A new version of Flavius – a play by Gibraltarian playwright Julian Felice about the 1988 IRA shooting – will be the focus of a five-day Research & Development project at Middlesex University. 

A statement follows below:

Carried out by UK-based theatre company Basically Theatre, this will comprise of an intensive exploration of the play using the University’s resources and facilities, looking at aspects of stage and costume design, direction, character development, and the script itself. The project will culminate in a showcase of the work to be held on Friday 23rd July. Research & Development is often one of the final stages a script goes through before performance, and the process will help Julian to create a more final version of the script ahead of exploring opportunities for the play to be staged in the United Kingdom.

Julian originally wrote Flavius as a one-act play for teenage actors for the 2013 Gibraltar Drama Festival, where it won Best Play (jointly) and Best Original Play. However, it was recently re-developed into a full-length play for adults with dramaturgical support from Mike Carter, Literary Manager at The Space Arts Centre (London), and received an online reading organised by Alexandra Davies, Julian’s agent, from North Artist Management. Using thorough research, the play explores the many controversial issues surrounding the incident, which resulted in three IRA terrorists being shot by the SAS in Gibraltar in broad daylight in March 1988. It looks at events that took place before, during and after the shooting, with the setting jumping from Belfast, Dublin and London, as well as Gibraltar itself. In the new version, the story is told more directly by a narrator figure who also plays many of the central characters in the play. 

Despite the restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this has been a busy period for Julian. He recently won Best Play at the 2021 Gibraltar Drama Festival for his play Fade To Light (for which he also won Best Actor), with Ten Minutes also winning Best Original Play. His published plays continue to attract attention in the United States, with a production of his play Challenger: To Touch the Face of God scheduled for next autumn in the state of Georgia.