Ulster scandal of First Minister's wife inspires play on gay issues

Disgraced Iris Robinson, who sat in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the House of Commons, quit politics after the revelation earlier this year that she had an affair with a teenager 41 years her junior.

God’s Country was written by Colin Bell, a gay man, 33, from Bangor, County Down, after Mrs Robinson sparked a huge row by calling homosexuality “an abomination” which she said made her sick.

Mr Bell, who lives in Edinburgh with his partner, 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.

“And it also explores how the DUP have changed in the wake of Irisgate.”

The playwright was bullied at school because of his sexuality and left Northern Ireland aged 17.

Mrs Robinson, now 61, arranged 50,000 in secret loans for lover Kirk McCambley to open a cafe in Belfast.

Her husband is the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.

Mr Bell’s play is one of three new productions about life in Northern Ireland being staged in the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast.