Lyric Theatre: Dumbworld 'Where We Bury the Bones'

11 March 2026 19:30

The Lyric Theatre

A bone will never speak its secrets – but perhaps it can sing them.

After its premiere at Kilkenny Arts Festival (KAF), Where We Bury the Bones - the latest groundbreaking work from multi-award-winning duo John McIlduff and Brian Irvine (Olivier Award-nominated and four-time Ivor Novello winner) of Dumbworld - arrives at The Lyric Theatre, Belfast, for one night only.

This intimate and challenging work of contemporary music theatre begins with the discovery of a single bone, unearthed during archaeological excavations in Kilkenny’s Abbey Quarter. From this fragment grows a sweeping reflection on civilisation: its rituals, its industries, its skateboarders – and the traces we leave behind.

On stage, audiences are invited into a living excavation. An 8-piece orchestra, opera, contemporary dance, live film, archival text, and a hand-built scale model intertwine to create a vivid, shifting landscape. By reassembling fragments of past and present, Where We Bury the Bones offers a startling meditation on who we are, how we live, and our relationship with the land beneath our feet.

At once poetic and provocative, Where We Bury the Bones sings the unspoken stories buried in our soil.

Creative Team

Conceived and created by Dumbworld
Directed by John McIIduff
Music by Brian Irvine
Additional Text by Kate Heffernan
Design by Sabine Dargent
Sung by Megan O’Neill

Tickets

£16 - 32. Booking at the Lyric Theatre.

Venue

The Lyric Theatre

55 Ridgeway Street, BT9 5FB
Belfast

Venue Contact Info