The play, Carthaginians, which had its premiere at Dublin's Peacock Theatre in 1988, is often seen as the other side of the coin that Frank McGuinness (right) minted in the earlier play that made his reputation. Where Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme has Orangemen and World War I, this one focuses on Derry nationalists and Bloody Sunday. In each, his deep feeling for the victims of history's tyranny is manifest. The later play is more allegorical, set in a graveyard where characters wait for their dead to rise again. It also has one of the great comic creations of the Irish stage in Dido, a life-affirming gay man who knows all about minority status. The Lyric Theatre's new production opens next Thursday.