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Lyric Theatre, Belfast

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Coordinates: 54°34′44″N 5°56′02″W / 54.579°N 5.934°W / 54.579; -5.934
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This is an image of the main entrance to the Lyric Theatre, Belfast

54°34′44″N 5°56′02″W / 54.579°N 5.934°W / 54.579; -5.934 The Lyric Theatre, or simply The Lyric, is the principal, full-time producing theatre in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The theatre's current Executive Producer is Jimmy Fay,[1] previously the founder and Artistic Director of Bedrock Productions.[2]

History

The theatre was first established as The Lyric Players in 1951 at the home of its founders Mary O'Malley and her husband Pearse in Derryvolgie Avenue, off the Malone Road, and moved to its new site on Ridgeway Street in 1968, between the Stranmillis Road and Stranmillis Embankment. Austin Clarke laid the foundation stone in 1965 a deliberate choice by O'Malley to build a link back to her artistic hero W. B. Yeats.[3]

In 1974 the theatre staged Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar, leading to protests. In 1976 Liam Neeson appeared in Brian Friel's Philadelphia Here I Come!. Neeson's association with the Lyric has continued since, and he is currently the theatre's patron. Several of Friel's plays have been staged at the theatre, including Dancing at Lughnasa in 1996 and 2015.[4] A number of Marie Jones plays have been staged there including A Very Weird Manor.[5][6]

In 2004 the theatre announced a fundraising campaign to redevelop the theatre on its existing site. In June 2007 a £1m donation by Northern Irish businessman Dr Martin Naughton kickstarted the development. Naughton's donation was the largest in Northern Ireland arts history. He had previously made donations to Queen's University, where the Naughton Gallery is named in his honour.

New Lyric Theatre

The new theatre, designed by O'Donnell & Tuomey, opened on 1 May 2011, with a Gala Performance of The Crucible. The new facility features a new main theatre with a seating capacity of almost 400 and a multi-function performance space 'The Naughton Studio' which can seat between 120 and 170.[7] This new theatre was an almost threefold increase in the size of the previous building and the theatre remains the largest employer of actors and other theatre professionals in the region.[8]

The Lyric's current Chair is Sir Bruce Robinson[9] who took over in January 2015 from BBC Northern Ireland journalist Mark Carruthers,[10] who received an OBE at Buckingham Palace on 25 March 2011, in recognition of his leadership of the theatre at a highly critical time in its development.

Since the theatre re-opened a permanent exhibition of the work of Belfast-born visual artist Colin Davidson (artist) has been on display at the theatre where he personally presented his work to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the President of Ireland during the Royal visit to Northern Ireland on 27 June 2012. This was the occasion, and the Lyric was the chosen site, for a public meeting between Queen Elizabeth II and Martin McGuinness, Deputy First Minister for the Northern Ireland Assembly and a former commander of the IRA. The event is viewed by many as a positive sign for the ongoing peace process in Northern Ireland.[11]

In October 2018, as part of the theatre's 50th anniversary on the Stranmillis site, that theme of being "a shared place, a crossroads between communities" was marked at a symposium and over a weekend of celebratory events with the Irish Times noting the Lyric was a cultural bridge in a divided city.[12]

Controversy

A Stormont investigation found that there were serious failing in the selection of a preferred bidder for the new Lyric Theatre building.[13] The report stated that the way in which the contract was awarded was significantly flawed and failed to adhere to principles of good practice.[14] Chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee Michaela Boyle said: "The quality of the rebuilt Lyric Theatre is undisputed; we recognise that it is a highly impressive theatre and that it has deservedly won a number of prestigious awards. However, the end does not justify the means. My committee has found that there were significant departures from good practice."[15]

A year after Stormont's PAC reported, then finance minister Simon Hamilton suggested that if the committee had actually found evidence of fraud the people they should be speaking to are the PSNI, not the BBC and that the committee had "slurred organisations and individuals."[16]

Productions

References

  1. ^ "Lyric Theatre announces new Executive Producer". Arts Council of Northern Ireland. 29 January 2014.
  2. ^ "Jimmy Fay". The Lisa Richards Agency UK.
  3. ^ "History of The Lyric Theatre, Belfast". history.lyrictheatre.co.uk.
  4. ^ "Dancing at Lughnasa review: A thoughtful, adept 25th-anniversary revival". The Irish Times.
  5. ^ Maguire, Tom (2007). ""You're only putting it on": Dressing up, Identity and Subversion in Northern Irish Drama". Postcolonial Text. 3 (3). Archived from the original on 26 July 2011.
  6. ^ a b "Reviews". The Irish Times.
  7. ^ "£1m donation for Belfast theatre". 26 June 2007 – via BBC News.
  8. ^ "Lyric Theatre announces plans to celebrate 50 years on the banks of the Lagan". Culture Northern Ireland. 6 February 2018.
  9. ^ "Sir Bruce Robinson becomes Chairman of the Lyric Theatre". Lyric Theatre. 30 January 2015.
  10. ^ "Mark Carruthers stands down as Lyric Theatre chairman". BBC News. 9 January 2015.
  11. ^ "Queen and Martin McGuinness shake hands and make history". Press Association. 27 June 2012 – via TheGuardian.com.
  12. ^ Coyle, Jane. "The Lyric Theatre at 50: a cultural bridge in a divided city". The Irish Times.
  13. ^ "Lyric Theatre: New report says awarding of rebuild contract reeks of rigging and manipulation". Belfast Telegraph.
  14. ^ "PAC report on Lyric Theatre - a Freedom of Information request to Northern Ireland Assembly". WhatDoTheyKnow. 26 January 2014.
  15. ^ "Tender for rebuilding of Belfast's Lyric Theatre 'may have been rigged'". The Irish Times.
  16. ^ "Hamilton: 'PAC should not be seeking headlines'". BBC Democracy Live. 24 November 2014.
  17. ^ "THEATRE REVIEW: Propaganda The Musical is a masterclass in comedic absurdity". Belfast Media Group.
  18. ^ "Ballsy new play 'Rough Girls' shoots and scores". LoveBelfast. 15 September 2021.
  19. ^ "Derry Girls star's hopes for series future after flashback episode". Digital Spy. 11 May 2022.
  20. ^ Moore, Paul (25 July 2021). "Rough Girls is the remarkable story about Irish football that nobody knows about". Irish Mirror.
  21. ^ "Interview with Tara Lynne O'Neill (Mary Quinn)". Channel4.com.
  22. ^ "BBC Four - Rough Girls". BBC.
  23. ^ "100 Years Living on the Border". Lyric Theatre Belfast.
  24. ^ "The Border Game returns to the stage for Irish tour". 24 August 2022.
  25. ^ "Crocodile Fever". Traverse Theatre.
  26. ^ "The Alternative – where does the power lie, who knows best, will anyone ask let alone listen? (Fishamble's A Play For Ireland at Lyric Theatre until Sunday 13 October)". Slugger O'Toole.
  27. ^ Campbell, Brian (5 May 2016). "Writer Rosemary Jenkinson on Here Comes The Night, Aphrodite's Kiss and Van Morrison". The Irish News.
  28. ^ a b Roy, David (2 June 2016). "Playwright Gary Mitchell returns to Lyric with Smiley". The Irish News.
  29. ^ "Theatre review: Death of a Comedian". The Irish Times.
  30. ^ "The Man Jesus". www.irishplayography.com. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  31. ^ "White Star of the North". www.irishplayography.com. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
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  33. ^ "To Be Sure". www.irishplayography.com. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  34. ^ "1974". www.irishplayography.com. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  35. ^ "Merry Christmas Betty Ford". www.irishplayography.com. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  36. ^ "The Snow Queen". www.irishplayography.com. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  37. ^ "Paradise, Lyric, Belfast". the Guardian. 10 June 2004.
  38. ^ "Publicity Leaflet for "McCool XXL" | extraORDINARYwomenNI". www.extraordinarywomenni.com.
  39. ^ "McCool XXL" – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  40. ^ "Tearing the Loom". Nick Hern Books.
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  42. ^ http://www.digitaltheatrearchive.com/archives/1797
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  44. ^ a b c "Jennifer Johnston at 90" (pdf). DLRCoCO.ie. 2020.
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  46. ^ a b c "Graham J. Reid". www.ricorso.net.
  47. ^ March & April 1994 Production. "Galloping Buck Jones". Tinderbox Theatre Company. Retrieved 21 November 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  48. ^ "The Private Picture Show". www.irishplayography.com. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  49. ^ a b c d e f "Humanist Heritage: John Boyd (1912-2002)". Humanist Heritage.
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  51. ^ "Pygmies in the ruins | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. OCLC 1008525386. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
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  53. ^ "John McClelland's New Play for the Lyric Theatre: Charlie Gorilla". Theatre Ireland (21): 20–23. 1989 – via JSTOR.
  54. ^ a b c d e Lunney, Linde (2019). "Boyd, John". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.009573.v2. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  55. ^ "PROGRAMME: Northern Star, by Stewart Parker (1998)".
  56. ^ a b Russell, Richard Rankin (2007). "Playing and Singing toward Devolution: Stewart Parker's Ethical Aesthetics in "Kingdom Come" and "Northern Star"". Irish University Review. 37 (2): 366–394. ISSN 0021-1427. JSTOR 25505047.
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  59. ^ "Old Days". www.irishplayography.com. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  60. ^ O'Beirne, Patricia (28 August 2018). "Provoking performance: challenging the people, the state and the patriarchy in 1980s Irish Theatre" (pdf). NUI Galway. p. 89. hdl:10379/14942.
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  66. ^ "The Street". www.irishplayography.com. Retrieved 21 November 2022.https://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=30304
  67. ^ "The Rise and Fall of Barney Kerrigan". www.irishplayography.com. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  68. ^ "It Would Be Funny..." www.digitaltheatrearchive.com.
  69. ^ "We Do It For Love". www.irishplayography.com. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  70. ^ "Reprise for a raggy boy". The Irish Times.
  71. ^ "The Last Burning". www.irishplayography.com. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  72. ^ "Gifted writer felt deeply for poor and deprived". The Irish Times.
  73. ^ "Tribute to the late Pat Brannigan". Lyric Theatre Belfast.
  74. ^ "B". UlsterActors.com. 21 December 2011.
  75. ^ "LYRIC THEATRE Opening To-night at o'clock World Premiere THE LADS by Joe O'Donnell". Belfast Telegraph. 19 January 1972. p. 9 – via Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
  76. ^ "The Flats, 1984 | extraORDINARYwomenNI". extraordinarywomenni.com.
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  78. ^ "Drama in the Catacombs". DRB. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  79. ^ Walsh, Ian R (2014). "Theatricality In Verse: Donagh MacDonagh's 'Happy As Larry' and The Lyric Theatre". DQR Studies in Literature. 56: 107–119. ISSN 0921-2507. EBSCOhost 116539683.

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