Lyric Hammersmith
Encyclopedia
The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre
on King Street, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
, which takes pride in its original, "groundbreaking" productions.
The Lyric Theatre was built in 1895 by the English theatrical architect Frank Matcham
. In 1966 the theatre was closed, to be dismounted and re-built piece by piece on its current site nearby the original location. The new theatre reopened in 1979.
It has two main performance areas: the Main House, a 550-seat 19th-century auditorium maintaining the original design which hosts its main productions; and the 120-seat Studio, which houses smaller productions by up-and-coming companies. The Lyric also presents frequent Lyric Children and Lyric Music performances as well as Sunday Night Comedy.
Its current artistic director is Sean Holmes
, and its executive director is Jessica Hepburn.
The Lyric is about to go through a major re-development project, with new facilities for young people and the local community.
In 2011, the Lyric won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for Sean Holmes
' production of Sarah Kane
's Blasted
.
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
on King Street, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is a London borough in West London, and forms part of Inner London. Traversed by the east-west main roads of the A4 Great West Road and the A40 Westway, many international corporations have offices in the borough....
, which takes pride in its original, "groundbreaking" productions.
The Lyric Theatre was built in 1895 by the English theatrical architect Frank Matcham
Frank Matcham
Frank Matcham was a famous English theatrical architect. He is buried in Highgate Cemetery.-Early career:...
. In 1966 the theatre was closed, to be dismounted and re-built piece by piece on its current site nearby the original location. The new theatre reopened in 1979.
It has two main performance areas: the Main House, a 550-seat 19th-century auditorium maintaining the original design which hosts its main productions; and the 120-seat Studio, which houses smaller productions by up-and-coming companies. The Lyric also presents frequent Lyric Children and Lyric Music performances as well as Sunday Night Comedy.
Its current artistic director is Sean Holmes
Sean Holmes
Sean Holmes is a British theatre director and, from spring 2009, artistic director of London’s Lyric Hammersmith.-Early career:Sean Holmes took a masters degree at King's College, London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in text and performance...
, and its executive director is Jessica Hepburn.
The Lyric is about to go through a major re-development project, with new facilities for young people and the local community.
In 2011, the Lyric won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for Sean Holmes
Sean Holmes
Sean Holmes is a British theatre director and, from spring 2009, artistic director of London’s Lyric Hammersmith.-Early career:Sean Holmes took a masters degree at King's College, London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in text and performance...
' production of Sarah Kane
Sarah Kane
Sarah Kane was an English playwright. Her plays deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture — both physical and psychological — and death. They are characterised by a poetic intensity, pared-down language, exploration of theatrical form and, in her earlier work, the use of...
's Blasted
Blasted
Blasted is the first play by British author Sarah Kane. It was first performed in 1995 at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London. This performance was highly controversial and the play was fiercely attacked by most newspaper critics, many of whom regarded it as a rather immature attempt to...
.
Five strands
The Lyric’s programme is divided into five strands:- Main House
- Studio
- Music & Comedy
- Lyric Children
- Lyric Young Company
Production history
(Source: "Production Archive" on the Lyric official website)- Three Kingdoms by Simon StephensSimon StephensSimon Stephens is an English playwright.Hailing originally from Stockport, Greater Manchester, he is now an increasingly significant voice in English theatre. His plays are often humane explorations of family life...
, 2012 - A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, 2012 - Lovesong by Abi MorganAbi MorganAbi Morgan is a British playwright and screenwriter known for her works for television, such as Sex Traffic and The Hour, and the film Brick Lane...
, 2012 - Aladdin 2010 & 2011
- SavedSaved (play)Saved is a play written by Edward Bond, and was first produced at the Royal Court Theatre in November 1965. It was originally enacted privately, under "club" auspices, since the play was initially censored due largely to the infamous 'stoning of a baby' scene.The play itself is set in London during...
by Edward BondEdward BondEdward Bond is an English playwright, theatre director, poet, theorist and screenwriter. He is the author of some fifty plays, among them Saved , the production of which was instrumental in the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK...
, 2011 - The Wild Bride created by Kneehigh TheatreKneehigh TheatreKneehigh Theatre is an international theatre company based in Cornwall, England.Kneehigh was started in 1980 by Mike Shepherd. Early productions were performed in village halls, marquees, cliff-tops and quarries...
, 2011 - MogadishuMogadishu (play)Mogadishu is the debut play by ex-school teacher Vivienne Franzmann concerning a white teacher who tries to protect her black student from expulsion after he pushes her to the ground, but in order to protect himself the student lies and drags her into a vortex of lies in which victim becomes...
by Vivienne Franzmann, 2011 - Roald Dahl's Twisted Tales, 2011
- Dick Whittington, 2010–2011
- BlastedBlastedBlasted is the first play by British author Sarah Kane. It was first performed in 1995 at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London. This performance was highly controversial and the play was fiercely attacked by most newspaper critics, many of whom regarded it as a rather immature attempt to...
by Sarah KaneSarah KaneSarah Kane was an English playwright. Her plays deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture — both physical and psychological — and death. They are characterised by a poetic intensity, pared-down language, exploration of theatrical form and, in her earlier work, the use of...
, 2010 - The Big FellaThe Big Fellah (play)The Big Fellah is a play by Richard Bean about Irish-Americans in New York. The premier production is an Out of Joint and Lyric Hammersmith production, directed by Max Stafford-Clark and starting on 2 September 2010.-Plot summary:...
(21 September 16 October 2010) - Punk RockPunk Rock (play)Punk Rock is a play by the British playwright Simon Stephens which premiered at the Royal Exchange in 2009 and transferred to the Lyric Hammersmith directed by Sarah Frankcom...
by Simon StephensSimon StephensSimon Stephens is an English playwright.Hailing originally from Stockport, Greater Manchester, he is now an increasingly significant voice in English theatre. His plays are often humane explorations of family life...
, 2010 - Lifegame (7 17 July 2010)
- Tightrope (17 19 June 2010)
- A Thousand Stars Explode in the SkyA Thousand Stars Explode in the SkyA Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky is a play collaboratively written by David Eldridge, Robert Holman and Simon Stephens. It premiered at the Lyric Hammersmith on 7 May 2010 and ran until 5 June 2010.- Summary :...
(7 May 5 June 2010) - Spymonkey's Moby DickSpymonkey-Works:*1998, 2000 Stiff… Undertaking Undertaking - 2000 Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Festival*2001, 2005-2006, 2008 Cooped*2003-2005 Zumanity for Cirque du Soleil*2007 Bless*2009 Moby Dick-Members:...
(20 April 1 May 2010) - Ghost StoriesGhost Stories (play)Ghost Stories is a play written by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman . It premiered at the Liverpool Playhouse in February 2010 before being transferred for a longer run at the Lyric Hammersmith in London...
(24 February 3 April 2010) - Three SistersThree Sisters (play)Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
(6 January 20 February 2010) - Jack and the BeanstalkJack and the BeanstalkJack and the Beanstalk is a folktale said by English historian Francis Palgrave to be an oral legend that arrived in England with the Vikings. The tale is closely associated with the tale of Jack the Giant-killer. It is known under a number of versions...
(21 November 2009 9 January 2010 - ComediansComedians (play)Comedians is a play by Trevor Griffiths, set in a Manchester evening class for aspiring working-class comedians. It was first performed at the Nottingham Playhouse on 20 February 1975, in a production directed by Richard Eyre. The cast included Jonathan Pryce as the main character, Gethin Price,...
(7 October 14 November 2009) - Punk Rock 2009 (3 September 26 September 2009)
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(3 October 1 November 2008) - ChristmasChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
For the Under 7s (29 November 2007 5 January 2008) - Beauty and the BeastBeauty and the BeastBeauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740...
(6 24 November 2007) - Casanova (16 October 3 November 2007)
- Water (25 September 13 October 2007)
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(5 22 September 2007) - The BacchaeThe BacchaeThe Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy by the Athenian playwright Euripides, during his final years in Macedon, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigeneia at Aulis, and which...
(2 4 August 2007) - Accidental Heroes (21 June 22 July 2007)
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: Part 2 (20 June 22 July 2007) - Angels in AmericaAngels in AmericaAngels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winning play in two parts by American playwright Tony Kushner. It has been made into both a television miniseries and an opera by Peter Eötvös.-Characters:...
: Part 1 (7 9 June 2007) - ElegyElegyIn literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
(26 April 26 May 2007) - Absolute BeginnersAbsolute BeginnersAbsolute Beginners is a novel by Colin MacInnes, written and set in 1958 London, England. It was published in 1959. The novel is the second of MacInnes' London Trilogy, coming after City Of Spades and before Mr. Love and Justice...
(3 14 April 2007) - St George and the Dragon (13 31 March 2007)
- Don't Look Now (9 February 10 March 2007)
- RamayanaRamayanaThe Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
(17 January 3 February 2007) - CymbelineCymbelineCymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...
(23 November 2006 13 January 2007) - Watership DownWatership DownWatership Down is a classic heroic fantasy novel, written by English author Richard Adams, about a small group of rabbits. Although the animals in the story live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language , proverbs, poetry, and mythology...
(31 October 18 November 2006) - pool (no water) (29 September 28 October 2006)
- Metamorphosis (16 May 17 June 2006)
- Aurélia's OratorioOratorioAn oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
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(24 February 1 April 2006) - The Odyssey (20 January 18 February 2006)
- Nights at the Circus Christmas (2 December 2005 14 January 2006)
- The Magic Carpet (1 26 November 2005)
- BrontëBrontëThe Brontës were a nineteenth-century literary family associated with Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte , Emily , and Anne , are well-known as poets and novelists...
(1929 October 2005) - Road to NowhereRoad to Nowhere"Road to Nowhere" is a song by Talking Heads, from the 1985 album Little Creatures. It also appeared on Best of Talking Heads, Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites, the Once in a Lifetime box set and the Brick box set...
(2 September 15 October 2005) - Julius CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
(30 June 23 July 2005) - Some Girls Are Bigger Than OthersSome Girls Are Bigger Than Others"Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" is a song by The Smiths, recorded in autumn 1985 and first released on their 1986 album The Queen Is Dead. It was also released as a single in Germany.-Composition and recording:...
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(1013 June 2005) - Stars Are Out Tonight (19 April 7 May 2005)
- Hymns (30 March 16 April 2005)
- Aurelia's OratorioOratorioAn oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
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( 18 February 26 March 2005) - A Raisin in the SunA Raisin in the SunA Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes...
(27 January 12 February 2005) - Strictly Dandia Christmas for 7+s (26 November 2004 22 January 2005)
- The Firework-Maker's DaughterThe Firework-Maker's DaughterThe Firework-Maker's Daughter is a short children's novel by Philip Pullman. It was first published in the United Kingdom by Doubleday in 1995. The first UK edition was illustrated by Nick Harris; a subsequent edition published in the United States was illustrated by S...
(2 20 November 2004) - The BacchaeThe BacchaeThe Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy by the Athenian playwright Euripides, during his final years in Macedon, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigeneia at Aulis, and which...
(30 September 30 October 2004) - Don JuanDon JuanDon Juan is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630...
(14 25 September 2004) - A Passage to IndiaA Passage to IndiaA Passage to India is a novel by E. M. Forster set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. It was selected as one of the 100 great works of English literature by the Modern Library and won the 1924 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Time...
/National Youth TheatreNational Youth TheatreThe National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, Great Britain, committed to creative, personal and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts....
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(20 August 11 September 2004) - AladdinAladdinAladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
by Sandy WilsonSandy WilsonSandy Wilson is an English composer and lyricist, best known for his musical The Boy Friend .-Biography:Wilson was born Alexander Galbraith Wilson in Sale, Greater Manchester, and was educated at Harrow School and Oriel College, Oxford. During the war he served in the Royal Ordnance Corps in Great...
, 1979
Artistic directors of the Lyric Hammersmith
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| ... | ... |
| Neil Bartlett Neil Bartlett (playwright) Neil Vivian Bartlett, OBE, is an award-winning British director, performer, translator, and writer. He is one of the founding members of Gloria, a production company established in 1988 to produce his work along with that of Nicolas Bloomfield, Leah Hausman and Simon Mellor... |
1994–2004 |
| David Farr David Farr (theatre director) David Farr is a writer, theatrical director and Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.-Background:Farr was brought up in Surrey and educated in Guildford and the University of Cambridge .- Career :... |
2005–2008 |
| Sean Holmes | 2009–present |
External links
- Lyric – Official website of the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.