Lyric Theatre Listings From October To December

 The Night Alive

Date(s): Tuesday 6th October – Saturday 31st October 2015

Times: Tuesday – Saturday 7.45pm
 Saturday & Sunday Matinees 2.30pm

Location: Danske Bank Stage, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

The Lyric Theatre and Dublin Theatre Festival presents The Night Alive
Written and Directed by Olivier Award Winning Conor McPherson
. Starring Adrian Dunbar, Kate Stanley Brennan, Laurence Kinlan, Ian Lloyd-Anderson & Frank Grimes 

Set in Dublin.

The Night Alive tells the story of Tommy – a middle-aged man, just about getting by. He’s renting a run-down room in his uncle Maurice’s house, keeping his ex-wife and kids at arm’s length and rolling from one get-rich-quick scheme to the other with his pal Doc. Then one night he comes to the aid of Aimee, who’s not had it easy herself, struggling through life the only way she knows how. Their past won’t let go easily.

[caption id="attachment_59336" align="alignright" width="350"]Sssh! We have a plan. Sssh! We have a plan.[/caption]

But together there’s a glimmer of hope that they could make something more of their lives. Something extraordinary. Perhaps.

With inimitable warmth, style and craft.

The Night Alive deftly mines the humanity to be found in the most unlikely of situations. Following acclaimed runs at the Donmar Warehouse in London and the Atlantic Theatre, New York, we’re thrilled to present the Irish premiere of this latest play by the writer of The Weir, The Seafarer and Shining City, in a co-production with the Dublin Theatre Festival.

The Lyric Theatre and Dublin Theatre Festival are proud to present a new production of Conor McPherson’s The Night Alive, directed by the author and with an all-star cast, which will open the 2015 Belfast Festival.

Prices: Preview (6th & 7th October) £13 Off-Peak (Tuesday – Thursday and Matinees) £15 Peak (Friday & Saturday nights) £26.50 Concessions (Students, Unemployed, Under 20s & Over 65s) Any performance (except Friday and Saturday evening) £10

For all queries and bookings, contact Lyric Box Office on 028 9038 1081 or visit:

www.lyrictheatre.co.uk



Shh! We Have a Plan

Date(s): Wednesday 14th October – Sunday 18th October 2015

Times: 14th October – 6pm
 15th October – 18th October – 1pm / 6pm

Location: Naughton Studio, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

Shh! We have a Plan is the brand new theatre production by the multi award winning Theatre Company Cahoots NI.

Based on the Chris Haughton book of the same title, this delightful and poignant tale follows the journey of some madcap characters each of whom has a plan, they all want to capture a beautiful bird perched high in a tree! Sounds simple, but the quest becomes an obsession and the obsession becomes the absurd!

Where will it all end?

Join us as we follow the characters’ exploits, meet an elusive and magical little birdie and discover that perhaps freedom and kindness are more important than getting what you want at any cost! Prepare to be enchanted and amazed by this unique and engaging production featuring Magic, Music, Puppetry and lots lots more!

Created and Directed by Paul Bosco Mc Eneaney
Music by Garth McConaghie
Composer/Musical Director Ursula Burns

Suitable for age 4+

Prices: Adults £10
 Children £6

Belfast One Act Festival

Date(s): Thursday 22nd October – Saturday 24th October 2015 Times: Thursday – Saturday – 7:30pm
 Saturday – 1:30pm Location: Naughton Studio, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

A series of one act plays by theatre groups across Ireland
All net proceeds donated to MACS charity. Thursday 22nd October 2015 @ 7.30pm 1st – Chinamen by Michael Frayn
Performed By Holywood Players (Co. Down) (Comedy)

2nd – The Zoo Story By Edward Albee (Drama)
Performed By Belvoir Players (Belfast) (Comedy) Friday 23rd October 2015 @ 7.30pm

1st – Cathleen ni Houlihan by W.B. Yeats (Drama)
Performed by Calry Drama (Sligo)

2nd –  Nowhere Now by Dan O’Brien (Drama)
Performed By At Large Theatre Company (Dublin)

Saturday Afternoon 24th October @ 1:30pm 1st – Gooseberry by Hugh Cardiff (Comedy)
Performed by No Drama Theatre  Group (Dublin)

2nd –  The Meeting by Gráinne Curistan (Comedy)
Performed By At Large Theatre Company (Dublin)

3rd  Bridal Terrorism by Billy Rosenfield (Comedy)
Performed by Moynalty Drama Group (Kells)

Saturday Evening 24th October 2015 @ 7:30pm 1st – The Zoo Story By Edward Albee (Drama)
Performed by Moat Club (Nass, Co Kildare)

2nd – Parentcraft By Stephen Smith (Comedy) 
Performed By St. Patrick Dramatic Society (Dalkey)

Followed by the Final Adjudication & Awards Ceremony Prices: Per night £13
 Season Ticket (for 4 Performance Sessions) £40

Sunday Service with Grimes & McKee

Date(s): Sunday 25th October 2015

Times: 7:45pm

Location: Danske Bank Stage, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

A brand new comedy club at the Lyric Theatre. If you used to like going to church but were put off by all the stuff about God, then Grimes & McKee’s Sunday Service is the night for you.

Topical sketches, songs, stand-up and improv, led by the Revds Conor Grimes and Alan McKee.  If it’s in the news it will be on the stage, with sketches being written and (barely) rehearsed right until curtain up (there probably won’t be a curtain, but you know what we mean).

Organ master Cormac O’Kane will lead us all in some secular hymns from the Book of Common Karaoke, while Grimes & McKee will be joined onstage by a very special guest star (please note the phrase “very special guest star” means a local celebrity who is prepared to be ritually humiliated in order to appear dead on). Get your Sunday best on and let Grimes & McKee give you a good service.

Prices: £15
 Concessions (Students, Unemployed, Under 20s and Over 65s) £10k

Leper & Chip

Date(s): Tuesday 27th – Thursday 29th October 2015 Times: 8pm Location: Naughton Studio, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

Some people never go crazy… what truly horrible lives they must live.

The boy, Leper meets the girl, Chip. Boy meets girl… in the middle of a battering, boy wrecks bus full of pensioners, girl gets chased by machete wielding maniac and love without madness isn’t love at all. Fast, frantic, funny… Dublin at 100mph with leopard coated cougars, Pringle eating whales and your almost-midget mate chained inside a fridge.

Blink and you’ll miss it…

Leper & Chip – A new play by Lee Coffey, first staged at Theatre Upstairs in April 2014, directed by Karl Shiels and performed by Conall Keating and Amilia Stewart. Leper & Chip is fast paced, set in contemporary inner city Dublin and consists of a series of monologues, interwoven monologues and dialogue between the two protagonists.

LEPER + CHIP has gone on to stage a sell out run at Project Arts Centre in Dublin and has just finished a month long run at Assembly Roxy as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015.

Prices: £10

Event name: Vernon God Little

Date(s): Tuesday 3rd November – Sunday 8th November 2015

Time(s): Tuesday – Friday – 7:45pm
 Saturday – 2:30pm / 7:45pm
 Sunday – 1:30pm

Location: Danske Bank Stage, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

Presented by Decadent Theatre Company

Vernon Little lives in a flea-bitten Texan town, “the barbeque sauce capital of the state”, where his best friend has just massacred sixteen of his classmates. The town wants vengeance and turns its sights on the innocent Vernon who is arrested from the start of the story. As the saying goes – “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” – Vernon hits the road and flees to Mexico pursued by a media circus of outlandish proportions.

Based on the Booker Prize winning novel of the same name by DBC Pierre.

Vernon God Little is a riotous, irreverent adventure with a fast-talking fifteen year old who cruelly ends up on a version of death row driven by the rules of reality TV.

Desperate times throw up the most unlikely of heroes. Vernon’s innate innocence exposes the nature of the American experience of justice in the eye of a media storm, and since he’s a boy of such sweetness, he makes death row a respectable address.

Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre
Booker Prize Winner 2003

Prices: £10 – 26.50

The Flood

Date(s): Wednesday 4th November – Sunday 8th November 2015 Time(s): Evening Performance – 8pm
 Saturday Matinee – 2.45pm, Sunday Matinee – 1.30pm Location: Naughton Studio, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

Set in New York’s Lower East Side on the night of a devastating storm, The Flood plays out between two couples gathered to weather the tempest outside as a hidden tragedy stirs up yet another storm within.

It’s a play about the burning need to connect in conflict with the desire for self-reliance, about the things we’re afraid to say and the prices we pay for not saying them, and about modern female strength colliding with classic male stoicism in a city that insists upon both.

The Flood is the first play by writer-director Daniel McCabe. Irish actor John Duddy (plays: The Denizen, For Love/film: Hands of Stone) will reprise his role from the New York production.

‘Reminiscent of the great Eugene O’Neill… In his debut play, McCabe makes the eyes apparent behind the masks of our everyday selves.’ – Colum McCann, 2009 National Book Award winner for Let The Great World Spin and author of Transatlantic.

’A powerful work. McCabe’s writing is not alone lyrical but insightful.’ – Malachy McCourt, author of NY Times Bestseller A Monk Swimming

Written and Directed by Daniel McCabe

Prices: Off Peak: Wednesday £18
 Peak: Thursday – Saturday £20
 Matinees: Saturday & Sunday £18 [caption id="attachment_59337" align="alignright" width="300"]Barbara Dickson in action at the Lyric. Barbara Dickson in action at the Lyric.[/caption]

Barbara Dickson

Date(s): Tuesday 10th November 2015 Time(s): 7:45pm Location: Danske Bank Stage, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

David Hull Promotions Presents Barbara Dickson with Nick Holland & special guest Anthony Toner.

Barbara Dickson is one the most successful recording artistes of recent times. 

It is a career that has seen her achieve six platinum, eleven gold, seven silver albums and two Olivier awards for her work in the theatre. She is delighted to be touring Ireland with her talented keyboard player and vocalist Nick Holland.

The  show features an eclectic mix of musical moods from classic singer-songwriter material, traditional music and some of Barbara’s ‘greatest hits’ including ‘Another Suitcase in Another Hall’ and ‘The Caravan Song’

Barbara will also feature songs from her most recent albums ‘To Each and Everyone: The Songs of Gerry Rafferty’ and ‘Winter’.

Barbara’s special guest Anthony Toner has been described as ‘John Prine meets James Taylor in a second hand book shop’. His superb guitar playing, catchy melodies and fine lyrics have grabbed the attention of an ever growing audience throughout Ireland.

Prices: £25


 Josef Locke – A Grand Adventure

Date(s): Friday 13th – Sunday 15th November 2015 Times: 13 – 14 Nov – Evening Performances 7.45pm
 Saturday Matinee – 2.30pm, Sunday Matinee – 1.30pm Location: Danske Bank Stage, Lyric Theatre Belfast Description:

The Playhouse brings back to a larger stage the life of Josef Locke in the return of this unique piece of music theatre exploring his life, music and legacy.

Known as The Singing Bobby, Locke established himself as a star of Britain and Ireland’s variety halls, becoming one of the most popular (and highly paid) singers of the 1940’s and 50’s. After last year’s sell out success of this heart-warming and uplifting show in 2014, esteemed singer Karl McGuckin will again join local musicians for an affectionate look at Locke’s life, music … and his tax affairs.

Starring: Karl McGuckin & Peter E Davidson
Directed by: Kieran GriffithsPrices: Matinees £18
 All other shows £22

 I ♥ Alice ♥ I  

Date(s): Tuesday 17th – Saturday 21st November 2015 Times: 17 – 21 November – 8pm
 21 Nov – 3pm Location: Naughton Studio, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

Alice and Alice are coming out. Finally.

Two exceptional, opinionated women were spotted winking at each other in Crumlin Shopping Centre. Now they’re in a show … reluctantly. Defying stereotype, they’re here to share with you something they’ve never dared to before. A fresh, human and hilarious piece from HotForTheatre, I ♥ Alice ♥ I explores the monumental journey of a most unlikely couple. HotForTheatre have toured the Alices to the USA, Iceland, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Croatia, France and are thrilled to bring it to Belfast for the Outburst Festival.

Winner of two Dublin Fringe Festival awards including the Fishamble New Writing Award HotForTheatre are delighted to present this stirring piece of documentary theatre – an unflinching and acutely personal love story.

HotForTheatre presents I ♥ Alice ♥ I  by Amy Conroy

Writer and Director: Amy Conroy
Cast: Clare Barrett & Amy Conroy

Prices: £15 Concessions £12

[caption id="attachment_59339" align="alignright" width="340"]Edith Paif brought to life at the Lyric Theatre, Edith Paif brought to life at the Lyric Theatre,[/caption]

Christine Bovill’s Piaf

Date(s): Thursday 19th & Friday 20th November 2015 Times: 7.45pm Location: Danske Bank Stage, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

2015 marks the centenary of Edith Piaf’s birth. Christine Bovill will be performing her award-winning show at some very special events to mark this anniversary. No glamour. No gimmicks. No pretence. Nothing but a voice, singing of life’s triumphs and tragedies. 

Christine Bovill’s PIAF is a powerful theatrical homage to one of France’s most endearing icons; celebrating some of her best known songs, threaded with Piaf’s story, and Christine’s own remarkable journey in the world of chanson.

An award-winning songwriter in her own right, Bovill has toured throughout Europe with her self-penned homage to the Little Sparrow, appearing on BBC Newsnight and on BBC Radio 4’s series, Soul Music. During her Edinburgh Fringe sell-out run at the Famous Speigeltent, Bovill realised a lifelong dream when she shared the stage with Charles Dumont, great friend of Piaf and, most famously, composer of Non, Je ne Regrette Rien. They performed several songs together to close the show. Christine is in talks once again to bring Charles Dumont back to the UK for several exclusive performances of her show.

PIAF was awarded the Fringe laurels for Total Sell Out Show 2011 & 2012.

Prices: £22 Contact Lyric Box Office on 028 9038 1081 or visit www.lyrictheatre.co.uk

Christmas Eve Can Kill You Date(s): Tuesday 24th November 2015 – Sunday 10th January 2016

Times: Tuesday – Sunday 7.45pm
 Saturday & Sunday Matinees 2:30pm (9th January & 10th January only)

Location: Danske Bank Stage, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

“Y’see Christmas Eve, it’s like instead of watching a soap where people are acting out real life, this is real life acting out a soap, y’know what I mean?”

Belfast 1992 – no Agreement, no Assembly, and no Accommodation at the Inn or anywhere else… Meet Mackers – a Belfast cabbie who’d rather work Christmas Eve than suffer the celebrations. Half the city needs to be somewhere else – trouble is, not everyone’s in the mood for a merry Christmas, and those who are full of the festive spirit are, well, full of the festive spirit.

They’re all out tonight, from a superstitious Santa with a sackful of Poitín, to Mr Dunne who’s struggling to make it out of the pub to get the turkey home to his wife. Throw in a cheating husband, an abandoned Granny, some serious shoppers, an upper class English actor who may be the world’s most unlikely choice to play a paramilitary leader, and a squaddie who just wants to go home to his girlfriend, and you have all the ingredients for an unforgettable Belfast Christmas Eve.

Written by Marie Jones and directed by Dan Gordon – the creators of last year’s smash hit Mistletoe and Crime.

Christmas Eve Can Kill You is the hilarious must-see show this Christmas.

Prices: Early run performances (24th – 29th November) £15 Regular tickets £22.50 Concessions (Students, Unemployed, Under 20s & Over 65s) Any performance (except Friday and Saturday evening) £1

Fast & Loose

Date(s): Saturday 28th November 2015 Times: 9pm Location: Naughton Studio, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

Fast & Loose – Theatre for the Chronically Impatient

In a 24-hour takeover of the Lyric, Accidental Theatre creates & premieres four new plays in just one day. At 9 p.m. on Friday, four writers are given a selection of random inspirations & just 12 hours to write a short play each. Then at 9 a.m. on Saturday, four directors, twelve performers and six stage crew arrive & start rehearsing each new play, which all premiere that very night, Saturday 28th November at 9 p.m. Join us for this bold & breathless experiment in playmaking, happening for the 9th time in Belfast.

It’s an unpredictable, unique & uplifting showcase of some of the finest theatre artists working in Northern Ireland.

Embrace the unknown.

Prices: £5 Contact Lyric Box Office on 028 9038 1081 or visit www.lyrictheatre.co.uk

Event name: Little Red Riding Hood & The Big Bad Wolf

Date(s): Saturday 5th December 2015 – Sunday 3rd January 2016 Times: Tues – Sun 1:30pm, 4:30pm Location: Danske Bank Stage, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

Everyone knows the story of Little Red Riding Hood, right?

But who has ever thought about the real events behind the story? Where Red’s dear old Granny lived, for instance, and whether the Big Bad Wolf was really killed by the Woodsman… Certainly not the ramshackle troupe of travelling actors who roll into a town in the middle of nowhere one day to perform their take on the story. Nothing seems to be going right for them, but they have no idea just had bad things are about to get.

The stage is set, the moon is full, and the story of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf is about to get very interesting…

Written by award-winning Derek O’Connor, directed by Cahoots NI’s artistic director Paul Bosco Mc Eneaney with music by Irish Musical Comedy Awards winner Ursula Burns, the cast of Little Red Riding Hood & The Big Bad Wolf includes Roisin Gallagher, Charlotte McCurry and Christina Nelson.

Don’t miss the most spectacular family show this Christmas!

Prices: Childs Ticket – £12.50
Adult Ticket – £18
Family Ticket – £54
Schools performances – £9 Community Super Saver Discount Available – No other concessions

Putting It Together

Date(s): Wednesday 9th December – Saturday 19th December 2015 Times: Tuesday – Saturday Evening performances: 8pm
Saturday Matinees: 3pm, Sun Matinee: 1.30pm Location: Naughton Studio, Lyric Theatre Belfast

Description:

Blunt Fringe Productions return with the Irish premiere of Putting it Together by Stephen Sondheim. First produced by Cameron Mackintosh in New York over 20 years ago, the Irish premiere of this dazzling Sondheim review will be performed at the Lyric Theatre this Christmas. A musical review that tells a story: Set at a cocktail party in New York City, two couples – one middle-aged and married, the other young lovers just starting out – reflect on the complexities that make up modern relationships.

Featuring classics from the musicals of Stephen Sondheim including Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Follies, Company, Sunday In The Park With George, Into The Woods and many more.

Join us this Christmas at our sparkling musical review led by best of musical theatre talent. You are in for a real festive treat!

Presented by arrangement with Cameron Mackintosh and Josef Weinberger Limited on behalf of Music Theatre International of New York.

Prices: Peak: Thursday, Friday, Saturday Evenings £20
 Off Peak: Tuesday, Wednesday Evenings & Matinees £18]]>