Of all the iconic buildings in Belfast, the now derelict Floral Hall still stands; a monument to the history of life, love, loss and the music of the Showband era.

Set against the backdrop of the crumbling Floral Hall, ‘Keep Telling Me Lies’ tells of the journey of two Belfast women as they recall the fateful night they met their future musician husbands.

Enniskillen native Stefan Dunbar stars as one of these husbands, Manny. Having grown up performing on the Ardhowen stage, Stefan is “really looking forward” to returning to the place he cut his teeth in acting.

“I love going back to the Ardhowen because that’s where I started,” shared Stefan, adding that he loved doing the amateur productions there because you “could get away with murder”.

“Now I can’t,” he laughed.

Describing his character Manny, Stefan said: “He is the manager of a band in North Belfast and he and Rob are playing in the Floral Hall and the next thing these two girls come in, Lena and Rose and my character starts to see Lena.”

He continued: “My character is egotistical, he had big dreams and he’s also a bit of a perfectionist at times, a bit of a control freak. He’s not too good as he’s a manipulator but very charming. He’s funny and witty.”

“Nothing like me at all,” added Stefan.

With his uncle Adrian Dunbar now a household name after starring in popular crime drama Line of Duty amongst other projects, Stefan told The Impartial Reporter that his uncle gives him a lot of advice but Arsenal FC is their favourite topic of conversation.

“The two of us are big Arsenal fans so we started to bond over that more so than the acting and then I used to go see him when I was in drama school. He would give me a lot of advice,” shared Stefan.

He continued: “He told me to go to Belfast and situate myself there. He would tell me what was going on in the industry and he would keep in contact with me. The last time I seen him we were acting opposite each other which was funny because he was doing the TV series Blood and I got a small part opposite him where I had to arrest him which was great craic.”

“We have a good connection, it’s just that we are so far away from each other all the time. But he’s back now doing Line of Duty so I’ll probably catch up with him and get a bit of food. We don’t talk about acting, we just talk about Arsenal,” added Stefan.

‘Keep Telling Me Lies’ comes to the Ardhowen on Tuesday, March 24 at 8pm. It is a timeless story of love and betrayal set against the backdrop of The Floral Hall, written by Brenda Winter-Palmer developed by Antoinette Morelli and The Karma Theatre Company.

“People should go see this play because the Showband era was huge for such a long time. It was a real romantic place, it’s where a lot of people would have met back in the day.

I remember going past the Rainbow Ballroom in Leitrim and saying to my father, ‘what’s that place’ and he said, ‘many a marriage was started off there son’,” laughed Stefan. Continuing, he said: “It was just a big deal and it was forgotten a long time because of the Miami Showband massacre. That was when it stopped and I think people should come and see the play to bring them back.”

“It’s a piece written by people here for people here,” Stefan told this newspaper.