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theatre · Saturday 15 August 2026 · 8:00pm 
No Hope Here
At Strule Arts Centre · Townhall Square, Omagh, Co. Tyrone BT78 1DW
At Strule Arts Centre · Townhall Square, Omagh, Co. Tyrone BT78 1DW
A sharp Ulster farce with a sharp Belfast edge, No Hope Here is the kind of comedy that earns its laughs through recognition. Playwright Viv Brennan has written a plot that could only come from Northern Ireland - a world where even a dodgy house-flip can spiral into a standoff between loyalists, republicans and the RUC, all in the same living room. Belvoir Players, one of the most respected amateur theatre companies in Ireland, bring it to Omagh on their Summer 2026 provincial tour. If you enjoy comedy that crackles with social wit as well as physical farce, this is a good evening out.
At the centre of the play is Rab Devlin, a Belfast handyman who has been quietly profiting from Housing Executive grants - renovating rundown homes and pocketing the difference. When his wife places an ill-judged newspaper ad, the whole scheme threatens to unravel. Rab’s solution is to invent a story of paramilitary intimidation, expecting sympathy. What he gets instead is protection - from loyalists, from the IRA, and from the police, each group arriving in disguise and each needing to be kept hidden from the others.
The result is a fast-moving farce set against the peace-line backdrop of Belfast, where every lie compounds the last and escape looks increasingly impossible. Belvoir Players are well known for their handling of Ulster comedies in this tradition - warm performances, tight timing, and material that lands differently for an Irish audience than it would anywhere else. The piece is described as high-energy, and the 384-seat auditorium at Strule Arts Centre makes for an intimate night out rather than a big impersonal house.
Strule Arts Centre sits on Townhall Square in the centre of Omagh, overlooking the River Strule. Omagh is the main town of Co. Tyrone and is well served by road - the A5 runs from Derry/Londonderry to the north-west and from Dublin via Monaghan to the south, and the A4 connects east to Enniskillen and west towards Derry. From Belfast, the M1 to Dungannon then the A4 takes roughly 90 minutes. Ulsterbus operates services into Omagh from across the region. Street parking and public car parks are close to the town centre and straightforward on a Saturday evening.
Omagh is worth a few hours before or after the show - the town sits at the meeting of two rivers and has a decent selection of pubs and restaurants within easy walking distance of the arts centre. There is more to see in Omagh and across Co. Tyrone.
Heading to Strule Arts Centre in Omagh? Tyrone has plenty more to see. Read the Omagh area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.