City writer depicts downfall of affair scandal politician

A CONTROVERSIAL play about the downfall of politician Iris Robinson, written by an Edinburgh-based playwright, is to open in Belfast.

God's Country was written by Colin Bell and depicts the fall from grace of the Northern Irish First Minister's wife.

Mrs Robinson, a former MP and Northern Ireland Assembly Member, was forced to quit politics when it was revealed that she'd had an affair with a teenager 41 years her junior.

Mr Bell, who is gay, said he was inspired to write the piece after Mrs Robinson called homosexuality "an abomination". He said: "Iris Robinson may have been engaged in a homophobic rant but my play isn't a rant against her.

"It is an examination of how other politicians in Northern Ireland are dealing with homosexuality.

"It also explores how the DUP have changed in the wake of Irisgate."

Mr Bell, 33, is originally from County Down, but said he had moved away from Northern Ireland at the age of 17 to escape the homophobic abuse he had been subjected to at school.