New season launches at the Lyric Theatre

The jam packed programme for the Autumn/ Winter 2022, which launched today, showcases a new generation of writers as well as welcoming back firm favourites to its stages.

Highlights of the new season include The Gap Year (3-25 Sept) a journey of craic, coffee shops and self-discovery for three women in their 60s by Belfast playwright Clare McMahon. Starring Libby Smyth, Carol Moore and Marion O’Dwyer, this play was first commissioned in 2019, and developed through the Lyric New Writing department. Propaganda: A New Musical (8 Oct-5 Nov) by double Ivor Novello-nominated composer Conor Mitchell is an old fashioned Soviet love story set in Berlin in 1949. Produced with the Belfast Ensemble, this new musical includes a Broadway influenced score, a live 14-piece orchestra and stellar cast. Big Man (27 Oct-13 Nov) a new play by local writer Paul McVeigh, explores how two men in pursuit of love move beyond the barrier of age and conflicting gay experience. The kings of Christmas craic return with their latest show Grimes & McKee’s Christmas Craic-er (2-30 Dec), jam packed full of Christmas chaos. This Christmas, families will experience a spectacular new musical adventure with The Snow Queen (25 Nov-31 Dec), written and composed by Paul Boyd, and inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale.

With lots of visiting shows, dates for the diary and return of favourites including Yes So I Said, Yes (11 – 22 Oct) a new play by acclaimed playwright David Ireland, Nuala McKeever in Life Bites (28 Sept-2 Oct) and Patrick Kielty (8-13 Nov) reprising his critically acclaimed Borderline stand up show – live theatre is well and truly back.

Lyric Theatre also continues to deliver a broad range of outreach and learning programmes from their award-winning Creative Learning department. This includes a full summer of theatre school for young people, and Lyric Drama Studio for young actors.

New for this season is the Lyric membership! Lyric+ is free to join for students and community groups and from only £2.50 a month for everyone else. It’s packed full of perks like priority seating, new show exclusives and discounts. With multibuy discounts, accessible performances for all Lyric shows, and tickets from only £12, there’s plenty of reasons to enjoy amazing live theatre at the Lyric this year.

Jimmy Fay, Executive producer, Lyric Theatre said:

“New Writing is the foundation stone of the Lyric Theatre and we are delighted to be presenting you with such a packed and wide-ranging season of diverse work. An audience discovering a new work for the first time can be perhaps the most electrifying moment in a theatre’s history. It is so important to celebrate and promote our home-grown talent and the best theatrical platform these remarkable writers can have is from the Lyric stages.”

Roisín McDonough, Chief Executive Arts Council of Northern Ireland, commented:

“As Northern Ireland’s leading producing theatre and home to so many of the most outstanding and memorable productions to come out of Belfast over the decades, there is a thrilling sense of anticipation when the Lyric Theatre puts its faith in new talent. The Arts Council, as principal funder, is proud to support the Lyric Theatre as it continues to innovate, bringing exceptional home-grown talent to local and international attention and providing Northern Ireland audiences with unforgettable, world-class, theatre experiences.”

For details on the Lyric 2022 Autumn/Winter programme visit https://lyrictheatre.co.uk.