Coming Up: How Many Miles to Babylon? at the Lyric Belfast

The First World War Centenary is commemorated in dramatic fashion at the Lyric Theatre with a stirring adaptation of Jennifer Johnston’s novel How Many Miles to Babylon? this Spring.

Rehearsals are well underway with an impressive line-up of Irish and English actors bringing the Londonderry author’s “brilliant masterpiece” to the stage for the first time in Northern Ireland.

Anthony Delaney (Alec) and Ryan McParland (Jerry) in rehearsals

How Many Miles to Babylon? tells the heart-rending story of two young Irish boys from very different backgrounds who end up fighting in Flanders. Alec and Jerry are divided by class but united in friendship. One is the only child of Anglo-Irish landowners; the other is from a large family of Irish workers. Brought together by a shared love of horses, the pair enjoy an idyllic childhood on the same estate in County Wicklow.

As war breaks out at the end of 1914, both enlist in the army - and find themselves standing together, yet divided once more by rank. In the fields of Flanders, they must not only endure the horrors of the battlefield, but also face an ordeal that will test their friendship and their loyalty to breaking point.  The dramatic tale has been adapted by Irish actor and current Artistic Director of the PICT theatre in Pittsburgh, Alan Stanford.

How Many Miles to  Babylon full cast

Philip Wilson directs an impressive cast with Good Vibrations star Ryan McParland taking on the role of the charismatic Jerry and Anthony Delaney (Liola, The Kingdom) as Alec. Lyric audiences may also remember Ryan from Tim Loane’s The Civilisation Game in 2012 as well as the BBC series, 6 Degrees set in Belfast.

Catherine Cusack, part of the Irish acting dynasty of Cusacks, plays the cold mother, Alicia Moore opposite Michael James Ford (Becoming Jane; Michael Collins) as her husband. The rest of the cast are Richard Teverson (Brideshead Revisited; Downton Abbey) as Major Glendinning, Jeremy Lloyd (The Iron Lady) as Bennett and Charlie De Bromhead (How to Lose Friends and Alienate People).

Director Philip Wilson

“I came across Jennifer Johnston’s novel some years back, when I was researching another First World War story, and her delicate yet heartbreaking account of how young Irish men faced the unimaginable in the trenches has stayed with me ever since,” said the director, Philip Wilson.

“So I leapt at the chance to stage Alan Stanford’s poignant and richly evocative adaptation of this classic novel. Alec and Jerry’s friendship – which transcends education, class and religion – is a wonderfully compelling one, and the journey they go on together is truly remarkable.”

How Many Miles to Babylon? runs on the Danske Bank Stage, Lyric Theatre from Wed 30 April to Sat 24 May (Previews Sun 27 April 2.30pm; Tues 29 April 1pm & 7.45pm)

For more information and booking, please click here.

Image credits: Brian Morrison

Political Drama, What Drama?

Now you’re an expert on Danish coalition politics to add to your knowledge of how a filibuster works in the Senate - how come you don’t know how Stormont works, who works there and why? 

Political drama on these islands has been in short supply. We tend to concentrate on comedy, satire and just plain poking fun at politicians and the political process. Why have our devolved Parliament and Assemblies not inspired writers and producers to tell us about the drama on the Hill, in the Bay and at Holyrood? Is it because we don’t find our own politics interesting enough or are we too cynical even to watch politicians?

Join the discussion with panel members to include Simon Heath, executive producer of the BBC2 series Party Animals (2007) which looked at young, ambitious people close to political power and starred Andrea Riseborough and Matt Smith. He is currently working on Line of Duty 2, soon to start filming in Northern Ireland.

Lesley Riddoch, broadcaster and commentator, thinks Scotland has gone a bit bonkers over Borgen. Having spent her pre-teens in Belfast she is always happy to come back and she has just started a PhD comparing Norway and Scotland.

Matt Qvortrup lectures in Comparative Politics at Cranfield University and is an expert on referendums; beng from Copenhagen he might be able to tell us if the Danes have gone bonkers over Borgen too. Having worked as a journalist at the Danish Parliament and published an official history of Danish Prime Ministers he can offer an insider’s perspective.

Tim Loane is a screenwriter, playwright and director. He has written award-winning political satires for the stage and his screenwriting includes being creator and lead writer of Channel 4’s Teachers, the political thriller Proof for RTE and the Channel 5 re-boot of Minder.

Neil McKay is the writer of numerous dramas including the BAFTA-awarding winning Mo with Julie Walters and Appropriate Adult and See No Evil: The Moors Murders. He also recently adapted Kate Summerscale’s best-selling crime story The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher for ITV.

The discussion will be chaired by Quintin Oliver, Stratagem, Northern Ireland’s first dedicated public affairs company celebrating 15 years in the lobbying business.

This event will take place at the MAC and is part of the Belfast Film Festival.

Click here to book tickets. 

Macbeth at the Lyric Theatre

Everyone knows elements of Macbeth, whether it's Macbeth's famous words "Is this a dagger which I see before me?" or the weird sisters' mantra "Double, double toil and trouble". 


Any production team on Macbeth must feel the weight of theatre history on their shoulders. With so many different productions there is a need to be distinct, to add something to the Reception of the Macbeth story. 

The first thing that struck me when I entered the theatre is the magnificent set for this story. Diana Ennis has captured the mood perfectly.  The set is steeped in suffocating darkness, the weight of pebbles on the upper layer crushing the signs of normality below.  It is dramatic, epic and courageous, a portent of the production to follow.

I loved Lynne Parker's take on the weird sisters.  They are completely integrated into the society around them, having domestic lives as well as going mysteriously about their supernatural lives.  Their furtive glances and artful ability to slip into the shadows is creepy.  The witches are all powerful, always around Macbeth, whether in his mind, putting words into his mouth, within the domestic characters surrounding him or as apparitions.        

Stuart Graham as Macbeth is strong, and he is adept at removing his ties to reality bit by bit.  His descent into madness is realised with true fear and incomprehension.  His partnership with Lady Macbeth never seems quite passionate enough.  "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it." says Lady Macbeth.  I was a little disappointed in this portrayal which was too subtle a depiction of what I see as a tenacious and manipulative character.  Even before her descent into guilt, I never quite believed that she was the powerful woman of ambition that she is written to be.   
 
Paul Mallon makes an interesting McDuff.  At first I couldn't understand his seemingly underwhelming response to the news of the massacre of  his family.  But the stiff way he holds his body and the hang of his head was not unemotional but rather his body was filled with restrained anger.  The power and emotion he mustered into in a yell of pure revenge when he killed Macbeth ensured I felt his pain and then some.
 
Banquo is especially brilliant as a particularly devilish apparition, challenging Macbeth without saying a word, a testament to Michael Condron's skill as an actor.  
 
Two moments jarred with my overall experience.  The apparation which appears from a trapdoor on the stage adds misplaced humour which does not fit with the overall sense of hysteria Macbeth is feeling. The modern costumes and use of torches fits well with the production but I felt that the addition of army style radios was a step too far into modernity.

All round I thought this was a fantastic and interesting production and one that adds to the reception of the myth of Macbeth.  The production felt particularly rooted in Ireland, and indeed in Northern Ireland.  The blackness of the set, crunching of pebbles and strategically distributed haze would not feel out of place on Belfast's Black Mountain.  It's not too fantastic to believe that you could meet one of the weird sisters walking through our streets.  The retention of the actors' Belfast accents and the simpleness of their dress gives more than just a nod to their Belfast birthplace.

Macbeth runs until 24th November at the Lyric Belfast.

BOOK HERE