It's not all about the scenery though is it?The Lyric is also home to some of the finest performances Northern Ireland has ever seen, so PastieBap headed over to the Lyric last week to see Shakespeare's Macbeth...
Macbeth is perhaps Shakespeare's most popular and well-known tragedy and it's often referred to as 'The Scottish Play' out of superstition. Although, that name doesn't quite sit right for this local production. I think 'The Northern Irish Play' would be far more apt.
You may cringe and shrink back down in your seat at the crow of a Northern Irish accent, but for some reason our accent lends itself extremely well to Shakespeare. Somehow it flows and sounds almost natural and to be perfectly honest, it just works. I was a bit worried about sitting through a couple of hours of nothing but Shakespearean confusion, but after about fifteen minutes everything was understood. It's a bit like watching a film with subtitles - after a few minutes your brain does all the work for you and you don't even notice.
Directed by Lynne Parker, this production of Macbeth was performed very well and Stuart Graham's portrayal of Macbeth himself was intriguing to watch. Strong and brave one moment, and weak and crazed the next - it was easy to see Macbeth's spiral into madness. Andrea Irvine commanded the stage also with her display of a more human Lady Macbeth than we may be used to.
Even looking at the poster for this production of Macbeth (which can be seen at the top of this page), it is clear that this is going to be something different. And something different it is. It's entertaining, modern and innovative, yet doesn't stray too far from the original way in which it should be presented.
Although I wasn't quite expecting to, I thoroughly enjoyed this local production and would recommend it to anyone. A bit of culture, some fine acting and an interesting portrayal of a classic. A definite must see!
Who wrote this...?
I'm 20 years old, studying Journalism with Photo-Imaging at the University of Ulster Coleraine Campus. I have an undying love for Belfast and all that it has to offer, an undying love for sleeping, trashy tv shows, foreign snack-foods and being irresponsible with money. I also quite like reading, hip-hop, dub step, anything acoustic and Food Network TV.