The drama, staged without intermission, acutely directed by Weill and excellently acted by a fine cast of five, delivers an emotional impact by means of its character explorations. The issues are not demonstrated with polemics but by convincing situations and relationships.

The belle of the title is 17-year-old Anne Malloy, played with elan and passion by the affecting actress Kate Lydic in a most impressive performance. Anne displays outward bravado, revels in spouting profanity, and talks about shagging boys to her impressionable young friend Clara, nicely portrayed by Arielle Hoffman. But Anne is deeply hurting. She finds that life has no options for her future. Belfast is beset by violence (shown on occasion with background projection). Anne has lost her parents to it, and she is a cauldron of frustration, looking for love and aroused by sexual thoughts as well.

Anne seeks solace in Father Ben Reilly, a priest played earnestly by Hamish Allan-Headley. First she communicates through confession. Director Weill has an original touch in confessional scenes. The standard would be showing two sides of a confessional booth. But here the priest and the confessor sit side by side facing the audience.

Anne lusts for the priest in addition to her seeking understanding and affection from him. When she visits him at the rectory, we know what will ensue. On his part, although dedicated to his calling, Ben has been pondering questions of faith, and although he resists as best he can, the temptation of the young, pretty, eager Anne is too much to overcome. And given the church’s aversion to contraceptives, we can have an idea of what can develop.

But none of this is presented in a clichéd manner. We believe the contact, as we can believe Ben’s emotional turmoil and his confessing to a colleague priest, Dermott Behan, well portrayed by Billy Meleady, who bursts into fury at the sin Ben has committed.

Other characters include the delightful Patricia Conolly as the elderly and lonely Emma Malloy, who goes to confession more as a social opportunity for communicating and tries hard to find sins to confess to, with Father Reilly frustrating her with assurances she has not been sinful at all. The humor in the situation is a welcome counterpoint to the gravity of nearly everything else.

Apart from the use of projections, Weill’s staging is simple and direct, enabling us to get caught up in the characters without unnecessary flourishes. The focus is on the acting and the playwright’s lucid dialogue, albeit demanding careful listening in view of the authentic Irish speech that sometimes, especially with Anne, comes at us with whirlwind force.