The theatre's current Executive Producer is Jimmy Fay,[2] previously the founder and Artistic Director of Bedrock Productions.[3][1]
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.[4]
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.[8] 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.[9]
The Lyric's current Chair is Sir Bruce Robinson[10] who took over in January 2015 from
BBC Northern Ireland journalist
Mark Carruthers,[11] 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.[12]
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.[13]
Controversy
A
Stormont investigation found that there were serious failing in the selection of a preferred bidder for the new Lyric Theatre building.[14] The report stated that the way in which the contract was awarded was significantly flawed and failed to adhere to principles of good practice.[15] 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."[16]
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."[17]
^Walsh, Ian R (2014). "Theatricality In Verse: Donagh MacDonagh's 'Happy As Larry' and The Lyric Theatre". DQR Studies in Literature. 56: 107–119.
ISSN0921-2507.
EBSCOhost116539683.
The theatre's current Executive Producer is Jimmy Fay,[2] previously the founder and Artistic Director of Bedrock Productions.[3][1]
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.[4]
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.[8] 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.[9]
The Lyric's current Chair is Sir Bruce Robinson[10] who took over in January 2015 from
BBC Northern Ireland journalist
Mark Carruthers,[11] 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.[12]
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.[13]
Controversy
A
Stormont investigation found that there were serious failing in the selection of a preferred bidder for the new Lyric Theatre building.[14] The report stated that the way in which the contract was awarded was significantly flawed and failed to adhere to principles of good practice.[15] 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."[16]
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."[17]
^Walsh, Ian R (2014). "Theatricality In Verse: Donagh MacDonagh's 'Happy As Larry' and The Lyric Theatre". DQR Studies in Literature. 56: 107–119.
ISSN0921-2507.
EBSCOhost116539683.