DEATH OF A COMEDIAN
PRINCIPAL FUNDER
McCAFFERTY
WORLD PREMIERE
LYRIC THEATRE, THE ABBEY THEATRE AND SOHO THEATRE PRESENT 7 FEB - 1 MAR
THE NEW PLAY BY OWEN
“Every night you’re going out trying to find the one-time deal. Every night you’re trying to find a room, an event that will never happen again. You want people to leave that room feeling like they’ve not seen a joke teller, but that they’ve seen a comedian. That they’ve seen something happen in that room that nobody else is going to see”
Chris Addison
“Stand-up comedy is a personality disorder that you can do for a living”
Jimmy Carr
LYRIC THEATRE, THE ABBEY THEATRE AND SOHO THEATRE PRESENT
DEATH OF A COMEDIAN
BY OWEN McCAFFERTY7 FEBRUARY – 1 MARCH 2015
Meet Steve Johnston. He’s always wrestling with compromise. He’s constantly under the spotlight. He’s a stand-up comedian.
As his career takes off, the stages get bigger. As he is thrust into the limelight, his choices prove costly.
Will he get everything he wants – the fame, the money and the girl –or will he lose it all?
Death of a Comedian is the eagerly-awaited new play by Belfast-born Owen McCafferty (Quietly, Scenes from the Big Picture) which has its world premiere at the Lyric Theatre before moving to Dublin and London.
A powerful and deliciously dark comic story about the price of success in the world of stand-up comedy, Death of a Comedian is directed by Steve Marmion and stars Brian Doherty, Katie McGuinness and Shaun Dingwall. Written by one of Northern Ireland’s greatest playwrights, it is Owen McCafferty’s first play since becoming Artist in Residence of the Lyric Theatre.
DIRECTOR STEVE MARMION
SET & COSTUME DESIGNER MICHAEL VALELIGHTING DESIGNER BEN ORMEROD
SOUND DESIGNER TOM MILLS
PREVIEWS: FEBRUARY 7, 8 & 10 SEE WWW.LYRICTHEATRE.CO.UK FOR FULL PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
PRICES
PREVIEWS AND SELECTED MATINEES £15
OFF-PEAK (TUES & WEDS 7.45PM AND ALL OTHER MATINEES) £20
PEAK (THURS – SAT 7.45PM) £24.50
CAPTIONED PERFORMANCE
WEDS 25 FEB 7.45PM
AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE
THURS 26 FEB 7.45PM
PRINCIPAL FUNDER
BOX OFFICE / 028 9038 1081
ONLINE / WWW.LYRICTHEATRE.CO.UK
IN PERSON / 55 RIDGEWAY STREET
BELFAST BT9 5FB
CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE #DEATHOFACOMEDIAN
AN ABBEY THEATRE COMMISSION, AND A CO-PRODUCTION BETWEEN THE LYRIC THEATRE, THE ABBEY THEATRE AND SOHO THEATRE.“If you are who you are on stage people pay attention. The only time anyone really ever heckled me was my very first time on stage. They said, “Go back to your real job” or something, and I just said, “I’m sorry, this is my first time on stage and I don’t know how to respond to a heckle yet. Could you please come back and heckle me when I’m more experienced?” I was always armed with nothing. I go in armed with nothing and hope to come out alive”
Rita Rudner
“No comedian wants to have to analyze and defend something. It’s like, you thought something was funny; you wrote it down; you acted it out; you talked to people. You know? It works or it doesn’t work. I’m not a politician. I’m not a thinker. I’m a comedian”
Chris Rock
“McCAFFERTY’S ABILITY TO SHOW NOT JUST THE WAY INDIVIDUAL LIVES INTERSECT, BUT THE COLLISION OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC WORLDS, IS STRIKING”
THE GUARDIAN
“McCAFFERTY IS A WRITER WORTH STAYING LOYAL TO” TIME OUT “NEW IRISH WRITING IS ALIVE AND WELL IN THE HANDS OF OWEN McCAFFERTY”
CITY TRIBUNE
The opinions quoted in this booklet are about stand-up comedy in general, and should not be taken as endorsements of Death of a Comedian