“Secular Prayers” for the New Lyric Theatre, Belfast

Abstract

“Secular Prayers” for the New Lyric Theatre, Belfast Brian Friel In 1968, Belfast’s newly professional Lyric Theatre—an outgrowth of the amateur Lyric Players company founded by Mary O’Malley in 1951—moved into its first purpose-built theater on Ridgeway Street near the River Lagan. Despite the civic chaos that ensued shortly thereafter, the Lyric remained committed to its mission, distinguishing itself as the only company in Belfast to produce plays throughout the period of the “Troubles.” By the end of the twentieth century, however, it had become apparent that the building was approaching the end of its useful life. In 2003, the architectural firm of O’Donnell and Tuomey won an open competition to design a new home for the theater, and the Lyric trustees launched an ambitious campaign to raise the funds needed to make their vision a reality in brick, steel, concrete, and Iroko timber. The global recession greatly complicated the process, but in late 2010 the capital fund-raising goal of £18 million was met. Meanwhile, in a daring act of faith in the future, the original building had been demolished so that construction could commence on the same site. The new Lyric Theatre, hailed in the Irish Times for taking theater design “to new heights of ingenuity, refinement and sophistication,” opened its doors on May Day of 2011. 1 Carved in sandstone in the theater’s entrance foyer are words expressing the good wishes of one of Ireland’s most accomplished playwrights, Brian Friel: “A new theatre can be the most exciting building in any city. It can be the home of miracles and epiphanies and revelations and renovations. And building a new theatre—especially in times like these—is both an act of fortitude and a gesture of faith in your community. Because what you are saying to that community is this: This is your playhouse—come and play with us here; give us your trust and in return we will entertain you and enlighten you and lead you into that secret land of mystery and of the spirit, that we tend to overlook in the course of our lives.” At the Lyric’s grand opening, a gala performance of the first play to be produced in the new space (Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, directed by Conall Morrison), Friel shared his thoughts. Eighty-two at the time, Friel’s presence was an especially notable [End Page 17] gift; his willingness to speak to the gathered crowd was also remarkable because, as Mark Carruthers (chairman of the board of trustees) noted in introducing him, he is “not someone known for public speechifying.” His “secular prayers” on that occasion serve as a reminder that as a very young man he considered becoming a priest. Although he abandoned that ambition at an early age, he eventually found in “the iron discipline of theatre,” as he recalled in 1971, “a dedication and a nobility and a selflessness that one associates only with a theoretical priesthood.”1 Here are his comments. MARILYNN J. RICHTARIK, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY I hope it isn’t inappropriate that on an occasion like this I might offer a few secular prayers. I pray that this may be a warm house and a welcoming house where we come together both to witness the ritual of theatre and to participate in that ritual. I pray that by taking part in the ritual here we rediscover—find access again to—those areas of our consciousness where the spiritual has gone silent from neglect. I pray that this may be a sacred place because what will happen here—when it’s at its truest—really has to do with the unworldly and the spirit. I pray that this will be a place that is impatient of what is conventional and what offers consolation and of all those ideas that we embrace either because they are fashionable or because we have inherited them. This must be a laboratory of questioning and scrutiny and of untried thoughts and practices. I pray that this house never forgets that it is a playhouse, a house of play; and that laughter and merrymaking and wit and comedy and raucous fun...