Propaganda A New Musical - programme 2022

We are delighted to present two world premieres for this year’s Belfast International Festival – Conor Mitchell’s Propaganda, A New Musical and Paul McVeigh’s Big Man.

Supporting and producing the new work of our most talented and innovative artists is at the heart of the Lyric’s theatrical mission. The biggest musical theatre story of the last few years has been the irresistible rise of Conor Mitchell and the Belfast Ensemble.

My admiration for Conor’s bold vision and extraordinary talent only increases with time. I first worked with him twenty years ago when, barely out of school, he composed a remarkable score for Owen McCafferty’s version of Ionesco’s absurd masterpiece The Chairs, which was produced by Tinderbox and directed by myself. The world has only got more ludicrous since that time, and Conor’s extraordinary talent has grown proportionately while graduating from wunderkind to enfant terrible.

Conor has always deconstructed, primarily through his art, the stagnant and sometimes shameful actions

of what passes as conventional politics in this part of the world. He has not been afraid to hold a mirror up to the systems that govern us and have our leaders’ words quoted back at themselves. His work is frightening, enlightening and hugely entertaining. Where the mandate sometimes still is “whatever you say, say nothing,” Conor is one of the brave few who says something.

Propaganda deals with a group of people surviving a post-conflict society while it falls into the ideological grip of a totalitarian state. It asks fundamental questions about an artist’s place in such a society and isn’t afraid to be unblinking at some of the unsavoury deeds an artist must do to survive such a place. And it does all of this through a wonderfully accessible and vibrant musical form.

The smouldering ruins of Berlin in Post-World War Two provided many fascinating stories to film artists, such as Billy Wilder’s A Foreign Affair, Gene Kelly’s The Devil Makes Three and especially Roberto Rossellini’s Germany Year Zero. These “entertainments” deal with people surviving on the edge

of the abyss. They now serve as an immediate record and as a warning to our present day not to be complacent about the rise of extremist ideology, in whatever form it takes. In politics it may be dressed up as Left or Right and here to save you but almost always arrives as the arid babble of dull and vicious theocratic fascism.

However, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a financial and energy crisis forthcoming, are we already dancing in the dark?

Here, now, I am so proud of the Lyric, and Belfast Ensemble have assembled this incredible cast, musicians, and creative team, to tell this prescient story. I am thrilled that this show, Propaganda, an original Lyric commission, is finally coming to life with Conor at the helm.

Jimmy Fay Artistic Director/Executive Producer

Celebrating our milestone 60th edition, this year’s very special programme for Belfast International Arts Festival looks at the evolving nature of contemporary arts practice and in particular, the growth of interdisciplinary practice that uses more than one artistic discipline to create new work.

This year we are proud to support Conor Mitchell and the Belfast Ensemble, and our friends at the Lyric, in this wonderful new piece of musical theatre, which is as much a visual feast for the eyes as well as for the ears, and I’ve no doubt Propaganda, A New Musical will be a terrific success. The essence of performance is in its liveness and its uniqueness at any given moment, so enjoy this feast for the senses, and join us throughout our 60th year for more art and culture that is enlightening as it is entertaining.

Richard Wakely Chief Executive and Artistic Director Belfast International Arts Festival

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is delighted to support this exciting new co-production from the Lyric Theatre and The Belfast Ensemble.

The Belfast Ensemble’s Conor Mitchell is one of the most exciting and innovative artists working in Northern Ireland and Propaganda, A New Musical promises to be another stellar production from the Lyric Theatre and this groundbreaking ensemble. In recent times the Belfast Ensemble has brought us extraordinary productions including, Abomination: A DUP Opera and MASS

Dr Damian Smyth Head of Literature and Drama Arts Council of Northern Ireland

“BELFAST ENSEMBLE’S CONOR MITCHELL IS ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING AND INNOVATIVE ARTISTS WORKING IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND PROPAGANDA PROMISES TO BE ANOTHER STELLAR PRODUCTION FROM THE LYRIC THEATRE AND THIS GROUNDBREAKING ENSEMBLE”

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

The Belfast Ensemble have been housed by the Lyric since our very first production Catherine. Their support has been a lifeline and affirmation. So to finally be in full co-production has been a joy. The Ensemble’s work dances to many tunes, as we explore every facet of music-theatre. We’ve done opera, song, actor-text and here we wanted to reach into another style; one that talks in a more direct, melodic way: the musical.

We wanted to talk about politics, yes – the world around us – but from a distance. The resurgence of Cold War political rhetoric and ‘Russia-speak’ was something that began by stealth during the Trump era. Remember that? Was a new cold war brewing? Then, of course, Ukraine happened. And the world was in no doubt about Putin’s imperial ambitions. For us, these politics needed discussed on stage. By peering further back to the Berlin Blockade, we’re looking under a microscope to the first east/west act of the C20th. In 1948/49 this stand-off between the former allies was new. Ideologies, states, locked horns over a city whose symbolism was immense. The blockade would result in tension, the rise of superpowers and – ultimately – a wall that came to define many of our youths. This event was, in the eyes of many, the birth of today’s event in Europe.

Musically, the work plays on ‘realism and populism’ – two concepts that ironically dominated both superpowers. I wanted a score that honoured the great American songbook, but also played with the notion of Russian popular song. Both these sounds are direct, tuneful and – most importantly – grounded in the experience of the characters. I wanted music that was as ‘attractive’ as it was ‘dark’. The bigband sweep of 1949 (its final year) is conjured here, just as Richard Rodgers conjures Siam in The King and I – from a slight, affectionate distance. It becomes a cloak. And within it, we play our musical games. You might notice that many of the tunes are in 7, or that everything is based on the same 4 notes of the banned Mendelssohn. Or that Hanna’s record collection is – in fact – the reason you’re hearing what you’re hearing. Or – perhaps most crucially – that you, yourself, are tapping your foot and seduced by popularism in music, east and west – or, as they’d call it – propaganda.

This show is dedicated to my friend, Stephen Sondheim who – when I first told him the idea – described it as ‘funny… but creepy!’ His advice and encouragement were key during the score’s conception, and – while he is much missed – I suspect he is very much alive in every bar of this music. This is for him.

Conor Mitchell Director / Writer / Composer

BERLIN SNEEZES, THE WORLD CATCHES A COLD”

“WHEN

SET & COSTUME DESIGN INSPIRATION

SET DESIGN

Rather than attempt to re-create any kind of ‘scenic’ version of a bombedout Berlin in 1949, we decided to focus on the fragility and vulnerability of the situation our protagonists find themselves in. In their own way, each character is physically and emotionally stranded. Hannah and Slavi’s apartment, probably situated somewhere in the middle of a ruined apartment block, becomes an isolated island; ‘floating’ within the fully exposed architecture of the Lyric stage. To increase this sense of desolation further, we have opened up the substage and connected the bare bones of the theatre with stairs and walkways to facilitate scenes which can shift between the intimate and the epic in an instant. We invite the audience into an immersive experience.

COSTUME DESIGN

Costumes are inspired by late 1940’s Berlin where bartering and makingdo were essential survival tools. The characters are each very clearly defined and each has their own, sometimes quirky, style. Conor Mitchell has created a Broadway-style big-band musical with spectacular showstopper tunes full of vitality and energy. In the same vein, even though they are in a very exposed and stark environment, the costumes are a vibrant splash of saturated colour (inspired by 1964’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.)

Conor Murphy Set & Costume Designer

HISTORICAL NOTE BY DR TIMOTHY PHILLIPS

A note on the Berlin Blockade and Airlift

We live in interesting times and so did the people of Berlin in the late 1940s.

The allies who had been fighting the Nazis in the Second World War recognised at an early stage that Berlin had a special status. They agreed to divide occupied Germany into four sectors, each controlled by one allied power: France, the UK, the USA, and the USSR. But, even though the German capital was entirely enclosed within the Soviet sector, they also decided to share jurisdiction over it. From 1945, Berlin had four sectors.

When the Soviet Union split with the other three allied powers, this turned the western sectors of the German capital into an “island” marooned in a sea of communist control. Everyone thought the situation untenable but no one was quite sure how events would unfold.

Through 1946 and 1947, there were halfhearted attempts to reach agreement, but Moscow refused to compromise. Then, in 1948, France, the UK and the USA decided to introduce a new currency, the Deutschmark, into their sectors of Germany and Berlin.

The Soviets saw this as their moment to attack and did so by closing off all land and river routes to Berlin’s western sectors, meaning that the normal supply of food and fuel was halted. From 24 June 1948 until 12 May 1949 – a period of 323 days – what later became West Berlin was under blockade.

The Soviets assumed that before long the Western powers would be forced to recognise facts on the ground. To their thinking, there was simply no way that a population of 2 million could be kept fed and warm in such conditions. Perhaps the population of Berlin’s western sectors would even rise up against their occupiers and plead to be taken under the USSR’s wing. If that happened, it would be a massive strategic and propaganda victory.

The reality was to be very different. The only link to the outside world was by air – owing to a prior written agreement that the Soviets did not dare breach. The Americans and the British promptly arranged an airlift to get in vital supplies. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of transport planes every day brought coal and essential food. The supply of the latter was carefully calculated to provide just the right amount of calories for each citizen (around 2,000 per day).

Life in Berlin was still devastatingly hard due to wartime destruction. The blockade served to poison locals’ view of the USSR. As they struggled to survive, Moscow was trying to starve and freeze them to death. On the flip side, the British and American occupiers suddenly looked like saviours.

A few West Berliners did flee to the east of the city (one of the things the Soviets had hoped for). But the vast majority stayed. Meanwhile, in what would become East Berlin, citizens lived under ever-tightening controls. Many subsisted in ruined apartment blocks that would not be repaired for decades, under the watchful and oppressive gaze of a regime that told them they had been liberated by Stalin and by the ideology of Karl Marx.

The Berlin Blockade was lifted once the Soviets realised that the West would continue its airlift indefinitely. But the memory of the event lived long in the minds of every German. It was a major contributor to the massive haemorrhaging of East German citizens to West Berlin and West Germany over the next twelve years. Finally, in August 1961, the East German government, backed by Moscow, erected the Berlin Wall in order to stem the tide of its own fleeing population.

There are many parallels with events in Ukraine today: the Kremlin’s hope that it would be welcomed as a liberator; the surprising Western resolve that Moscow should not be allowed to win; the use of raw materials as a weapon; and, ultimately, the continuing uneasy cohabitation of Russia, Germany, and American interests on this small, crowded continent.

Timothy Phillips is the author of The Curtain and the Wall: A Modern Journey Along Europe’s Cold War Border, published by Granta Books on 13 October 2022.

FROM 24 JUNE 1948 UNTIL 12 MAY 1949 – A PERIOD OF 323 DAYS – WHAT LATER BECAME WEST BERLIN WAS UNDER BLOCKADE.

Act one

LIKE WHAT YOU SEE, BOYS? (Hanna, Slavi & Ruddy)

SLAVI SAYS (Hanna & Magda)

WHAT KIND OF A LIFE IS THIS, HANNA? (Slavi & Hanna)

MARGOT’S PHOTOSHOOT (Margot, Hanna, Slavi & Gerhardt)

LIFE IS JUST A GAME (Gerhardt & Margot) WITHOUT ME (Margot)

COMRADE CHAPLIN (Margot, Hanna & Magda)

DON’T PANIC (Slavi, Ruddy, Hanna, Magda & Margot) THE CRITIQUE (Poliakov & Company) THE ANTHEM (Company)

Act two

ENTR’ACTE (Gerhardt)

ALMOST LOVE (Margot) NEVER SAID A WORD (Magda)

BEING AN ARTIST (Margot, Gerhardt, Slavi & Hanna) 1916 (Poliakov, Margot, Ruddy, Slavi, Gerhardt & Hanna)

I COULD TAKE IT ALL AWAY (Ruddy, Hanna, Slavi & Margot) OH, RODENA (Gerhardt & Company)

MOON OVER MOSCOW (Magda & Company) WITHOUT ME (Hanna)

REBECCA CAINE MAGDALENE VON FURSTENBERG

Canada/London/Guildhall.

Lyric Theatre: Abomination (Belfast Ensemble, Lyric Theatre).

Recently: The Light In The Piazza (Central City Opera), Preludes (Southwark Playhouse), Flowers for Mrs Harris (Crucible).

Opera includes roles at E.N.O., Glyndebourne, Opera North, Glimmerglass, Scottish Opera, De Vlaamse Oper, Nice, Chicago Opera Theatre, New Zealand Opera, Opera Holland Park.

Radio includes: Candide, Trouble in Tahiti, The Telephone and concerts of Kern, Gershwin, Porter and Bernstein for BBC Radio 3.

Recordings include Original London cast Les Miserables, Canadian cast The Phantom of The Opera.

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Cunning Little Vixen (1998).

@RebeccaCaine

MATTHEW CAVAN GERHARDT BAUMANN

Matthew is a Belfast based actor and is a core member of The Belfast Ensemble.

His credits include: Abomination: A DUP Opera (Belfast ensemble) The Narrator in ‘The Musician’ a Childrens Opera (Belfast ensemble) The Man in Ten Plagues (Belfast Ensemble) other theatre credits include: Gerhardt Baumann in The Young Pornographers rehearsed reading concert (Lyric Theatre) Paul in Kiss Me Kate (NI Opera), Adolfo Pirelli in Sweeney Todd (NI Opera), Mrs. Peachum in The Threepenny Opera (NI Opera), Amnesia in Cinder on Tinder (GBL Productions) Jason in Bison (TheatreOfPluck), King Of Gooseland in Mother Goose (Qdos Panto)

TV/Documentary Credits: Letter to Lia (Nicky Larkin), Becoming Cherrie (Nicky Larkin), Abomination (Nicky Larkin), Cherrie, Me and HIV (Tyrone Productions), Soft Border Patrol (BBC NI), I am Belfast (Mark Cousins)

DARREN FRANKLIN SLAVI

Darren Franklin is an actor from Belfast.

His theatre credits, include The Ferryman (Gielgud Theatre), Abomination: A DUP Opera (Abbey Theatre), Tír na nÓg (Aon Sceal/Mill Theatre, Dundrum), A Christmas Carol, Stitching Time, Herons, Graveyard Shift (The MAC), Teenage Kicks (Millennium Forum), Departure Lounge (Grand Opera House, Belfast), Mass, Pirates of Penzance Concert (The Belfast Ensemble), Kiss Me Kate, The Devil Made Me Do It (N.I. Opera), Macbeth, Mixed Marriage (Lyric Theatre, Belfast), When I Say ‘Tee’, You Say ‘Bo’ (Edinburgh Fringe), Lay Up Your Ends”, The Home Place, Shh, We Have a Plan, Stitched Up (N.I. Tour), EGG (U.S.A. Tour).

Film and television credits include Gone (Future Screens), Septet for Four (The Belfast Ensemble), Lord Mountbatten (RTE/ History Channel) Dry Your Eyes, Betrayal of Trust, Give My Head Peace” (BBC).

Darren has an ALCM Distinction from the London College of Music. He plays the piano, guitar, drums, Eb (tenor) Horn, Saxophone (Alto), recorder and ukulele.

CELIA GRAHAM MARGOT RICHTER

Musical Theatre: Phantom of the Opera Christine Daae, (West End London), Love Never Dies Christinne Daae, (West End London), Les Miserables – Cosette , (West End London), West Side Story Maria, (West End London), Cats Jellylorum (UK/ International Tour), Titanic – Alice Beane, (Off West End London) Sweet Smell of Success – Rita, (Off West End London), South Pacific – Nelly Forbush (Kilworth Open Air Theatre), Street Scene (Scottish Opera), Follies Young Phillis (Glasgow Concert Hall), Best Leading Actress AwardBroadwayWorld.com.

Concert Work: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Musical Celebration (Royal Chelsea London) 25th Anniversary Phantom of the Opera (Royal Albert Hall), 25th Anniversary Les Miserables (O2 Arena), An evening with Michael Ball (Royal Opera House), BBC Concert with Michael Ball (Edinburgh Concert hall), A night with Ramin Karimloo (UK Concert Hall Tour), Magic Of Musicals Royal Philharmonic (UK Concert Hall tour), Incognito Artists (New Zealand Tour), Opening Tri Nations Rugby ceremony (New Zealand, Christchurch Stadium), Les Miserables (Windsor Castle), Private Concert, Prince Rainier (Monaco Palace), Christmas Concert, Moscow Symphonic (Moscow Concert Hall).

Film and Recording Work: Les Miserables (Tom Hooper, Schonberg & Boubil), The Invisible Woman (Ralph Fiennes, Ilan Eshkeri), Snowman and Snowdog, The Young Victoria, Centurian, Stardust East Virtue (Stephan Elliot, Marius De Vries).

Workshops: Woman in White (Andrew LLoyd Webber), The Little Prince (Nick Lloyd Webber).

SEAN KEARNS COMRADE

POLIAKOFF

Theatre: The Cavalcaders (Druid Theatre), Into the Woods (NI Opera), The Last Ship (US Tour), Crocodile Fever (Traverse Theatre Edinburgh), The Comedy About a Bank Robbery (West End), Pinocchio, Bouncers (MAC Belfast), Wicked (West End), The Commitments (West End), Billy Elliot (West End), The 39 Steps (West End), Bedlam, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, A New World, As You Like It (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, God In Ruins, Macbeth, Macbett (Royal Shakespeare Company), Measure for Measure (Almeida), The Importance of Being Earnest (Dublin Abbey), A Whistle in the Dark (Manchester Royal Exchange/ Tricycle Theatre), Hamlet (Dublin Abbey/ Belfast Lyric), Smiling Through (Manchester Contact), Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice (Dublin Gate), A Streetcar Named Desire, Double Cross, Good Vibrations, Of Mice and Men, The Sound of Music, Annie, Oliver (Lyric Theatre Belfast).

Film: Puckoon (Studio 8), Best (Best Films), Angela’s Ashes (David Brown Productions), Durango (Hallmark), The Boxer (Hell’s Kitchen), The Informant (Hallmark) TV: Vera (ITV), As the Beast Sleeps (BBC), Ballykissangel (BBC), Safe and Sound (BBC), The Governor (Samson Films), Extra Extra (RTE), The Last of a Dying Race (UTV/ Channel 4), God’s Frontiersman (UTV/ Channel 4), Children of the North (BBC).

OLIVER LIDERT RUDDY WOLFF

Training: BFA Musical Theatre, University of the Arts; MA Music Theatre, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Theatre includes: Original Cast of DreamWorks The Prince of Egypt (Dominion Theatre), Dear Evan Hanson (Noel Coward), Original Cast Aladdin (Prince Edward’s Theatre), Original Cast Beautiful – The Carole King Musical (Aldwych Theatre), Porgy & Bess (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Original Cast The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales), The Lion King (Lyceum), Walk in the Light (National Theatre), A Perfect Ganesh, Ferdinand the Bull, Caroline or Change (Arden Theatre), Nerds: a Computer Software Satire (Philadelphia Theatre Company), Einstein’s Dreams (NYC MT Festival), Eugene Onegin, Romeo and Juliet (Opéra de Baugé).

Other: Concerts Include Magic of Disney (Hyde Park) Beauty and the Beast (Leister Square).

Oliver has directed and produced numerous professional theatrical productions and is also part of the musical theatre writing team Kansley and Lidert who have premiered new musicals in London and Melbourne.

@Oliverlidert @kansleyandlidert

JOANNA O’HARE HANNA

Joanna O’Hare is a Northern Irish actress and a graduate of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, receiving her BA (Hons) in Musical Theatre in 2012. She has lived in London since graduation.

Theatre Credits include: Mrs Gordon/1st understudy Rosalie Mullins School of Rock the Musical (UK and Ireland tour), Enchantress Beauty and the Beast (Belfast Opera House), Mrs Gordon/1st understudy Rosalie Mullins School of Rock the Musical (South Korean Tour), Mary/understudy Norma Desmond Sunset Boulevard (UK and Ireland Tour), Mother Nature Jack and the Beanstalk (Belfast Opera House), Swing The Phantom of the Opera (West End), Ensemble Kiss Me Kate (BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall), Protestant Girl/1st understudy Christine The Beautiful Game (Union Theatre) and Titania A Midsummer Nights Dream (Butterfly Theatre Company).

Concert Credits Include: Sondheim at 80 (BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall).

TV and Film credits include: Suzy The Rev (Watersmeet productions), Mary/1st understudy Norma Desmond Sunset Boulevard (Curve Leicester).

Joanna is thrilled to be part of this wonderful new show and would like to thank her friends, family and all at Grantham Hazeldine for their constant support.

CREATIVES

CONOR MITCHELL WRITER, DIRECTOR & COMPOSER

A multi award-winning opera/music-theatre composer, librettist and stage director, Conor Mitchell is unique in his field, working towards a vision of total theatre through contemporary performance. A pupil of Blake and LeFanu, his music blends the worlds of stage design with contemporary visual arts and engages audiences through socially relevant, politically charged subjects. A double Ivor Novello nominee and double Fringe First winner, he is the recipient of the Arts Council Northern Ireland Major Individual Artists Award and a life fellow of the Arts Foundation for composition, he is also the only non-American to hold ‘best score’ at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Known as much for his symphonic and opera work, recent collaborations include Rome, Holland, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh festivals, the National Theatre, Irish National Opera, Cheltenham Music festival/Wild Plum Arts, Ulster Orchestra, Outburst Queer Arts Festival and Young at Art. His work is regularly taught at conservatoires, including the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Recent scores/collaborations include his Mass (Ulster Orch./Outburst); Abomination, a DUP Opera (B.Ens/Outburst); Message for Marty (Irish National Opera); and the children’s opera The Musician (B.Ens/ Young At Art) due to open at Cologne Opera in 2023. He was among a handful of composers honoured with writing for the ‘Britten 100’ celebration with his Cabaret Songs, and his award-winning song cycle Ten Plagues was recently revived by the pop singer Marc Almond. The Ulster Orchestra recently recorded his Democracy Dances to celebrate 100 years of NI music with BBC Radio 3.

As Artistic Director of The Belfast Ensemble, his opera Abomination: a DUP Opera was listed in the Top Ten Classical Works of 2019 and won ‘Best Opera Production’ at the 2020 Irish Times Theatre Awards. He is currently a fellow at the Seamus Heaney writers centre and composer in residence at Wexford Opera Festival where he premieres a new work in 2022.

BOB BROAD MUSICAL DIRECTOR

Bob studied at both Trinity College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, gaining his BMus (Hons) TCM & PGDip (Hons) in Organ and Piano Accompaniment from Trinity and PGDipRAM in Musical Theatre Direction and Coaching from the Royal Academy, additionally being made an Associate of the Academy in 2018.

Recordings and Broadcasts include plays, incidental music, adverts and music videos for BBC Radio 3, Radio 4 and Channel 4. Films include Sweeney Todd and Disney’s Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

He won the FASC (Academy of Saint Cecilia) in 2003, the London Cardnell Organ prize in 2005 and he won first prize at the International Handel Festival for Accompaniment in 2006. In 2011, he won a Fringe First award for his Musical Direction of the Royal Court’s production of Mark Ravenhill and Conor Mitchells Ten Plagues at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Bob is the Associate Accompanist of the House Of Commons’ Parliament Choir and during his time as Organ Scholar at St Georges Cathedral, Southwark he performed Organ recitals at Lincoln, York, Winchester and Salisbury Cathedrals.

Workshops include HMS Pinafore (Old Vic), Made In Dagenham (Stage Entertainment), All The Fun Of The Fair (David Essex/ATG), Room (National Theatre Of Scotland), Bonnie and Clyde (The Other Palace), Feather Boy (National Theatre/BBC), History Of A Pleasure Seeker (Netflix).

Musical Director credits include The Addams Family, We Will Rock You (UK Tours), Heathers (Theatre Royal Haymarket), The View Upstairs (Soho Theatre), Love’s Labour’s Lost, Much Ado About Nothing (Royal Shakespeare Company/Theatre Royal Haymarket), Legally Blonde (Leicester Curve), Nell Gwynn (Royal Shakespeare Company/Apollo Theatre), Hairspray (Asia Tour), Jesus Christ Superstar (UK Tour).

Associate Musical Director credits include Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Apollo Theatre), Annie Get Your Gun (UK Tour), We Will Rock You (International Arena Tour), Grey Gardens (Southwark Playhouse).

TV credits include Vocal Coach for The Voice (ITV), Britain’s Got Talent (ITV) and The Beat Goes On (Channel 5).

CONOR MURPHY SET & COSTUME DESIGNER

Conor was born in Ireland, studied theatre design in London and gained an MA in scenography in Utrecht, Holland.

His opera designs include Alceste (Lisbon), Tristan und Isolde (Hannover), Elektra (Gothenburg), Orphée et Eurydice (Royal Opera House and La Scala, Milan), Lohengrin (Royal Swedish Opera), La clemenza di Tito (Opera North), La Bohème, Wake, Turn of the Screw (Nationale Reisopera), Salome (Montpellier), Powder Her Face (Opera Vlaanderen) and Die Zauberflöte (Korea National Opera).

Designs for theatre include The Government Inspector, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Woman and Scarecrow and The Crucible (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); The Birthday Party and Juno & the Paycock (Bristol Old Vic) and Richard III (West Yorkshire Playhouse).

Dance designs include Labyrinth of Love and Tomorrow (Rambert), The Four Seasons (Birmingham Royal Ballet), Carmen and Giselle Reloaded (Donlon Dance Company). Recent musicals include West Side Story (South African tour) and Chicago (Braunschweig).

At World Stage Design, 2013, he was awarded ‘exceptional achievement across all categories’. At World Stage Design, 2017, his designs for Orphée et Eurydice received the bronze award for ‘Performance Design’. He was awarded ‘Best Set Design’ for West Side Story at the 2018 Naledi Theatre Awards in South Africa.

MARY TUMELTY LIGHTING DESIGNER

Mary Tumelty, born and lives in Belfast, graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in 2004 with a BA in Drama Studies. She trained at the Grand Opera House, Belfast in Lighting, Sound and Stage Management for two years. In 2006 she moved to a full- time permanent position within the Brian Friel Theatre at Queen’s University as a theatre instructor.

Recent credits Lighting Design, Abomination (Lyric Theatre) The Belfast Ensemble & Outburst Festival, which received an Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Opera 2020. Installation Design, Crazy Golf (Craigavon) CDM. Associate Lighting Design, The revival of Shirley (Lyric Theatre) Lighting Design, Body Politics (The Mac Theatre) MACHA Productions, Kindermusik (Belfast Children’s Festival), Ten Plagues (Film Credit) The Belfast Ensemble, Shankill/ Falls Women’s Project, Democracy Dances (Orchestra and Electronics collaboration) Ulster Orchestra and The Belfast Ensemble (Water Front Hall), The Musician (Lyric Theatre) The Belfast Ensemble. Lighting Installation Design, Airtastic (Abbey Centre) Lighting Design, Conversations with Friends (Lyric Theatre) CWF Productions (Element Pictures, BBC Three, Hulu), The Saviour (The Everyman Theatre, Cork) Landmark Productions. Production Designer, The Car Park (Partisian Productions) Relight, The Dead An Opera (The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin) Pyrotechnics Design, programmer and Operator. (Zodiak Kids, CBBC ) Relight, Backwards up a rainbow, Landmark Productions (Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire) Lighting Design, Body Politics (Brian Friel Theatre) Macha Productions, A Night in November (The Mac Theatre) Soda Bread Theatre Company, Pinocchio (The Lyric Theatre), How to Bury a dead Mule, (Lyric Studio), Blue Stockings (Lyric Studio), Birds of Passage in the Half Light. Tinderbox (Gilded Balloon Edinburgh) and Electric Picnic (laois)

Mary is delighted to being doing the lighting design for Propaganda at The Lyric Theatre Belfast.

CONAN MCIVOR VIDEO DESIGNER

Conan McIvor is a filmmaker, theatre-maker and video artist who creates experimental films, drama shorts, site-specific installations, immersive environments, largescale outdoor video projections, in addition to moving- image design for both theatre and live performance. His work has been exhibited

in site-specific venues and traditional gallery spaces, screened at International film festivals, National theatres and offBroadway, been broadcast on National Television, and is held as part of the Arts Council Northern Ireland collection.

Conan attended the University of Ulster, where he studied Interactive Multimedia Design before receiving an MA in Film and Visual Studies from Queen’s University Belfast in 2007. During his studies he was awarded Northern Ireland Screen’s Bill Miskelly Award. Conan received a Lyric Theatre/Future Screens NI Live-To-Digital commission to create his virtual experience prototype The Estate.

Recent theatre credits include: Abomination (Abbey Theatre/Lyric Theatre), RTÉ Concert Orchestra performs Leonard Cohen (Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin), The White Handkerchief (The Guildhall, Derry~Londonderry), MASS (Outburst Arts Festival), The Patient Gloria (Brighton Festival/The Traverse Edinburgh/Abbey Theatre), Carnival of Shadows: 1 Possible Human (Kilkenny Arts Festival), Removed (The Traverse Edinburgh/Suzanne Roberts Philadelphia USA/Axis Dublin/Druid Galway/ Brian Friel Theatre Belfast), www.conanmcivor.com

IAN VENNARD SOUND DESIGNER

Ian Vennard has worked at the Lyric Theatre since May 2016 and is currently the Senior Production Technician.

His Lyric Theatre credits include: Alice the Musical (2018); Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleetstreet: The Musical (A Lyric Theatre and Northern Ireland Opera coproduction – 2019) and Kiss Me, Kate (A Lyric Theatre and Northern Ireland Opera co-production – 2020), Audio System Design Rough Girls (2021).

Ian also has close ties with the Belfast Ensemble since their conception and credits include: Doppler Effect (2017), Fall of the House of Usher (2018), Young Pornographers (2019), Abomination a DUP Opera (2019 & 2022 Irish Tour)

Northern Ireland Opera: Into The Woods 2022 Production Sound Designer

MUSICAL THEATRE AT THE LYRIC

The Lyric has a long history of musical theatre, going right back to the very first musical staged here in 1971, which was a musical adaptation of J.M. Synge’s play The Playboy of the Western World, called The Heart’s a Wonder by Nuala and Mairin O’Farrell. It was directed by Mary O’Malley, with musical direction by Alan Tongue and starred a young Stella McCusker as Pegeen Mike. The first Broadway

La Mancha, with a cast including radio broadcaster and singer Candy Devine. The Lyric produced Grease in December 1978, just a few months after the movie was released, starring Stella McCusker as Rizzo and Louis Rolston as Vince Fontaine.

Let’s look back at a few other showstopper musicals from the Lyric over the years . . .

1975 – Cabaret Directed by Michael Poyner, musical director John Anderson, written by Kander and Ebb

1981 Hello, Dolly! - Directed by Michael Poynor, musical directors Billy Cairns and Graham Kennedy, book by Michael Stewart, music and lyrics by Jerry Herman

1974 Jesus Christ Superstar Directed by Michael Poynor, musical director John Anderson, written by Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice

1984 Annie - Directed by Richard Digby-Day, musical director Rod McVey, written by Thomas Meehan and Martin Charnin, music by Charles Strouse.

1982 – Kingdom Come Directed by Nona Sheppard, musical director John Anderson, book by Stewart Parker, music by Shaun Davey

2015 Putting it Together -

CHRISTMAS MUSICALS

“A West End quality show at a fraction of West End prices and close-up seating also, something even higher-cost London tickets don’t deliver…”

Review Alice the Musical 2018

For many years, we have had a string of hit musicals commissioned and created from scratch for our Christmas family show season. Thousands of children and their families every year visit the Lyric, and for many this is their very first experience of live theatre. The spectacular musicals that are produced at Christmas ensure that they come back again and again for this very special festive tradition.

Here are just a selection of some of our spectacular Christmas shows:

2003 The Star Catcher, by Zoe Seaton, Paul McEneaney and Conor Mitchell

2004 Charlotte’s Web, adapted by Joseph Robinette, music by Conor Mitchell

2017 Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf by Derek O’Connor, music by Ursula Burns

1998 and 2018 Alice the Musical, book and music by Paul Boyd

2021 Pinocchio book and music by Paul Boyd

The Belfast Ensemble have been making music at the Lyric for the last five years.

The Habsburg Tragedies 2017

The Doppler Effect 2017 + 2018

The Fall of the House of Usher 2018 Ten Plagues 2018

BASH! Triple Bill 2019 / BASH! Pirates of Penzance Gala Performance 2019

Abomination 2018, 2019 + 2022

2008 The Wizard of OzDirected by Richard Croxford, starring Rachel Tucker. This was the last performance in the ‘old’ Lyric before closing for redevelopment.

2020 - Kiss Me Kate - Directed by Walter Sutcliffe Co-Pro with Northern Ireland Opera – written by Cole Porter

Co-Pro with Blunt Fringe Directed by Stephen Whitson and Rachel Logan, written by Stephen Sondheim.