The new Lyric Theatre Belfast
On the front cover of the souvenir programme for the new Lyric Theatre, Belfast is a poem by Seamus Heaney. My first reaction when I clapped eyes on it was to inwardly groan because if ever a man/poet/Nobel Laureate is overly asked for a quote for culture then it's Seamus Heaney. The fax machine in his home spews out requests constantly, asking for endorsements/support/a few words.
While the re-opening of the new Lyric Theatre is a grand occasion, I was glad to see that Heaney hadn't had to pen a new ode. He wrote "Peter Street at Bankside" in 1965 for the founding of the first Lyric Theatre on Ridgeway Street after they outgrew founder Mary O'Malley's front room!Μύ
By the way Peter Street is not in BT7. Rather, Mr Peter Street was the carpenter who built the Globe Theatre in London.
A Capital Project Team built the New Lyric. Ten separate companies are credited in the programme led by the stunningly good architects O'Donnell & Tuomey,Μύeven if a cold in my nose prevented me from smelling the newness of it all. I had read that you could smell the newness of the wood in the new main auditorium.Μύ
Coming into the building it's a new world. A new look box office greets you, then stairs rise to the right, Μύthe bare concrete walls hung with huge headshots by Colin Davidson of Μύactors, writers and musicians, from Brian Friel to Conleth Hill, Duke Special to Paul Brady. I'm drawn to the windows, waiting for a couple to move, light and the Lagan outside, an amphitheatre, a startling, unexpected beauty. And I haven't seen the play yet! It's beautiful, bold, confident.
And just when I don't think I can take anymore, I discover the ladies toilets! Veterans of the old Lyric will remember the previous facilities. Two cubicles and a queue out the door at interval time.Μύ
After the show (The Crucible by Arthur Miller) we sit and soak it up. Now that the crowds have gone, I can see the place better. The actors come off stage and sit chatting and drinking. They've done two shows that day, but still they're together, even though it's now past 11. A convivial space has been created, not just by these actors bunching the tables together to talk, but by the vision of an artistic space, begun by Mary O'Malley and now being taken into the 21st century. If you do anything this week, go in and have a look. And then take a look out through those windows.Μύ
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