Panto review: Jack and the BeanstalkFolksy visuals combine with 21st century stage technology in this dazzling showMon Dec 10 2018 - 11:27
The Lyric Theatre at 50: a cultural bridge in a divided cityIt opened its doors on the cusp of the Troubles, but Belfast’s Lyric has survivedMon Oct 29 2018 - 05:00
Dear Arabella: Softer, subtler, but Marie Jones sharp-eyed as everBelfast International Arts Festival review: Three lonely women gain a new sense of purposeThu Oct 18 2018 - 12:10
Event of the Week: Belfast International Arts Festival 2018With Isabella Rossellini heading the line-up, this year’s festival is hitting the refresh buttonSat Oct 13 2018 - 05:00
DU Dance: making the world a better placeIt’s about more than just dance; it’s about transforming lives and bridging cultural dividesSat Jul 28 2018 - 05:00
Imagine: a festival merging arts and politicsPeter O’Neill’s Belfast brainchild aims to ‘engage with the power of reason’Sat Mar 03 2018 - 05:00
Men in pieces: Raw displays of vulnerabilityAfter a year in which three well-known Northern actors took their lives, a three-week programme of events, Edgefest, focuses on male mental healthWed Jan 31 2018 - 10:00
Beauty and the Beast in Belfast: Bloodless, bland and banalUndoing Disney was brave but there is no magic in this rock opera alternativeWed Dec 20 2017 - 17:54
The Suppliant Women review at the Belfast International Arts FestivalThis stunning newly translated version of Aeschylus’ poetic tidal wave is tailor-made for a 21st century audienceFri Sept 29 2017 - 11:26
The Ladykillers review: at last, some killer roles for womenGraham Linehan’s staging of the Ealing comedy features an all-female cast for the first time, but the quality of the performances means tokenism is not an issueMon Jun 19 2017 - 22:04
Helen McLean: ‘Mosaic art, which dates back to 2,000 BC, is a dying art’She fervently believes that the best creativity comes from the heart and the soul, emerging organically out of human contact, collaboration and shared instinctsMon Jan 02 2017 - 05:00
Cinderella review: a subversive take on the fairytale favouriteDignity gets thrown to the wind and the show is all the better for itMon Dec 19 2016 - 11:24
Three Sisters review: Russian drama heads North and gets detached from its fiery sourceThere is little about these Belfast sisters that bears a resemblance to Chekhov’s original dramaFri Oct 21 2016 - 16:04
The Nest review: Small forgotten people hatch a terrible truthConor McPherson and PJ Harvey collaborate on a domestic drama with a heart of darknessMon Oct 10 2016 - 10:58
St Joan review: Shaw adaptation is an Arc of triumphJimmy Fay’s contemporary take on George Bernard Shaw's play finds new meaning in the post-Brexit political landscapeTue Sept 20 2016 - 12:30
Opera in Belfast: A canter through 500 years of history, set in a deconsecrated churchSung in the city’s unmistakable twang, ‘Long Story Short: The Belfast Opera’ is fresh, contemporary and slightly daringWed Jun 15 2016 - 01:00
A Moon for the Misbegotten reviewDesign outshines performances in Eugene O’Neill’s swansongTue Mar 22 2016 - 15:36
Educating Rita review: A damaged couple who are living to learnWilly Russell’s Liverpool drama travels to Belfast and gets a different accent and a calm ferocityFri Feb 05 2016 - 14:02
Review – Rumpelstiltskin: Dragged into the modern day and ageThe title character is reimagined as a bog-eyed punk in a fairytale that tries too hard to live beyond its yearsMon Dec 21 2015 - 19:30
Kid's Christmas: Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf at the LyricBelfast show’s spectacular opening offers a tantalising indication of things to comeThu Dec 17 2015 - 05:45
Review – Scorch: A compelling look at teenage identityStacey Gregg’s fine new play is made up of equal parts courage and discomfortFri Nov 27 2015 - 18:30
Review – Trouble: A rock and a hard placeA chilling and challenging piece shows how far equality and gay rights have come in Northern Ireland – and how far is left to goTue Nov 17 2015 - 15:23
The Last Five Years: A classy musical about doomed love | ReviewBlunt Fringe keeps up the quality with a stylish take on Jason Robert Brown’s intricate musicalWed Jul 01 2015 - 11:09
Review: My English Tongue, My Irish HeartMartin Lynch is a natural storyteller and here he merges a modern story with a dizzying series of period extracts that struggle to make their voices heardMon May 11 2015 - 12:19
Lally the Scut review: grotesque caricatures abound in an insular Border communityIn spite of a fast-moving narrative, the action sometimes feels labouredFri Apr 17 2015 - 14:25
‘The arts are an easy target’: Northern Ireland’s budget bluesAll funding has been cut to six organisations, including leading independent publishers and theatre companies. Job losses are a certainty and the long-term impact on the sector could be disastrousTue Apr 07 2015 - 02:00
Theatre review: The Lost MartiniAccidental is to be applauded for going out on a limb with a genre of theatre new and strange to Belfast, but it runs the risk of losing the plotFri Mar 13 2015 - 13:17
Theatre review: God of CarnageA biting comedy of manners that spirals into a shaming demonstration of bad mannersThu Feb 12 2015 - 14:53
The young Irish film-makers whose projects are under threatCinemagic, which gets young people involved in film, has just made a family Christmas movie, starring Suranne Jones and Rob James-Collier, in Ireland. But now its budget could be halvedSat Dec 20 2014 - 01:00
Children’s christmas show review: Jack and the BeanstalkThis show is as eager as its audienceFri Dec 12 2014 - 15:29
Children’s Christmas show review: Sleeping BeautyA short and sweet piece of family theatre with a knowing subversive edgeThu Dec 11 2014 - 16:27
Children’s show review: The Family Hoffmann’s Christmas Mystery PalaceThis production in Belfast demonstrates how illusion works best when wrapped around a good storyThu Dec 11 2014 - 16:21
Review: I Went to the House But Did Not EnterA shimmering gem of a performance comprising interpretations of texts by TS Eliot, Maurice Blanchot, Franz Kafka and Samuel BeckettMon Aug 11 2014 - 14:38
Teenage kicks, teenage angstSimon Stephens’s ‘Punk Rock’ is coming to the Lyric, in a statement of intent by the Belfast theatre’s new boss. So will it deliver something ‘live, direct, physical and unpredictable’?Sat Aug 02 2014 - 01:00
Bringing some southern soul to a northern beautyThe new executive producer of Belfast’s Lyric Theatre Jimmy Fay aims to put it at the centre of Irish cultureSat Jul 05 2014 - 01:00
Review: Terjas VerdesThe final part in the Mac’s Chilean trilogy makes the horrors of the Pinochet regime resonate much closer to homeThu Jun 05 2014 - 17:02
Review: UprisingHarrowing tragedies and hip-hop meet uncomfortably in this strange Belfast brewTue Jun 03 2014 - 18:00
Parallel worlds: A Chilean trilogy that could be about the NorthA young ‘disappeared’ woman, the debate over how a building linked to past conflict should be redeployed, and an exploration of a political leader feature in Prime Cut’s ambitious new trio of plays in BelfastTue May 27 2014 - 01:00
Review: Flesh and Blood WomenMaria Connolly steals the show in this trio of plays of new writingMon May 12 2014 - 17:14
Review: DementedSet up as a rip-roaring comedy, Demented falls short of the markMon May 12 2014 - 17:05
Review: The NoseGogol’s absurdist drama is updated into a stylish skewer of tabloid tacticsFri Mar 28 2014 - 17:01
Review: Molly SweeneyAbigail Graham’s refreshing production looks anew upon Friel’s richly layered playFri Feb 14 2014 - 17:00
Taking off: Belfast Festival shows signs of a revivalA lack of continuity at the top has hurt the festival in recent years, but new man Richard Wakely has made a good startTue Oct 22 2013 - 01:00
Do people from Northern Ireland have a right to be happy?A theatre production puts the audience up close to atrocities such as the killing fields of Cambodia, the Holocaust and Bloody Sunday to pose questions about happiness in a ‘horrible world’Thu Oct 17 2013 - 01:00
One city, two great writersIn Belfast last weekend, the Lyric Theatre remembered Seamus Heaney while the Grand Opera House staged the Globe Theatre version of Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy: Harry the Sixth, The Houses of York and Lancaster, and The True Tragedy of the Duke of YorkSat Sept 07 2013 - 01:00
Five days in Beckett Town: the best and the boldest of the Happy Days festivalA huge number of productions and premieres were stuffed into the Enniskillen festival, many of them performed in intriguing locationsWed Aug 28 2013 - 01:00