Fingers will be crossed and a few prayers said this Sunday(23 February) for the Lyric Theatre at the Irish Times Theatre Awards in Dublin.
The Lyric’s production of The Man Jesus – a one-man show starring Simon Callow about the life of Jesus has received three nominations at the prestigious awards: Best New Play, Best Actor and Best Lighting for Mark Howland. Written by Matthew Hurt, and directed by Joseph Alford, it was staged last Easter on the Danske Bank Stage at the Lyric to much critical acclaim.
The Lyric Theatre Belfast has been nominated for a total of four Theatre Awards, giving testament to the Lyric’s commitment to producing work of the highest quality.
Actor Sean O’Callaghan is up for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Ivan in The Seafarer, by Conor McPherson, directed by Rachel O’Riordan, co-produced by the Lyric Theatre and Perth Theatre.
The play was critically acclaimed and has already won a Best Director award for Rachel and Best Ensemble Award for the all-male cast at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) last June.
Delighted at making the shortlist, Simon Callow said:
“The three nominations that The Man Jesus has received for the Irish Times Awards make me very happy. The show was a labour of love at every stage - a marvellous creative team, a great script on a wonderful subject, and a sublime theatre to perform it in, to a fantastic audience, in one of my favourite cities in the world. The nominations are a great honour and lend a halo to the whole event.”
The winners will be announced at this year’s Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards on Sunday February 23 at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, in Dublin.
The judges are Alan O’Riordan, editor of Playography Ireland at the Irish Theatre Institute and a journalist at Storyful. He has written extensively about theatre and the arts for Irish newspapers. Dr Emilie Pine, lecturer in modern drama at University College Dublin. She is the author of a book on Irish theatre, culture and performance, 'The Politics of Irish Memory: Performing Remembrance in Contemporary Irish Culture’, and is assistant editor of the Irish University Review. Fergus Cronin works with arts, media and community organisations and is a former theatre practitioner.