It being my 25th wedding anniversary, what better way recently to celebrate such a special occasion than a weekend in my native city of Belfast basking in the city’s multi-faceted attractions.
Much to my delight, I discovered that Belfast’s arts and culture world continues to flourish as illustrated by the performances my wife and I enjoyed at the Northern Irish city’s Lyric Theatre and Ulster Hall, two premier venues that have provided high-quality entertainment for generations.
First opened in 1862, the Ulster Hall, or the ‘Grand Dame of Bedford Street,’ as it is affectionately known, is one of the oldest purpose-built concert halls in the UK and Ireland. This grand Victorian building has survived two World Wars and welcomed names as famous and diverse as Charles Dickens and The Rolling Stones.
Since the ‘60s, the venue has been Northern Ireland’s spiritual home of rock music, hosting an almost endless list of famous names that has included U2, Coldplay, Thin Lizzy, The Clash, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snow Patrol, Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves, The Who, AC/DC and many more. It is also the home of the Ulster Orchestra, which performs many diverse concerts throughout the year.
The show my wife and I went to see was entitled ‘Defying Gravity,’ taken from a song in the popular musical ‘Wicked.’
A celebration of women who have made their mark on the West End Stage, the show featured four talented female singers and an all-women support band performing some of the most well-known songs from London’s West End and Broadway productions including Wicked, Les Miserables, Mamma Mia and Waitress. A packed audience attended and it being a Friday night, people were in lively carefree mood, with dancing erupting spontaneously in the aisles and seats, adding to the cheery homey atmosphere.
The Lyric Theatre, first opened in 1968, presented a very contrasting show, but one equally uplifting and spirited, with its version of Oscar Wilde’s satirical play on upper-class Victorian life, The Importance of Being Earnest.
Aside from delightful performances and a terrific set, what also impressed me was the use of on-stage technology to create rapid-fire whacky Monty Python-inspired animations between acts, including Victorian styled advertisements scrolling across the curtain featuring iconic posters for strange and peculiar products of the 19th century, the period of the play. This innovation helped make a classic play even more enjoyable for a modern day audience.
Kudos go to director Jimmy Fay and his assistant Debra Hill as well as to lead actors, Conor O’Donnell as a high camp Algernon ‘Algy’ Moncrieff, Adam Giliann as John ‘Jack’ Worthing, Allison Harding as the dour scornful matriarch Lady Bracknell, as well as Calla Hughes Nic Aoidh as a highly-strung, dreamy Cecily, and Meghan Tyler as the clever, self-assured Gwendolen.
To say the candy-floss costumes by Catherine Kodicek were extravagant would be a severe understatement, with Catherine rightly describing her designs as, “evocative of summer gardens, frivolity and fun.” The play was featured, much to the audience’s surprise, a song-and-dance routine during a set change, with some actors suddenly appearing at a high balcony overlooking the audience. The play ends its run on Sunday, July 6.
To make our weekend complete, my wife and I stayed at room2, a colorful hotel boasting the most convenient of locations, right in the heart of downtown Belfast, under the friendly management of Aine Finnegan.
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