Half Timers brings Belfast’s linen story back into the Mill
Roma Tomelty’s Half Timers was revived at Portview, bringing a play about young linen workers back into a former Belfast spinning mill.
In August 2023, a story about young people working in Belfast’s linen mills returned to a place where that history could be felt directly.
Centre Stage revived Half Timers, a play written more than 30 years earlier by Northern Ireland actor and playwright Roma Tomelty. The work tells the story of young people who spent part of their time at school and part working in the linen mills.
The production was staged at Portview as part of Linen Biennale 2023, with rehearsals and performance taking place inside the former Strand Spinning Mill.
The setting gave the project an unusual connection between subject and place. Young performers were not only learning about Belfast’s industrial and social history; they were doing so inside a building that had once been part of that working world.
For Portview, Half Timers demonstrated how historic buildings can support new forms of interpretation. Heritage does not have to sit behind glass: it can be experienced through performance, participation and the continued use of the building itself.
Contemporary coverage / source: The Irish News – Roma Tomelty’s Half Timers returning to the stage
