Nights Beneath the Nation

Sixty-seven-year-old Daniel Ryan returns to Dublin after fleeing to New York decades earlier, following the end of his love affair with Anthony. His return to the city is a reluctant but necessary journey to exorcise the ghosts of his past. Homosexuality in 1950s Ireland was a furtive, dangerous pursuit. Daniel and Anthony’s relationship was conducted amid the relative security of their bohemian theatre group, run by Maeve, a glamorous woman without much regard for social norms or concern for her reputation among the chattering classes. Cut to the 1990s and not much has changed - liaisons are still conducted in alleyways and seedy saunas. In an effort to escape attention on his return, Daniel tells people he is American, but a promiscuous young man embroils him in a cat and mouse game which threatens to expose his buried history.