TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2025
Belfast Actually 2
Matthew O'Leary and Emma Little Lawless in 'Belfast Actually 2'.
Photo: Melissa Gordon
Given the comic triumph that Leesa Harker's Belfast Actually turned out to be for Newtownabbey's Theatre At The Mill last Christmas, a sequel for this holiday season seemed a pleasant and most welcome inevitability. Of course, a lot can happen in even a year, one of those things being that I've, well, actually kind of fallen out of love with Love Actually, barring a couple of storylines. But with the delectable wit of Harker, the intuitively transitional directing of Andrea Montgomery and the energetic enthusiasm of the cast of six, two of whom return from last year, there is no danger of that happening in their most enjoyable Belfast Actually 2. Neither for me nor for the audience at Newtownabbey's Theatre At The Mill, who are often seen to be beaming at the fun, laughter and heart that simply soars from the stage.
Key to the success of Belfast Actually 2 and its predecessor is a relaxed and exuberant tone that doesn't betray the demands of potentially awkward tonal transitions which could easily pop up. It is instead a consummate blend, less in line with Love Actually and more in line with Paul Feig's charming and underrated Last Christmas – in other words, another instance where popular music, louder-than-life characters and perhaps deliberate cheese come together but in a more knowing and sensitive manner which understands that character evolution and audience connection, more than couplings, rests at the core of the best seasonal works.
The structure, a series of vignettes and interludes which permits actors Adam Gillian, Eimear Bailie, Jo Donnelly, Patrick McBrearty, Matthew O'Leary and Emma Little Lawless to show off their mostly comic and sometimes dramatic skills, is sharply comedic on the surface and delicately nuanced at its foundation. The Farmer Wants A Wife competition, with Gillian as our host, enjoyably satirises speed dating, with the acerbic intervention of Donnelly as a journalist on a quest to expose the "rampant misogyny" at its centre whilst not being prepared to fall for McBrearty's farmer. O'Leary and Little Lawless play writers who translate the relatable frustration of the creative process to not only meaningful words but burgeoning chemistry. Pauses for thought build trust and truth amidst the comedy, and it's pretty delightful either way.
Eimear Bailie and Adam Gillian in 'Belfast Actually 2'. Photo: Melissa Gordon
But it's the subplot of Gillian's social worker Maximus trying to lend a helping hand to Bailie's troubled Lola that really takes Belfast Actually 2 to unexpected heights. Gillian's rendition of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's "Maria" has this West Side Story fan thrilled, and not only because it's a superb showcase for Gillian's singing voice. For "Maria" isn't a mere song of love, or about what one's perception of love might be, it exhibits freedom of expression and newfound belief which may, sadly, unfairly objectify and idealise the person who provides that belief. It's joyously lyrical, but it's also seriously questioning, and both Lola and Harker's script don't hold back from asking those questions. Is Maximus truly free to the "maximum", or is he trapped in a whirlwind? Is he really being himself or is he at the whims of others? "You spend all this time trying to fix me – practice what you preach", Lola tells him, and here one sees that the terrific Bailie has taken this Maria figure where neither Natalie Wood nor Rachel Zegler could quite go – into a realm of the newly thoughtful. The "power ballad" that Maximus performs for Lola later rings comparatively limply, as it should – she's not anywhere near as won over as she was with "Maria", and neither are we. It's great writing and acting.
Amidst the seriousness, Harker and Montgomery maintain their skill at transitioning to hilarity and vice versa, with one of many other notable high points being a male ensemble performance of "Stay Another Day" that finds just the right balance between endearing and parodical. The feeling of cast and characters finding happiness and thrills in what they want to do, rather than what they might think they need to do for appreciation, runs through this production – they laugh, and they love, and we do too. You might say that last Christmas, we gave Belfast Actually our hearts - and the very next year, with Belfast Actually 2, we've done it again.
Simon Fallaha
Belfast Actually 2 runs at the Theatre At The Mill, Newtownabbey, until Saturday January 3, 2026. For more information, and tickets, click here.