tom & Thomas

Belfast’s most beloved matriarch, Sadie, is back and bigger than ever! The Belfast Ma, a character who has captured the hearts of audiences across Northern Ireland, returns to the stage with Away Play Around Your Own Door! at the Grand Opera House this June. Writers Tom Rowntree-Finlay and Thomas McCorry sat down with GNI Magazine to chat about the origins of Sadie, the creative process behind their hit productions, and why audiences can’t get enough of Belfast’s ultimate Ma.

The Belfast Ma has been a huge success—what inspired the character, and did you ever expect her to become such a phenomenon?

Thomas: I suppose it is inspired by all of our mothers really. Initially when we were creating this, Tom’s mum is a lot of fun and my mum is just a drag queen in a woman’s body in life and she passed away back in 2014. We had lovely chats about her and about Tom’s mum and we explained about things in the past just in the drama world. We thought, “We need to write these stories down because they are hilarious and they are not things you want to forget in the future”. As we started writing the stories down they seemed to get bigger and bigger on the page and the more we looked at them on the page they just jumped out like automatic mini skits. We then started tying the memories of my mum together and obviously the “active craic” from Tom’s mum and said this has a journey. It is more than a skit this is a journey let’s see what we can do with it.

So we decided to write the initial script which is the one going to the Opera House and the script just flew onto the sheets. However, we had so much left over we said there was more for about another six shows in the archives of this, and we have probably got a few of those out there now as well. But as I said the initial inspiration was always the matriarchs of our houses, but the catalyst for us jumping into it was I suppose for me it was Greece in memory of my own mum and it was Tom that pushed that. He said: “Look what our mummy’s are, they’re nuts and amazing, everything altogether. Look what we have written down in these memories, it’s cracker. There’s nothing out there like it.” We also wanted to celebrate those people, not just our mum’s but everyones mum and bring a piece of everybody into it.

Everybody knows a Sadie?

Tom: As soon as we did the first show and we saw how the audience reacted to Sadie, they just absolutely loved her. But all you heard from the audience was “Oh my goodness that’s like you, that’s like my ma, or that’s like my auntie Susie or my granny”. They were literally saying this out loud while they were watching the show, and I think that’s like when we knew how big or how far the show could actually go. When we saw it in front of an audience for the first time, which happened in The Devenish back in 2019, we were like “Wow, this is really special, we have got something that is going to inspire people so much.” As people were coming out they were saying that it was lovely and laughing their sides off, so to speak., but also just remembering stories of their mums , telling stories about their mums on the way out the door. We were like, this can fly!

What’s your creative process like? Do you bounce ideas off each other or is there a method to the madness?

Tom: We have a really fun way of writing the show and it is very much a collaborative process. We get together and come up with an initial storyline and then we start to act it out. So one of us pretends to be Sadie and just starts talking and the other one writes down what they are saying. We then read it back and the other person has a go and does the next scene. We then just build it from there. Actually writing the show is as much fun as watching it.

Thomas has a caravan so we will go down on a weekend with a big bottle of vodka and a mind full of ideas and it is just so much fun putting it together.

Thomas: This is our eighth show that we are working on at the moment, Sadie has taken on her own persona, her own life, her own way. So we love getting into her character and the last few shows as well, it started off as a one woman show, we have been able to add other characters who other actors come in and play which can be really fun. So down in the caravan you are not just hearing Sadie anymore you are hearing her husband John and her nephew Stevie, like all of these different people so for us we have a get bringing them to life and it has just opened up this whole world which is the Belfast Ma.

Belfast audiences have a unique sense of humour—do you ever write something and think, “Ah, they’ll never let us away with that!”? Tom: We say that about most things in the script, don’t we? Sadie is a risky woman and she gets away with it. She is that mad she could say anything to your friends and no-one would fall out with her. So we try to be as risky as we can but respectful at the same time. We have had to pull ourselves back a lot of the time. and every show he goes to he will say “I don’t get what you are writing sometimes” and he walked out of Mother of the Groom and said “that is the best show I have seen in years”, because by the end of it her heart is as big as the audience, but her craic is as big as the theatre. You see all of the pieces of Sadie from every show come into the one and you just fall absolutely in love with her. I love that script.

Thomas: We have a certain rule though that we don’t do anything smutty, because we are writing about our mum’s.

Tom: It is all pretty much story led and her sneakiness and the way she gets away with things. We also keep it very much on both sides of the divide because we are in Belfast. She lives in Belfast and we have no affiliates anywhere. With her name, her families name, we try to keep it as neutral as possible so we don’t offend anyone.

Thomas: One thing that happens as well as we go through the rehearsal process is that we allow things to be edited out. So we kind of go “Let’s just go for it” and then when we hear it coming out of someone else’s mouth we will know whether to keep it or bin it. I always remember one of the shows we did where she kills her neighbour’s dog next door. It had been barking for ages and she comes up with this plan and she kills the dog by poisoning it, just to shut it up. But it was a Christmas show that it happens in so the actors were like, “We can’t kill the dog”, you can’t have this dead dog at the end of the show. So we actually had to rewrite the script so that the dog came back to life. So sometimes in the process that’s when the editing happens.

If you could bring any past show of yours to the West End, which one would it be and why?

Tom: I have two, I couldn’t pick just one.

Tom: I think what is lovely about that script is this is one of the reasons why her son is getting married and her son is called Thomas. I feel like that was the script where we were able to show a little bit more about how our relationships with our mum’s

Thomas: The Away Play Round Your Own Door script will always be our favourite because it was our first but even the adaptation of it for the Opera House, it is so much more than what it even was before. So there will always be a love for it. But I have massive space for Mother of the Groom, you see her in all of her antics, but it is the one show at the end of it - my partner goes to see every show are in terms of the connection we have. She was preparing him to get married and it really felt like a beautiful thank you to obviously my mum, because when she was watching it she was just saying “Well, this is how I feel about you and how you make me feel”. I think that really came out very strongly in that script and where they allowed us to do that. I think the lovely thing is that although Sadie has taken on the work on her own we have always tried to keep a wee bit of our mum’s and our families in there.

You mentioned that there were some kind of changes made, so if anyone is coming this time around to Belfast or one of the other venues are they going to remember a lot. Is there much difference?

Thomas: Well, the big change I think is that the first show was a one person show. This show now has all of the other character’s in it. We have a great actor called John Traverse who does multiroles. We have been able to bring them to life in the script, so we have taken the core storyline and just expanded it and put all of those other characters into it. It has just elevated the whole show.

Paul Nugent has been the face of The Belfast Ma—what makes him the perfect fit for the role?

Thomas: Initially most people know him as Tina Legs Tantrum and it was a no-brainer for us. I think whenever Tina couldn’t continue with the show Paul just jumped off the Tik Tok page for us and the humour was naturally there.

In terms of working with him I will have to pass that to Tom, because Tom produces and directs as well.

Tom: Paul has been doing it for the past three to four years so he really has helped us develop all of those other sides to Sadie, particularly with all of the other family members where we see how they changed her. He is absolutely brilliant to work with. We have a laugh every day because no matter what he loves Sadie as much as we love her. He has so many thoughts about her, whenever we see her up there in action when that wig goes on it is just a wonderful time and we have such great craic. He had never acted before when he was Sadie so he came to me and said he wanted to give it a go. He always laughs because when he was doing the show we were just coming out of Covid, so he auditioned for Sadie in my back garden and was shouting down the street .

Where the neighbours not thinking “What the hell is going on?”

Tom: Exactly. That was him and I just remember that first day because we had been talking about it and Thomas said I have an idea of who should do it and I said “Let’s audition him”, and from that first day you could see the magic that was there. The journey we have gone on he has really learnt to act, he is such a great actor. I think he could go on any professional stage and stand among any professional actor with his head held high. Particularly at the start, when it was a one woman show, he was saying “I can’t do this, what are you doing to me, this is too hard and I have to learn all of these lines and moves and do them the same every time”.

So for Paul, obviously the whole drag persona is a lot of off the cuff persona so it’s completely different. I agree he pulls it off really really well.

Tom: The thing to add as well is there’s wee parts in the show because the audience plays the character of Patricia who is the neighbour from across the street. So there is this whole interactive part in the play where Sadie is always talking to her and sometimes he would go into the audience and torture them a wee bit. I’m like “In these moments you can do whatever you want, but this is the line in and this is the line back out.” Even learning that sometimes is really hard at the start, particularly when we were doing the shows he started out in pubs and hotels. Whereas with the audience this is a bit more drunk and felt that they could heckle a bit more and if he didn’t control that enough they just took over. So it was all those learnings that came along the way. Now we have a Sadie that is so strong, sometimes he knows what’s on the script before he even reads it.

If you had to sum up the show in three words, what would they be?

Tom: Excited and delighted, I mean that’s what Sadie would say. That’s her, the ultimate Belfast Ma. You will relate to every story.

I’m surprised you haven’t door knocks, with things like Mrs Brown Boys and The Hole in the Wall Gang / Give My Head Peace and all that. Can you ever see a TV Programme in the cards in the future?

Thomas: From the very first time we saw an audience watch this show we just knew how great it was and how much people connected with Sadie. Our next job was to make a really successful stage show and then we have to get it into theatres and we want to go to the Opera House, then we are going to hit the BBC, ITV or Channel 4. All of these really successful things you mentioned, I also feel that they are not done but they are kind of like an old version.

Yes, it’s old fashioned humour and in a certain genre. It definitely could be doing up with a mix but sometimes they say if it is not broken don’t fix it. For me there is certainly a space in the market for Sadie’s story to be on TV. Will we watch this space and manifest?

Thomas: Completely. Because we are young men and we do feel it is up to time. It has still got that real connection to Belfast but it’s a more modern version of what we can see in Belfast. Our original inspiration was Jimmy Young and we thought we need to make the new Our Jimmy, because no-one has really made a new one. That’s where the idea of Sadie being a man in a wig came from. We could have done it with a female but we thought it has to be a man in a wig because it’s “Our Jimmy” style of humour and the quickness of it and that works. That’s what Sadie is about only in the current day with current situations.

Tom: We are really, really lucky. We have created all of these characters and they never have a line on stage. There’s the Dirty Gurties in number 30, there’s Laura across the street, there’s big gay Ian across the road and all of these characters that the audience have never met but they all have stories that are just bursting. Even when Sadie is on stage and says “see that frigger Dirty Gurtie in number 30”, before she even says number 30 the audience say it. They know those characters before even hearing a word from their lips. There is so much more to uncover with the Belfast Ma. I would love to live on her street.

Final Question - Belfast Ma and Paul have such a following, those not familiar why should they come and see the new show in June?

Tom: First of all you will laugh your legs off the whole time. Everyone comes out crying because they have laughed so much. You will just have the best night of theatre where you just let it all out. The thing is you won’t be just laughing at Sadie you will be laughing at ourselves. We are laughing at the antics of our mummy’s, our granny’s, our next door neighbours, our aunties, our sisters, that is who we are really laughing at. You will 100% have an amazing evening.

Leave your worries at home and come along for a laugh.

Tom: I tell you what, people come and they see every show. The same faces come through the door because they love her so much and they think when is the next one and what is happening now. That’s the thing about her, you are guaranteed a great night’s entertainment.

With Away Play Around Your Own Door! promising plenty of laughs, relatable moments, and a few surprises, there’s never been a better time to experience The Belfast Ma in action. Whether you’re a longtime fan or a first-time viewer, this is a show that guarantees a night of top-tier Belfast humour. Don’t miss it—tickets are available now at goh.co.uk.

Mizz Mae, Belfast’s first drag queen, blazed a trail from the turbulent 1970s through to today’s thriving LGBTQ+ scene. Created by Harry McAllister, Mizz Mae entertained generations in venues across Belfast and beyond, breaking barriers with glamour, wit, and resilience. A beloved performer, charity fundraiser, and community icon, Mizz Mae’s legacy will live on.

Join us as we celebrate a true legend, honouring the life, impact, and unforgettable presence of the queen who paved the way for so many.

This is the story of a Belfast legend, the late great Mizz Mae, created by Harry McAllister in 1971.

Harry often frequented the Royal Avenue Hotel in Belfast, in and at a time when things in Belfast were turbulent because of the ‘troubles’, there were very few places that opened back then. In the Royal Avenue Hotel Harry was approached and asked by Ernie Thompson and Jim Kempson if he would entertain the punters by doing a bit of drag in the bar and that is where the legend that we know today became Mizz Mae.

Hailed and known as the first ever Drag Queen in Belfast, Northern Ireland, her act, enthusiasm and bravery at that time paved the way for all who followed. Mizz Mae a trailblazer in every way performed over the decades in countless venues such as The Casanova , The Chariot rooms , The Shakespeare , The Sunflower ,Plaza, The Delta, The Crows Nest ,The Parliament, Union Street Bar , Maverick, The Fountain Tavern and of course where it all started in the Royal Avenue Hotel.

Mizz Mae also Performed in places like Benidorm, Gran Canaria and often did private events .

Born Harry McAllister in the Silent Valley in the Mourn Mountains, the family eventually moved to Belfast’s Antrim Road. At the age of 17 Harry started working in a Fruit Shop of all places, he also had other jobs in the late 1970s, he worked as a Care Assistant in a Nursing Home, working

By Desmond Baker

his way up to Senior Care Assistant, he was truly loved by all the staff and the residents of Haypark Residential Home.

Harry lived a very quiet life in later years compared to the party life he lived, outside of doing his shows as he looked after his mum until she sadly passed away in 2014.

Harry had a partner for quite a number of years who tragically was killed in a hit and run accident in Belfast on the 31st of December 1999, this was devastating for Harry and he never had another relationship.

Harry continued to do his drag show over many years and since the late 1980s has helped me raise over £100,000 for many different charities .

He/She was truly loved by so many and that was reflected in some of the celebrations over the years, his 50th birthday in the Crows Nest, 60th in The Maverick and also the celebration of his 40 years of drag in Copperfields, each venue was packed to the rafters.

In 2017 and in 2018 he won two awards from GNI Magazine for his contribution to the LGBTQIA+ community which he treasured dearly.

Harry or as he is better known to us as the legend that was Mizz Mae will be very sadly missed by all who knew him and all who loved him, he was an inspiration to so many which I don’t think even he realised.

In his own words he would say “ I entertained more troops during the war” a true legend never to be forgotten when asked what his advice would be to anyone he said and I quote “ live life and enjoy yourself, everything will work out in the end”.

So goodbye our dear and loving friend, we will forever miss you and to coin a phrase from a song which was your favourite “ You will always be a little girl in me.

We are holding a fundraiser in his memory in the Fountain main bar on the 28th of June. We very much hope you are able to join us.

Looking ahead we are planning for an exhibition of his memorabilia and his costumes which he made himself to be held in the Ulster museum - more information to follow