Contributor: Matthew Campbell

The Grand Opera House, situated on Great Victoria Street Belfast, is arguably one of the most lavish theatres in Ireland, and one of the only remaining Victorian theatres still standing. The Grand Opera House was designed by Frank Matcham and opened to the public on Monday 23rd December on the old site of the Olympia Palace. (McDowell, Beyond The Footlights)

Amateur theatre companies have been performing on the stage of Belfast’s iconic Grand Opera House for several decades, however this did not suppress Downpatrick Choral Society’s (St Patrick’s) feeling of accomplishment when they were granted permission to grace this famous stage for a week in October 2015. This was arguably one of the society’s proudest achievements since its formation, and one that the late Declan McGrady would have been very proud of I am sure.

On Wednesday 7th October 2018, almost 50 members of Downpatrick Choral Society, along with an orchestra of 19 musicians and a technical crew of 37, opened The Irish amateur premiere of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s ‘Sunset Boulevard’ for 5 performances on the stage of the Grand Opera House, Belfast.

It is not often that such a small rural company such as St Patrick’s would have been granted such an opportunity. Whilst the Victorian theatre does certainly promote amateur theatre in the city, it does so through a small network of well established amateur organisations known for having a high production standard and reputation, not to mention the financial capabilities to produce a production worthy of this large stage. However, this production was quite special and unique to those performed by amateur companies in the past and several key events took place in the years leading up to this monumental achievement that played an integral role in securing the contract for this small rural group.

The production was not simply an opportunity for this company to perform on a bigger stage, it was in fact to raise money for four very worthy charities in Northern Ireland. Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), Mind your Mate and Yourself (MYMY), Brain Injury Matters, and the Declan McMullan Fund. All of these charities are connected to a special young man named Declan McMullan whose family was known by many in St Patrick’s though his siblings Mark and Anna who were members for many years.

Declan, (from Crossgar, Co Down) suffered a cardiac arrest on the 16th March 2012 aged just 19 years old. The cardiac arrest was caused by an underlying conditioned known as Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. Declan’s father administered CPR until the paramedics arrived and was able to preserve most of Declan’s organ functions. However, brain damage was inevitable and Declan has suffered profound physical disability. His condition is called Hypoxic Ischaemic Brain Injury and this has had and will continue to have permanent effects on Declan for the rest of his life.

Declan spent over a year in hospital and as a result of his brain damage he now suffers from Locked in Syndrome which prevents him from eating, speaking, moving or seeing and he is refined to a wheelchair. He is fully cognitive and aware, and is also fully aware of what happened to him. Declan suffers from Tetraplegia, which means that he is unable to move any part of his body, however he has full feeling of every part of his body and his only form of communication is by blinking through the letters of the alphabet to form a word or sentence. (John McMullan, 2015)

The effects of Declan’s condition have been understandably devastating for all of his family, and it is still the families on-going wish to continuously raise awareness of Declan’s condition in the hope that they can prevent other families form experiencing the same situation.

Declan has always had a special bond with his brother Mark (a past member of Downpatrick Choral Society) through music, and throughout his rehabilitation found comfort in listening to Mark sing. Mark is a very gifted singer and in March 2015 a video of Mark singing to Declan went viral on YouTube. The clip saw Mark become an overnight sensation singing the classic song from Boubil and Schöenberg’s ‘Les Miserábles’, Bring Him Home. This brought instant recognition to Mark and Declan and they made appearances on the BBC’s Nolan Show as well as RTE’s the Late Late Show. The video even sparked interest from some notable celebrities including Louis Walsh, Gary Lightbody, Alfie Boe and Russell Crowe, all of whom acknowledged the touching video and reached out to meet the brothers. (Click the link to watch the viral video on YouTube https://youtu.be/S3s-51ox5_0 )

On the back of this newly found recognition, the McMullan family approached Downpatrick Choral Society proposing that they stage a musical production in the Grand Opera House Belfast in aid of some of the charities that helped both Declan and the family on his journey to rehabilitation. The venture was by no means an easy discussion and St Patrick’s committee had a lot of deliberating to do as to whether or not this production was going to be within the capabilities of the small rural theatre group. Meetings were held between the family and representatives from both Downpatrick Choral Society and the Grand Opera House, all of whom understandably had concerns about the proposal. The Grand Opera House were reluctant to allow such a small, and relatively unheard of amateur group take to this iconic stage without being satisfied that they could produce a production to a worthy enough standard for this professional venue. Likewise St Patrick’s were concerned that they did not have the financial structure in place to support themselves should the production be unsuccessful in covering its costs. A box office with a negative percentage return would bankrupt a small society when you take into account that a show of this scale requires a minimum budget in the region of £80,000 (almost 6 times the amount of St Patrick’s usual annual budget). However after some weeks, an agreement was made and a contract signed which granted the project to go ahead.

With plans in place, excitement started to build in the local community and in the press. Members were also very excited at the prospect of performing on such a respected stage, as the majority of the cast had never before set foot on the Grand Opera House stage.

The production was rehearsed for 5 months under the direction of Gary Warnock and musical direction by Gareth McGreevy, both members of St Patrick’s Choral Society making their directorial debuts in this venue also.

The production ran very smoothly and was certainly successful in all aspects. The final box office report showed ticket sales of 64% (a total of 5,500 seats were on sale). This did not represent a sell out production, however ticket revenue was large enough to cover the production costs with a respectable profit (£8624) which was split evenly amongst the four charities. Downpatrick Choral Society did not receive any financial gain from the production.

Success of the production continued months after when the Society received some award nominations from both A.I.M.S (Association of Irish Musical Societies) and N.O.D.A (National Operatic and Dramatic Association). Award nominations were received in the following categories:

A.I.M.S
– Best Technical (Lights, Set & Sound) – Award Won
– Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Fergal White as Max) – Award Won

N.O.D.A
– Best Overall Show – Nomination
– Best Individual Performance (Fiona Keegan as Norma Desmond) – Award Won
– Best Staging – Nomination

Images by Michael Shepherd and Matthew Campbell