of Belfast” begins, the buzz saw intensity of Stiff Little Fingers’ republican anthem “Alternative Ulster” and John McDermott’s set — an imposing exposed-brick wall covered with graffiti and topped with barbed wire — signal that you’re in the caldron of Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1985. Add John Larson’s black-and-white projections from the bloodstained history of the Troubles, and throw in the hormones and caustic temperament of a 17-year-old live wire, and you’re in a pressure cooker at steam heat.