• Duke Special Announced as Lyric Theatre Artist in Residence

    December 9, 2015 - By 

    Having released eighth studio album Look Out Machines! earlier this year Peter Wilson AKA Duke Special has been announced as the new Artist in Residence at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre. Hands down one of Northern Ireland’s most respected and consistently innovative artists, Wilson is no stranger to work in the theatre. In 2009 he appeared stage at the National Theatre in London as part of a new production of Bertolt Brecht’s play Mother Courage and Her Children for which he wrote music for a number of songs, and earlier this year he wrote the music for Youth Music Theatre’s production of Gulliver’s…

  • Two Sore Legs @ Lyric Theatre, Belfast

    September 30, 2015 - By 

    A contradictory life gets a compelling presentation in Brenda Murphy’s uniquely intricate tribute to her mother, Two Sore Legs. Performed as a one-act, one-woman show by local actress Maria Connolly and directed by Martin Lynch, the production arrives at Belfast’s Lyric in the wake of rave reviews at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival and a successful tour of Northern Ireland and Monaghan. Little wonder, then, that the relatively full auditorium is alive with excitable chatter and anticipation before the show has even begun. And the prominence of light brown wood on stage, in the coffin and chair that lie there, hints at…

  • Dancing at Lughnasa @ Lyric Theatre, Belfast

    September 9, 2015 - By 

    It’s 25 years since Brian Friel’s domestic drama Dancing At Lughnasa hit the stage of Dublin’s Abbey Theatre though the themes of Diaspora and chronic under-employment are, if anything even more relevant today. Seen through the eyes of seven year old Michael Evans, it’s the tale of a family of close knit sisters who scratch out a living in 1936 Donegal, primarily supported by the teacher’s salary of the eldest sister, the puritanical Kate. With the simple-minded Rose and maternal Agnes sewing gloves for a pittance and the earthy, fun loving Maggie keeping house with Michael’s unwed mother Christina money…

  • Death of a Comedian @ Lyric Theatre

    February 6, 2015 - By 

    A colloboration between the Lyric, the Abbey Theatre and the Soho Theatre, the dark and potent Death of a Comedian will run from February 7 to March 8 at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre. Starring Brian Doherty as small-time stand-up Steve Johnson its tagline “What if I’m not funny? What if I go out there and I’m not funny?” aptly distils the essence of the production. Self-belief, ambition, romance and the pursuit for glory entwine in a heady tale of fame, fortune and failure. Go here to buy tickets to Death of a Comedian and watch the trailer for the show below.

  • Rhinoceros

    October 8, 2013 - By 

    Romanian Theatre of the Absurd dramatist Eugène Ionesco’s classic play Rhinoceros will be be staged at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre as part of this year’s Belfast Festival at Queens. Directed by Joanne Allen – an alumni of Queens University – the play centers on the inhabitants of an entire town, in which ‘Rhinoceritis’ has gradually transformed them all into rhinoceroses. All except one, that is, for Berenger remains untouched. In a world in which everyone becomes a rhinoceros and no-one speaks the same language, the question is asked: what is there to understand? The staging takes place from October 25-October 27. Tickets – priced at £12 – are available…