REAL-LIFE best friends Hannah Power and Conor Murray are heading for Edinburgh.
The Dubliners will bring their new play Don’t Tell Dad About Diana to the Festival Fringe this month.
Set in Dublin in1997 the coming-of-age tale follows two Irish teenagers on their mission to win an Alternative Miss Ireland competition with their Princess Diana drag act.
Their families don’t know, of course. That is until the real princess dies in a tragic accident.
The incident triggers the unravelling of their secret and plenty more home truths too.
Best friends Hannah Power and Conor Murray star in the show (Pic: Erica Verling)Experiences from their youth have fuelled a lot of the writing, the pair - who also perform the show - admit, although it was their time spent in London that provided the original inspiration for the story.
Despite growing up relatively close to one another in the Irish capital, Power, now 27, and Murray, who is 28, first met at drama school in the city in 2022.
Since then, they both spent time living in the British capital.
Power remains in London, while Murray has since returned to his home city.
This week they told us what we can expect from their first theatre collaboration and why they wrote it.
The play sounds great, what was the inspiration behind it?
The initial idea for the play came from watching the 1997 episode of Reeling in the Years, seeing peace talks in the North unfold at the same time as Princess Diana’s media frenzy.
They are two things we hadn’t placed side-by-side in our minds before and we wanted to explore it more.
Plus, we were both living in London at the time and spending a significant amount of time explaining Irish history to British people.
All of this was the inspiration behind what led us to begin writing the show.
How would you describe the story?
It’s set in Dublin in 1997.
Two friends prepare to compete for the crown of Alternative Miss Ireland with their Princess Diana drag act, under the nose of their hardline nationalist families.
As they race through the city towards competition night, Diana's death sparks the unravelling of their secret, their friendship and their plans to leave Ireland.
The pair wrote and star in the play (Pic: Romany Gilmour)Can you tell us about your characters in the play?
Our characters are in many ways based on the teenagers we wished we were.
They’re a good-bit braver and definitely more sure of what they want for their future than either of us were.
I’d say our own friendship dynamic definitely seeps into these characters also.
They are each other's biggest hype-men and enable some pretty erratic behaviour between each other.
Why is Princess Diana a significant figure among closeted teenagers?
I think it has to do with finding small ways to claim identity in the face of tradition. Through resisting convention, be it through her style or refusing to submit to the ‘us’ and ‘them’ attitude of monarchy.
I think Diana resonates with anyone who feels that they don’t necessarily belong in the life that has been handed to them.
How much have your drawn on your own experiences to create this play?
The show isn’t autobiographical, but the through-line of a formative friendship that defines these characters' teenagehood is definitely something that we both poured our own experiences into.
The closeness and intensity of friendship during this time of life is really special.
Of course, lots of the Dublin-specific references come from our own time growing up there, but also from talking to people about life in 97 and their experiences.
What are the pros and cons of working with your best friend?
The pros are looking forward to going into writing sessions or the rehearsal room, knowing that you will have a laugh and that you can be honest about how you're feeling that day.
There is also no mincing of words, we say what we think and can leave out the niceties.
The main con is definitely that there's no off switch.
Making Lunch? Set design meeting. Grocery shop? Rewrite brainstorming. Pint? Costume discussions.
We’re getting better at navigating it as we get closer to Edinburgh for sure.
The pros definitely outweigh the cons.
There really is nobody I would rather do this with.
The show opens in Edinburgh later this month (Pic: Erica Verling)The play touches on Irish nationalism, masculinity, and queer identity – why did you tackle these topics?
Being Irish in London really made us think about our own relationship with Irish identity and nationalism in a way that we were not confronted with when living in Dublin.
Writing the play was a chance to explore that.
I think we both write from our own experiences and themes of masculinity and queer identity just fall out onto the page.
I think comedy is a good way to dissect bigger themes like this - if you can make people laugh then you can make them examine why they’re laughing.
Is there a message in there for the audience?
We don’t want to preach a message to anyone, but we hope there is a message about the absolute importance of having fun.
What has the reaction been like to the play so far?
The reaction has been really positive.
We’ve performed the piece as a work-in-progress in both Dublin and London to really lovely feedback and audience reactions.
It’s always interesting to see what jokes land in different places.
Audiences have really responded to the palpable relationship between these two best-friends and the chaos they cause on their journey through the show.
How are you feeling about bringing the play the Edinburgh Fringe?
We are so excited to see how Edinburgh Fringe audiences react to the show.
This will be our Edinburgh Fringe debut so of course there's nerves involved as well.
We are really lucky to be surrounded by a supportive and experienced team, so having them to help out and advise us has been invaluable.
Power and Murray are 'excited' to bring their play to Edinburgh (Pic: Romany Gilmour)What can audiences expect from it?
Audiences can expect a high-energy, fast-paced two-hander packed with comedy, courage and coming-of-age chaos.
What do you hope they will take from this production?
We hope audiences leave and text their teenage best friend to meet up for a pint and reminisce about the old days.
At its heart, this is a story about formative friendships on the cusp of great change.
We hope audiences leave celebrating the people who helped them navigate their own teenage dramas.
Do you have any other projects lined up?
We both have new projects in the very early stages but Diana has our full attention for now - ask us on August 24th after our final show and we might have a better answer for this.
Don’t Tell Dad About Diana is on at 12.50pm at Underbelly Cowgate (Belly Dancer), in Edinburgh from Thursday, July 31, to Monday, August 25). Book tickets here.
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