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Co-star Steve Coogan pledges to do what he can to help campaigners in Ireland as film reignites controversy

Philomena is a small film that is defying box-office conventions; the audience keeps on growing while other, bigger titles fade. The emotional story starring Steve Coogan and Dame Judi Dench of the brutal separation of an Irish mother and her child has become a word-of-mouth hit, beating even action blockbuster Thor: The Dark World at the UK box office one day last week.

Now Philomena's trenchant message is having an impact on the personal lives of many families in Ireland; families who believe that they were also the victims of church dogma – their babies taken away because their unmarried mothers were judged immoral.

The performance by Dench, who has become internationally famous playing James Bond's steely boss M, is expected to win nominations for a string of acting prizes in the coming awards season.

Getty Gabriel Byrne

Actors Gabriel Byrne and Liam Neeson have teamed up with Dublin City Councilor and writer/artist Gerard Mannix Flynn, and with Culture Project, to present “James X.” The piece explores what years of silence and abuse can do to an individual.

In it, a man (played by the author) waits to give testimony to an Irish governmental tribunal of inquiry. He hopes that telling the story will set him free. The show began performances on Tuesday, and runs at Culture Project,...

Irishmen Liam Neeson and Gabriel Byrne's controversial play James X is heading to New York.

The one-man production, fronted by actor Gerard Mannix Flynn, explores the issues of physical and sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church and features the story of a man about to provide evidence to a tribunal about the mistreatment of children.

The Usual Suspects star Bryne will direct the project and Neeson will co-produce with officials at the Culture Project, a performance organisation which focuses on human rights issues.

The critically-acclaimed play, which was first staged in Ireland in 2003, will open at the 45 Bleecker Theatre on 9 December.

I cannot recount a time when a critic decided that seeing a play was a necessity of life' said Culture Project's Allan Buchman, but that is exactly what Finton O'Toole suggested in the Irish Times regarding James X. Gerard Mannix Flynn's play is a searing indictment of neglect both of the individual and of the institutions whose responsibility is to protect and inspire its citizens. Directed by Gabriel Byrne, James X begins performances on December 6th, and opens on Friday, December 9th at 730pm at 45 Bleecker Street. Produced by Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson and Culture Project, James X, a Farcry Production, features Gerard Mannix Flynn, who also starred in the production when it premiered in Dublin in 2009.