Luck Just Kissed You Hello at the Lyric Theatre

by Tabitha Buckley, Arts and Entertainment Editor

Thanks to a partnership between the Lyric Theatre and Outburst Queer Arts Festival, Belfast theatregoers will have the chance to see Amy Conroy’s hilarious-yet-moving play Luck Just Kissed You Hello in the Lyric Theatre this November.

Luck Just Kissed You Hello explores the complex emotions involved in saying ‘goodbye’ to a problematic family member. It tells the story of Mark, a transgender man who was formerly known as Laura, as he returns home for the death of his father. With the help of Gary and Sullivan, Mark must decide how his father is to be remembered. It’s time for them to find a way to forgive in order to find themselves again.

This beautiful play asks us how we can try to reconcile the various complexities of our own childhood memories in order to single out the moments which we choose to remember in our own ways. What does it mean to be a man? What, exactly, is masculinity?

Starring Amy Conroy, Mark Fitzgerald and Will O’Connell, Luck Just Kissed You Hello is a relentlessly funny and touching piece which explores just how much strength it can take to be all that is expected to you. It is a credit to its director, Caitriona McLaughlin. The play is on at the Lyric Theatre on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th November at 8pm each night, and is certainly one you won’t want to miss. Tickets can be bought online or at the theatre’s Box Office.

‘a mesmerising performance from Amy Conroy that seems ripped from her own innards’ – The Irish Independent

★★★★ ‘A blistering exploration of masculinity.’ – The Guardian

★★★★ ‘Luck Just Kissed You Hello goes beyond gender politics.’ – The Irish Times

‘Luck Just Kissed You Hello is a rare achievement, a play that is polemical while remaining provocative, funny, and intensely moving.’ – The Sunday Independent