Lyric Theatre To Open With Miller

Belfast's much missed Lyric Theatre is to re-open on 1 May, and early announcements are already causing quite a lot of excitement.

The theatre will open with a gala performance of Arthur Miller's influential play, The Crucible. The play examining the hellish Salem witchcraft trials is viewed as one of the greatest plays ever written.

Conall Morrison returns to the Lyric to direct the opening production. Originally from Co Armagh, Conall, a Dublin-based director and writer, has worked extensively for companies such as the Lyric, the Abbey and the National Theatre.

Patrick O'Kane, from Belfast, will play the leading male role of John Proctor. Patrick is a renowned stage actor who last appeared at the Lyric as Hamlet in the Lyric-Abbey co-production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, also directed by Conall Morrison.

Patrick commented: "I'm thrilled to be playing such an iconic role in one of the outstanding plays of the 20th Century. The Crucible resonates just as profoundly today as it did in America in the 1950s. Miller's story of a community terrorized by its own paranoia, his rich characterizations and his relish of a muscular, theatrical language, mark The Crucible out as a genuine classic.

"It is a very exciting declaration of intent for the Lyric and I feel privileged to be a part to this new chapter in Northern Irish Theatre."

Catherine Cusack, an established stage actress from an Irish acting dynasty, will play Elizabeth Proctor. She has appeared in many plays including The Glass Menagerie, The Seagull, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses and in films such as Finding Neverland. She is also a popular TV actress having appeared in Doctor Who, Coronation Street and Ballykissangel.

Stalwart Lyric local actors Niall Cusack (Dancing at Lughnasa), Julia Dearden (The Blind Fiddler), Frankie McCafferty (Much Ado About Nothing, Bah Humbug!) Lalor Roddy (The Home Place) and Roma Tomelty (Over The Bridge, Oliver Twist) make a welcome return to the Lyric and their debut on the theatre's new stage.

Making her Lyric debut, up and coming actress Aoife Duffin will play Abigail Williams. Born in Kerry, Aoife won best actress award at the 2008 Dublin Fringe Festival. Julie Maxwell from North Belfast who performed in The Miser offsite at Elmwood Hall returns to the Lyric for her second turn and Aisling Groves McKeown, who has scaled the ranks from the Lyric Theatre Drama Studio, makes her professional debut with the company in her role.

Meanwhile, the theatre's organisers have revealed a Playwright-in-Residence will take up a year's post at the theatre when it opens.

Succesful local playwright David Ireland, has been appointed to the post and his residency is expected to be an integral part of a wider plan by the theatre to nurture and support the development of plays and playwrights.

David trained as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and has worked for many theatre companies across the UK, which his play Everything Between Us has just been nominated for the Stewart Parker Award.

Also upcoming in The Theatre's programme this year is Dockers - A vibrant recreation of Belfast's docklands in the 1960s - and a revamp of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, with original music by Conor Mitchell.

(BMcC/GK)