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Oh yes!! A special EastSide Arts edition of our legendary comedy club, 'The East Laffs' at the Harland & Wolff Staff Club (Dundela Avenue, Belfast). Special guests including Nuala McKeever and Portia di'Monte and some up and coming talent. No Titanic jokes (well... maybe a few...). Full bar. £12.00.
Tickets at: The East Laffs Festival Special at Harland & Wolff Staff Club, Belfast on Thu 25 Jul | glistrr
In August this year, we at Bright Umbrella will make our debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with two one man shows. This is your opportunity to wish us luck as we present a preview of bothshows on the same night at our Sanctuary Theatre. 'A Farther Shore' by David Campton is the story of Peter - apostle and rural fisherman. Peter muses on his recent past and on what might await him on 'a farther shore'. With suberb illustrations from award-winning illustrator and animator, Fergus Wachala-Kelly. 'Glenn McGivern commands the stage in an outstanding and moving performance'.
'Dean & the Devil' by Philip Orr is the story of Alan, struggling with alcohol misuse. His fight to beat his personal demons isn't being helped by his deeply annoying family, a much too enthusiastic therapist and some very rude shopkeepers. 'A deeply moving, blackly hilarious show superbly acted by Trevor Gill'. Featuring renditions of the songs of Dean Martin.
For the Eastside Festival 2024, Kabosh presents 'Three Pay Days'.
Just Three Pay Days from it all fading away . Anna’s been working hard to get back on her feet. She can’t catch a break since COVID pulled the rug from under her. She’s working in a café over in South Belfast. Boss is nice enough, with her expensive perfume and shiny white trainers, but the money isn’t great. Not great for Anna anyway.
On top of the café, the boss is raking it in through her AirBnB side-hustle. So, there is enough money to go around. It’s just not going around.
Whilst navigating bills and childcare costs, Anna’s stuck in a dodgy rental with damp walls and a leaking roof, wondering what needs to change for the money to trickle down. The boss could easily afford to pay her properly. The landlady could easily make the house more habitable. But they know there are plenty of workers and tenants out there. Ones who will stay quiet to keep food on the table and any sort of a roof over their heads.
And what about the government? Surely they can do better than the 13 years of austerity that has pushed so many in Belfast to the edge?
Jesus said “feed the hungry, lift the lowly, send the rich away.” That was over 2000 years ago, can our government not get a grip?
From the producer of Not On Our Watch, and the writer of The Half Moon, Three Pay Days is a searing portrayal of the human cost of austerity within a rigged social security system.
Commissioned by EastSide Arts with funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Commissioning Fund.
Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Brand Design & Imagery by Laura Craig
Wed 31st Jul 2024, 5:30 pm - 6:45 pm BST £10.00 + booking fee
The late Stewart Love was one of East Belfast's most prolific playwrights From the 1960's until his death in 2021, he wrote around 20 major works for radio and TV and many more for schools broadcasts. Tonight we celebrate Stewart's radio output with recreations of a number of extracts and complete radio shows from a talented Bright Umbrella cast. The event is part of Feile an Phobail - the West Belfast Festival.
- "Mr Stewart Love has come to be known as the 'Belfast John Osborne'. This is a description that is superficially apt, if applied to this play, but it is at once too high-pitched and inadequate". (Northern Whig)
- "Love was concerned with the wider theme of one man's fight against the stranglehold of his humdrum life. Like all good Irishmen, Love is an exciting juggler with word pictures, recalling in some of his phrases the music of that earlier master J. M. Synge". (Daily Mail)
Tickets £12 and £10 (concessions)
For the Eastside Festival 2024, Cock & Hens in association with Bright Umbrella presents, 'Guy Mitchell's Dog's Dead - Pass It On'. Sammy has found a porno mag in the hedges but he can't get the pages open. Word is big Sandra has been bitten on the fanny by a rattle snake.... And as for Guy Mitchell......well, his dog's dead and... sure ya know yourself. It's Ballybeen, it's 1974 and young Sammy is navigating childhood whilst battling a severe outbreak of hair nits . A one man 'multi role' play written by Sam Robinson, acted by Kealan McAllister and Directed by Trevor Gill . NOT ONLY BUT ALSO!! Sammy, our main character is putting on a display in the theatre of his Glentoran memorabilia both nights before the show. The audience will have the opportunity to take a walk down memory lane, examine and discuss Glentoran's history before the curtain goes up for Guy Mitchell......but it gets even better.... On Friday 2nd, our very own Ricky Warwick (The Almighty, Thin Lizzy and Black Star Riders) has offered to open the two shows with a poignant version of the fabulous 'Tank McCullough Saturdays'. Don't miss this very special event! Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd August 2024. £16.00 and £14.00
Broadway and West End writers come home to East Belfast
From U.S Premieres, Award-winning plays, and West-End Theatres, Bringing it all back home celebrates East Belfast's greatest contemporary playwrights by bringing their plays home to Bright Umbrella - playing in their home community for the very first time!
An evening of play extract readings including the huge hit Ulster American by Ballybeen's David Ireland and gorgeous Orangefield by (of course) Orangefield's Caitlin Magnall-Kearns, Bright Umbrella's audiences will hear the words of world-class talent from their own streets. And of course, such a night of celebration of East Belfast writing talent, goes hand in hand with our most accomplished East Belfast actors - expect the best! Join us for an evening to hear stories from East Belfast by home-grown voices!
Directed by Patsy Montgomery-Hughes.
Tuesday 13th - Saturday 17th August. Doors 6.30. Show 7.30pm.
Sat. Matinee Doors 1.00 p.m., Show 2.00pm.
£12.00 and £10.00
Join us to scratch the surface of new theatre works in development! These are nights in which theatre makers share their works in progress with an audience. Our bar is open all night at club prices. Come along and see a new generation of artists developing their work!
Scratch Nights take place on the following Wednesdays: 21st August, 11th September, 9th October, 20th November, 4th December.
Featuring 3 x 20 minute works in progress from some of our finest new theatre makers. And - you, the audience, get the chance to tell our budding playwrights what you thought of the show!
Doors open 7.30pm
Performance starts 8pm
£12 and £10
Tickets: www.ticketsource.co.uk/brightumbrella
#scratchnight #workinprogress #workindevelopment #sharing #audiencefeedback
A full bar at club prices! Enough Kit Kats to, umm... fill a big box of Kit Kats. 3 comics, one EmCee. Great craic from established and up and coming comics. Belfast's best, funkiest, most atmospheric, funniest comedy club so it is. And all this for six quid!! Yowsa!
Doors 7.00, show 8.00.
' Community, amateur production
One of Ireland's leading community theatre groups, The Holywood Players, present this critically acclaimed dark comedy. Three sisters return to their childhood home after the death of their mother, on the eve of her funeral. Each sister has different and conflicting memories of their childhood. Soon long buried tensions and resentments surface creating conflict which is by turns angry, desperate, poignant and wildly funny. Memory of Water won the 2000 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. Adult Advisory: This plays contains several instances of very strong language.
Friday 30th and Saturday 31st August 2024. £14.00
'Hamlet: Thy Name is Woman' is an amatuer / community production presented by Bright Umbrella with the agreement of Equity
Following its initial sucessful run, Bright Umbrella once more presents an all-female rehearsed reading of “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare (abridged).
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Young Prince Hamlet's father has died suddenly and his mother has shortly after married the Prince's uncle. Now, a Ghost stalks the castle battlements. The time is out of joint...
Don't miss this rehearsed reading of one of the world's greatest works of literature performed by an all female cast. 5th to 7th September 2024, 7.00 p.m. Tickets £10.00.
Will this be the best party in town? Join us for a night of karaoke fun as at Mary Ellen's bar in our Studio Theatre. With the best bar prices in Belfast, and karaoke to boot, you are sure to have a brilliant time.
Come and give us your best karoke song!
Only £5.00 Book online for guaranteed entry!
6.30 doors open. Karaoke from 7.30
Are you or yours studying Macbeth at school? Do you enoy Shakespeare? Or perhaps you didn't enjoy it at school or are curious about what it's all about. This is the show for you!
Set in the atmospheric Sanctuary Theatre, the production entails a 70-minute telling of Shakespeare's classic tale of murder and witchcraft. Suitable for all ages, it is particularly suitable for students studying the play at post primary and college levels and to those studying Performing Arts. The play is followed by a lively illustrated presentation by Director Trevor Gill (BBC, RSC) on the background to Macbeth and why witchcraft and the murder of kings were very much 'in the news' when Shakespare wrote it! The actor's will then retake the stage to be 'hot-seated' by audience questions.
THE MACBETH PROJECT IS AVAILABLE TO VISIT SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES - CALL TREVOR GILL 07885 748727
Audience reaction: "My son had a great time watching this play... He came stright home from school telling me he loved it, which isn't a statement I hear a lot from him as a 15 year old!'"... "Mesmerising, I couldn't take my eyes off the stage".... "The play was excellent. We also like the historical context and the Q&A with the talented cast. They have inspired our girls and brought the text to life which isn't always possible in a classroom,. (Martin Ferguson, Ashfield Girls' School)"
The case of the Enfield Poltergeist captured the imagination of the world when the story broke on the cover of the Daily Mirror in 1977, and the story continues to fascinate, intrigue, and spark passionate debate! Following successful performances around the UK throughout 2023 and 2024, Act284 are delighted to be able to bring The Enfield Poltergeist show to Belfast as part of their Autumn 2024 tour.
After the tragic death of his daughter, Maurice Grosse joins the Society for Psychical Research in London. But while investigating the Enfield Poltergeist in 1977, he is haunted by coincidences surrounding paranormal activity that appears to be centred around one particular girl. Based on the true events of the infamous Enfield Poltergeist case, this is a journey of redemption, and the chance to lay old ghosts to rest.
Kiera Rhodes and Paul Voodini portray troubled characters, thrown together within the walls of a supposedly haunted council house in Enfield, who must not only solve the mystery of the poltergeist, but also find peace with their own tragic pasts.
Read more about this show in a recent Guardian article here: www.tinyurl.com/EPGuardian
Age guidance: This performance is recommended for ages 15+
Content warning: This performance contains strong language; themes surrounding death and the loss of a child; and several loud noises.
Duration: This performance is 50 minutes long with no interval.
Wednesday 2nd August @ 7.30. All tickets: £10.00
Frances and Mary live in supported accommodation. One day they meet at The Yellow Bench (the 'Chatty Bench') in Lurgan Park and a very odd tale unfolds. About mixed up words, mucked up families and getting your order wrong in Starbucks. Even that's not it all really.... it's stranger than that... What's Frances doing with that petrol can and is that a sawn off shotgun in Mary's grip bag? A new play by the joint author (with Sam Thompson) of the sold out shows, One Saturday Before the War and Stuck in the Middle with You. ADULT ADVISORY: Strong language and themes which may offend.
Thursday 3rd to Sunday 6th October, 7.30
£16.00 and £14.00
Presented by Cock and Hen Productions in association with Bright Umbrella
It is now more than fifty years since Neil Young appeared on the scene, astounding everyone with his remarkable song writing and soulful singing. Stray Gaiters - who take their name from the pick-up band of session players put together for the recording of 'Harvest' - will guide you through Mr Young's extensive and varied catalogue of wonderful songs with respect and passion. Dance beneath a harvest moon; be blown away by a hurricane!
Saturday 19th October 2024
£16.00 and £14.00
New York City in the early 70's- Max's Kansas City - Art Glamour And Rock'n'Roll - Lou Reed And The Velvet Underground, The New York Dolls, Iggy And The Stooges, then CBGB's - A Sanctuary for counter culture misfits and the birthplace of the New York Punk Rock and New Wave scene - Television, The Ramones, Dead Boys, Devo, Blondie, Talking Heads, Patti Smith and more... Ladies and Gentlemen and others let Brian Young, A.N.J.A., Goon Squad and Crackhead Control take you for a Walk On The Wildside for one night only - The origins and birth of the New York Punk and New Wave Scene.
Friday 1st November2024
£12.50
The first ever stage play written about the NI Troubles
Me Oul Segocia (‘My dear, best friend’) by Stewart Love
The strong friendship between Protestant Danny and Catholic Pat forged in childhood and the close bonds between their families come under strain as religious divisions tear 1960’s East Belfast apart. Danny’s marriage plans and Pat’s relationship with his pregnant girlfriend are shattered by violence.
What the papers said: '... an assertion of precious human values under direct and terrible siege, that there is not doubt at all that the play itself charts an historic degradation. ' (Irish News)
‘…very funny, very sad, and totally riveting…. It is not too often that a play can bring a tear to my eye, but Stewart Love's "Me Oul Segocia" did just that…. How many (plays of the 1960’s) will be revived.... one that will not be forgotten is Stewart Love's "Me Oul Segocia".' (Belfast Telegraph)
Tues 12th – Sat 16th November, 19.30. Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 14.00. £16.00 and £14.00
Where Narnia began! Our spectacular Christmas show for all the family from Monday 9th December to Saturday 4th Jan ! Click below for full details!
Bright Umbrella Drama Co
The Little Theatre, Community Hall, Mountpottinger Non Subscribing Presbyterian Church, 1a Castlereagh Street
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