In from the edge and moving up

The new artistic director of Belfast's Lyric theatre, former 'young radical' Paula McFetridge, is ready to move the once-troubled theatre onto a new level of artistic excellence and community involvement. She tells Jane Coyle about her plans

Words of congratulation to Paula McFetridge on her appointment as the new artistic director of Belfast's Lyric Theatre are greeted with a cackle of delighted laughter and the characteristically frank and humorous observation that ". . . the lunatics have taken over the asylum!" It is clear what she means. McFetridge has come from the outside track to fill one of the top positions in Irish theatre. Once a leading member of the North's outspoken radical independent movement, she is by no means the first to execute a neat, poacher-turned-gamekeeper move. Her ascension to the pivotal post at the Lyric, however, is proof that she has well and truly joined the establishment at which she has, in the past, aimed many a sharp kick. The irony is not wasted on her.

"It's a generational thing", she says. "I'm by no means the only one. There's Ali Curran at the Peacock, for instance, and one of our own board members, Mark Carruthers, who was in at the start of Tinderbox [theatre company\] with me.

"It's a hard one to face, but maybe it's just that we've all suddenly become grown-ups. As young radicals, we fought for recognition and for the survival of local work. Now the shoe is on the other foot.

"I have had the most tremendous support since the appointment was made, particularly from those people who would be regarded as 'the old order' at the Lyric. They have backed me to the hilt, none more so than Conor O'Malley, whose mother founded the theatre. I do feel, particularly as the first female artistic director here since Mary O'Malley, that I am inheriting her mantle. It's an awesome responsibility but very exciting."

A talented actress, McFetridge's connections with the Lyric began at the Youth Lyric, which she joined during her schooldays at St Dominic's High School on Belfast's Falls Road. She went on to become a member of Ulster Youth Theatre and Belfast Youth and Community Theatre before joining a group of like-minded contemporaries - Tim Loane, Lalor Roddy, Mark Carruthers, Stephen Wright and Angela McCloskey - in setting up Tinderbox, still one of Ireland's leading independent companies. She appeared in many of its productions, as well as with Charabanc and at the Abbey Theatre in Tom Murphy's The Patriot Game. In 1994, she made her first appearance in a full Lyric production, when the then-artistic director, Robin Midgley, cast her in the lead role of Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew. She went on to notch up a number of performances there, in, among others, Carthaginians, Iph and A Doll's House.

For three years, she sat on the Northern Ireland Arts Council's performing arts panel, from which she gained invaluable understanding of its funding practices; she worked with Belfast Carnival on one of its massive street events and with Community Arts Forum on the award-winning Wedding Community Play; and she was the artistic director on Tinderbox's ground-breaking Convictions project at the Crumlin Road Courthouse. Three years ago, she moved closer to Lyric management status, when acting artistic director Simon Magill invited her to set up its education unit, an area of activity which has been badly hit by Belfast City Council's recent 25% funding cut, of which she is highly critical.

"How can Belfast be a European City of Culture, how can they talk about cultural tourism, when our own city council takes decisions like that?" she rails.

Then, last summer, the newly-appointed board of the Lyric, driven by its energetic new chairman David Johnston, lit upon her as the person who could help avert potential disaster. She was appointed artistic advisor, charged with pushing through the 50th anniversary season and adding some much-needed stability to an institution that was in danger of falling apart at the seams. Coming in the wake of John Sheehan's brief tenure as executive producer, staff resignations and grave financial crisis, it seemed McFetridge was being handed a poisoned chalice.

"It was not easy", she concedes. "I was brought in to 'artistically caretake' the building. The theatre was not in good shape. The financial difficulties were out in the open and, with so much going on, it was not in a position to appoint an artistic director. In the event, what my being here, in that capacity, at that time, achieved was an affirmation of the support and affection in which the Lyric is held by the local community, across the island and beyond.

"I saw proof of that when Adrian Dunbar came back to do Conversations on a Homecoming a couple of months ago. All I had to do was ask him. It was the first time he had appeared at the Lyric in many years and he came, without hestitation, and worked for the same wages and under the same conditions as everybody else. He said the reason he hadn't been back for so long was that nobody had asked him.

"It was the same when we did the Writers in the Theatre evening, which celebrated the new plays premiered at the Lyric over the years. Graham Reid flew in specially; Paddy Galvin came. It was a great night. Since last September, it feels as though we have started to get things right.

"Audience figures have risen from 27% to 72%. Marie Jones's Weddin's, Wee'ins and Wakes did incredible 97% business and our only bad mistake was with McCool XXL, which I attribute mainly to a marketing failure on our part. After that, with The Factory Girls, I was very specific about who it was aimed at - women, textile industry workers, first-time theatregoers - and we targeted our marketing accordingly. "

Now, with general manager Mike Blair beside her (another Lyric veteran, who has returned with renewed determination and vigour), McFetridge feels ready to move the theatre onto a new level of artistic excellence and community involvement.

"When you come from the radical side of the arts, you are used to taking responsibility for your own work. Now I am in a position to give opportunities to others. It means so much to see a person on stage for the first time or to see a writer have his or her first play produced.

"Ali Curran [at The Peacock\] and I are setting up a First Writer programme, which will alternate between north and south on an annual basis. The first one will be with a Northern writer, whose new play will open at the Peacock and then come to the Lyric. Next year, it will be the other way around.

"I am also keen that the Lyric should act as a resource and support for minority theatre, providing training opportunities and the chance for people to work with the best in their field. And, of course, we will continue our partnerships with the Young at Art Festival, Youth Lyric, the Lyric Drama Studio and the drama department at Queen's University. I would hope that we could develop and provide a venue for Irish language theatre and build new associations with the visual arts community."

Community theatre will also find a place in McFetridge's plans for the Lyric.

"It is impossible to ignore the rise in community drama", she says. "There is a huge audience for its product, which is very different from what we do here. I have a very good relationship with Community Arts Forum and have watched that movement blossom. The Wedding Community Play was one of the best things to have come out of here. The energy, commitment and enthusiasm of its creative team are something that the professionals could learn from."

One of McFetridge's highest priorities is to design a structured programming plan. She feels it is important that people have a feel for what is on at the Lyric at a particular time of year. So, she will begin the autumn programme with a large-scale production of Shakespeare or another classic; there will be Christmas shows for both the under-10s and adults; May will bring an "open door" policy to youth, amateur and student productions; the summer will be the time for an Ulster classic, providing professional training opportunities; and during the Belfast Festival, the emphasis will be on new writing, as well as complementing the work of other local producers and the broader festival programme.

McFetridge promises to work her heart out for the Lyric. Apart from during specified times, her intention is to produce a show every five weeks. And does she intend to direct any productions herself? "Probably not. Not for a while, anyway. My immediate role is to take an overview, to up the standard and the output - and to keep them up." She pauses in the middle of serious reflection and a sparkle comes into her eyes.

"But I might act. It's important to keep your own creative spirits alive. Don't you think?"