My thoughts on Belfast's Culture Night and @culturenightdub.bsky.social tonight on LinkedIn. Do Northern Ireland's contested notions of "culture" bear scrutiny against stubborn sectarian division and in the aftermath of this summer's anti-immigrant riots?

The youth-accented Project Lighthouse is a hugely ambitious collaboration between Derry's Millennium Forum and @hawkswellsligo.bsky.social with support from the @humefoundation.bsky.social. My news story for @britishtheatreguide.info…

British Theatre Guide@britishtheatreguide.info · 4d ago

Theatre news: Project Lighthouse to culminate in live theatre broadcast Cross-border project explores peace for the post-Good Friday Agreement generation. www.britishtheatreguide.info/news/project...

Delighted to see Carley Magee as the only Northern Irish recipient of the Peggy Ramsay Foundation's Playwrights '73 Awards scheme, which will result in a new play in collaboration with Kabosh. My @britishtheatreguide.info news story…

British Theatre Guide@britishtheatreguide.info · 6d ago

Theatre news: Carley Magee awarded £15,000 from Playwrights ’73 The Belfast playwright is to develop a new play with Kabosh Theare Company. www.britishtheatreguide.info/news/carley-...

Interesting take on Carmen from @niopera.bsky.social tonight at the Grand Opera House, Belfast with Ruby Dibble in her role debut as the femme fatale, Mary McCabe outstanding as Micaëla, and Petra Wells a fine Frasquita. Review to follow in Opera magazine. .

And so it begins. National Symphony Orchestra Ireland's 2026-27 Season gets under way with Alexander Shelley in his debut as Principal Conductor, Tara Erraught and Dame Sarah Connolly in a rousing Mahler Resurrection at the National Concert Hall, Dublin. Delighted to have provided the booklet note.

“A powerful experience, Wycherley commanding the stage… required viewing.” Don Wycherley stars in The Life and Times of Paddy Armstrong at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. My @britishtheatreguide.info review…

British Theatre Guide@britishtheatreguide.info · last wk.

Theatre review: The Life and Times of Paddy Armstrong from Wooden Bridge Productions at Lyric Theatre, Belfast www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/the-...

“Inspired by old Hollywood cinema and set within a faded cinema of memories”, Tinderbox Theatre Company re-imagines Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie @themacbelfast.bsky.social for @belfastfestival.bsky.social. My news story for @britishtheatreguide.info…

British Theatre Guide@britishtheatreguide.info · last wk.

Theatre news: Tinderbox to stage Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie American classic to be re-imagined for the Belfast International Arts Festival www.britishtheatreguide.info/news/tinderb...

More than 2,000 have now signed Equity's Letter of No Confidence in Arts Minister Gordon Lyons following a successful rally at Stormont. My news story for @thestage.co.uk…

The Stage@thestage.co.uk · last wk.

An open letter of no confidence in Northern Ireland’s arts minister Gordon Lyons has gathered more than 2,000 signatures amid a protest outside Stormont against the region’s low level of arts funding. Read more 👇

David Rudkin's "very simple" Penda's Fen is anything but: a dense and heterodox meditation on Englishness and identity, directed like a fever dream by Alan Clarke. A standout Play for Today from 1974. @bbciplayer.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Play for Today - Penda's Fen

Young Stephen, in the last summer of his boyhood, has a very clear and intense view of the world, but an awakened force in the landscape is trying to communicate some warning, a peril he is in.

bbc.co.uk

Ettlin fur Godot. Frank Ferguson's translation of Waiting for Godot in Ulster-Scots is to be performed on Slemish Mountain and in the Wicklow Hills as part of Arts Over Borders' ambitious Samuel Beckett Biennale. My news story for @britishtheatreguide.info…

British Theatre Guide@britishtheatreguide.info · last wk.

Theatre news: Waiting for Godot to be performed in Ulster-Scots Ambitious UK-wide Beckett Festival to stage Beckett’s iconic play in the outdoors. www.britishtheatreguide.info/news/waiting...

Crucial Day of Action by Equity NI tomorrow at Stormont when it will deliver a Letter of No Confidence in Arts Minister Gordon Lyons. You can add your name to the letter here before 10am Tuesday 8th: www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/sa...

Save the Arts: Letter of No Confidence in Communities Minister Gordon Lyons

Gordon Lyons was appointed Communities Minister – a role which covers arts and culture – in February 2024.    The Arts Council Northern Ireland provided a 10-year plan for the arts between 2...

megaphone.org.uk

"A diverting, convivial and entertaining evening.” Switch Theatre and Centre Stage Theatre Company’s The Problem with Kate Winslet’s Dress at The Black Box, Belfast. My @britishtheatreguide.info review:

British Theatre Guide@britishtheatreguide.info · 2w ago

Theatre review: The Problem with Kate Winslet's Dress from Switch Theatre in association with Centre Stage Theatre Company at The Black Box, Belfast www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/the-...

Whisk(e)y Wars boasts an engaging performance of “agreeably personable warmth” by Joyce Greenaway, albeit ill-served by its setting and noises off at the LyricTheatre, Belfast. My @britishtheatreguide.info review… .

British Theatre Guide@britishtheatreguide.info · 2w ago

Theatre review: Whisk(e)y Wars at Lyric Theatre, Belfast www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/whis...

A Day of Action is planned by Equity's Northern Ireland Branch as part of its Save the Arts campaign at Stormont on September 8, when arts minister Gordon Lyons, accused of "broken promises", is due to face parliamentary questions. My @thestage.co.uk news story… www.thestage.co.uk/news/norther...

NI government under pressure over 'lack of arts strategy'

Equity’s Northern Ireland branch is to mount a 'day of action' over a perceived lack of arts funding strategy in the country

thestage.co.uk

Should I Stay or Should I Go? 21 engagements in my last 50 postings here. Posts that receive traction elsewhere. Perhaps it's just me, but is BlueSky worth the effort? www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN1W...

The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go (Official Audio)

YouTube video by theclashVEVO

youtube.com

New and returning shows from Cahoots NI for its 25th anniversary autumn/winter season announced, including two @belfastfestival.bsky.social appearances. My news story for @britishtheatreguide.info…

British Theatre Guide@britishtheatreguide.info · 3w ago

Theatre news: Belfast’s Cahoots NI autumn and winter season 25th anniversary sees new productions and one-off pop-up shows for children and families. www.britishtheatreguide.info/news/belfast...

The last time I met Julian Lloyd Webber was at a grand music bash at Buckingham Palace, so a pleasure to encounter him again with his wife, cellist Jiaxin Lloyd Webber, in the intimate confines of Portaferry's PorticoArds – and a much better acoustic than chez Windsor!

Daisy Fancourt's inspiring Art Cure provides ample evidence for the considerable health benefits to be gained by active engagement with the arts. It amounts to a persuasive argument for greater investment and use of the arts in wider settings. Published by Cornerstone Press.

Much cut but imaginatively realised 60th anniversary TV adaptation of Under Milk Wood laden with Welsh actors – Michael Sheen, Jonathan Pryce, Sian Philips, Owen Teale – & celebs Tom Jones, Charlotte Church et al, nimbly directed by Pip Broughton @bbciplayer.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Under Milk Wood

A unique production of Dylan Thomas's famous 'play for voices' enacted by a community of Welsh performers in New York, Los Angeles, London, Cardiff and Laugharne.

bbc.co.uk

High hopes for Friel’s Faith Healer with strong cast – Conleth Hill, Lisa Dwyer Hogg, Chris McCurry – directed by Emma Jordan at Lyric Theatre, Belfast for @belfastfestival.bsky.social in October. My @britishtheatreguide.info news story:

British Theatre Guide@britishtheatreguide.info · 4w ago

Theatre news: Friel's Faith Healer first full production by Belfast's Lyric Theatre Two-time Olivier Award-winner Conleth Hill is to star in Friel’s masterpiece. www.britishtheatreguide.info/news/brian-f...

Three-venue tour announced for Caoimhe Farren’s Hello Charlie – Dùn Laoighaire’s @paviliontheatre.bsky.social, Letterkenny’s @angrianan.bsky.social and Lyric Theatre Belfast as part of @belfastfestival.bsky.social. My @britishtheatreguide.info news story:

British Theatre Guide@britishtheatreguide.info · 4w ago

Theatre news: Cross-border tour announced for Caoimhe Farren’s Hello Charlie Unique consortium of companies and venues combine for award-nominated dark comedy. www.britishtheatreguide.info/news/cross-b...

Very enjoyable double-celebration for Lyric Belfast's 75th & @ulsterorchestra.bsky.social's 60th; seven fabulous voices & @stagneschoral.bsky.social fronted by Conor Mitchell: a wide-ranging survey of musical theatre from the Lyric's past & present. Two shows left: lyrictheatre.co.uk/whats-on/we-...

We Do It For Love | Lyric Theatre 75th Anniversary Fundraising Concert

Celebrate the Lyric Theatre’s 75th anniversary with We Do It For Love, a fundraising concert with Ulster Orchestra featuring iconic musical highlights.

lyrictheatre.co.uk

Helen Edmundson's take on JB Priestley's still resonant An Inspector Calls is beautifully realised and pointedly directed by Aisling Walsh, with a strong cast including David Thewlis, Ken Stott and Miranda Richardson from 2012. @bbciplayer.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

An Inspector Calls

Drama. The mysterious 'Inspector Goole' interrupts a wealthy family's party to tell them a young woman died of suicide that night. But what does that have to do with them?

bbc.co.uk

"A Belfast Bonnie and Clyde in which the son of a preacherman meets a petrol pump girl." Gary Mitchell's Freedom of Poverty for @rte.ie radio drama with a cast including Stuart Graham, Vincent Higgins, Andrea Irvine, and Kerri Quinn. www.rte.ie/radio/dramao...

Freedom of Poverty by Gary Mitchell

A Belfast Bonnie and Clyde..

rte.ie

A potent threnody for the victims of the scourge of AIDS that sparked unconscionable homophobia, Kevin Elyot's two-time Olivier Award-winning My Night With Reg, first seen @royalcourt.bsky.social, was movingly transferred to TV by Roger Michell. @bbciplayer.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

My Night with Reg

Adaptation of the award-winning stage comedy. Six gay friends discuss love, friendship and infidelity over the course of three evenings.

bbc.co.uk

Lots of theatre and dance coming up at @belfastfestival.bsky.social from October 14 to November 8. My @britishtheatreguide.info news story…

British Theatre Guide@britishtheatreguide.info · last mo.

Theatre news: Belfast International Arts Festival features theatre and dance premières The annual festival returns in its 64th year to the city in October. www.britishtheatreguide.info/news/belfast...

Fascinating to hear T.S. Eliot's verse play The Family Reunion from March 1965, two months after his death. A particular writing and performance style reminiscent of Louis MacNeice's The Dark Tower. Somewhat antique to modern ears but some compelling moments even so. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

The Family Reunion by TS Eliot - BBC Sounds

The birthday battles of ailing Lady Monchensey. Stars Fabia Drake. .

bbc.co.uk

Its mooted first production in 1986 pulled and then tucked away on BBC Four in 2002, Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play works as drama but its lack of political analysis and glossing over of the cost in lives smacks uneasily of jingoism. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

The Falklands Play

Ian Curteis's once-controversial dramatisation of how the Thatcher government went to war against Argentina to regain the Falkland Islands.

bbc.co.uk

Quantum physics, memory and moral responsibility filtered through uncertainty and subjectivity. Michael Frayn's Copenhagen, first seen @nationaltheatre.org.uk, substantially cut for TV in 2002. Compelling performances by Stephen Rea, Daniel Craig, and Francesca Annis. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Copenhagen

Drama based on a pivotal meeting in 1941 between physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, whose work together had paved the way for the building of the atomic bomb.

bbc.co.uk

The banality and bleakness of middle-class suburban life: Alan Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular cast to the hilt by BBC TV in 1985: Cheryl Campbell, Michael Gambon, Nicky Henson, Maureen Lipman, Geoffrey Palmer, and Prunella Scales. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Absurd Person Singular

Three couples meet on three separate Christmas Eves in their three respective kitchens. Classic comedy drama, with a sting in the tail, by Alan Ayckbourn.

bbc.co.uk