Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

My column from Saturday's News Letter. As last week’s election count ground on through Friday evening, I took a much needed break from the coverage to visit the reopened Lyric Theatre in Belfast.   It’s been closed for the past year or so, as the old building was more or less rebuilt from the ground up and replaced by a gleaming, modern venue costing £18.1 million.   The Department of Culture, Arts and Lesiure stumped up about half of that total.   A hefty price tag, but it seems to be money well spent.   The lack of sound-proofing at the old Lyric was a particular irritation, with the roar of traffic from Stranmillis Embankment, car alarms and the like constantly intruding on performances.   Nothing quite explodes the illusion that you are in say, 7 th century Denmark, like the cheesy jingle of an ice cream van. There are no such issues with the new theatre.   The heavy wooden panels surrounding the auditorium insulate it perfectly from the outside wo...

The Lyric Theatre is due to be levelled later today to make way for a brand new facility. The replacement is sorely needed as the current theatre is uncomfortable, pretty chilly and very poorly soundproofed. Nothing quite damages the impression of twelfth century Denmark, like hearing an ice-cream lorry revving its engine and playing ‘the Entertainer’ at full volume, somewhere outside. The theatre has contributed to a fair amount of dross over the years, Marie Jones’ career spring to mind, but it is still the leading arts’ theatre in Northern Ireland. Hopefully the work goes well and it will open on schedule in March 2010.

I couldn't help noticing amongst the tumult of publicity which Liam Neeson attracted on his return to Belfast to see off the Lyric Theatre, that Ballymena's most celebrated export is currently sporting a hair do that would look more at home on an Russian babushka. I'm no great expert, but this is either a terrible toupee or an ill-advised dye job! Fair play to Liam, he's obviously not expending much of his Hollywood millions on hair stylists!