THE Ireland premiere of Bullet Catch leads a thrilling line-up of international theatre treats at the Lyric for this year’s Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s.
Acclaimed performer, playwright and magician Rob Drummond plays modern-day marvel William Wonder in this theatrical magic show featuring mind-reading, levitation and games of chance – including the breath-taking ‘bullet catch’ stunt which even Houdini refused to attempt!
This gripping, edge-of-your-seat show has just finished a successful run at the National Theatre London and was a sell-out smash at the Edinburgh Fringe last year.
Another Festival first and piece of participative theatre, is Pending Vote in which the audience become politicians for the night and vote the direction of the performance.
The Naughton Studio will be transformed into a parliament and each member of the audience will be given a remote control device to decide the future direction of our community. The issues will be relevant to Northern Ireland and will include hot topics such as identity, civil liberties, health and education. This is suitable for anyone aged 16 plus.
An undoubted highlight of the Festival is the Samuel Beckett classic, Waiting For Godot, which profoundly influenced modern drama. This Northern Ireland premiere offers a new way of hearing Beckett with Gare St Lazare Players Ireland bringing their experience to stage this tragi-comedy.
As part of the Festival line-up, award-winning director Conall Morrison is directing a rehearsed reading of Death and Nightingales on Wednesday 23 October in the Naughton Studio.
Set in Fermanagh in 1883, Death and Nightingales deals forensically and passionately with people whose everyday lives are dominated by primordial suspicions and hatreds.
Parisian company, Theatraverse, present a French/English adaptation of Ionesco’s tragic farce, Rhinoceros. Don’t worry you don’t need French to enjoy this performance! An epidemic of ‘Rhinoceritis’ has afflicted the inhabitants of an entire town, gradually transforming them all into rhinoceroses – except one person.
Richard Wakely, Director of the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s said: “We are excited that the Lyric will be our home for the international theatre programme in this year’s Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s. The work we are presenting is a combination of innovative and contemporary theatre pieces such as Bullet Catch andPending Vote – both of which will make their Irish premieres – alongside the classic Waiting For Godot.
“Both Bullet Catch and Pending Vote reflect their respective creators’ interests in exploring the relationship between audiences and what they see on stage, whilst Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot is a major new production that comes straight to us from the Dublin Theatre Festival. The new Lyric Theatre with its critically acclaimed auditoria is the perfect space for festival audiences to enjoy this unique drama programme.”
* Waiting for Godot runs on the Danske Bank Stage, at the Lyric from 21 to 23 October at 7.45pm. Tickets £14 & £16.
* Bullet Catch runs on the Danske Bank Stage, at the Lyric from 24 to 26 October at 7.45pm and Sat matinee at2.30pm. Tickets £14 & £16.
* Pending Vote runs in the Naughton Studio on 21 & 22 October at 8pm. Tickets £10 & £12.
* Rhinoceros runs in the Naughton Studio from 25 to 27 October at 8pm and Sunday 7pm. Tickets £10 & £12.
* Death and Nightingales, rehearsed reading is in the Naughton Studio on Wed 23 October at 8pm.
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