Guest columnist: Cameron Menzies - Northern Ireland Opera
6th August, 2025
In the latest in a series of guest columnist pieces written by members of the arts community, Cameron Menzies, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Opera explores the role of the Grand Opera House as a character in the upcoming production of Follies.
From the very first conversations about staging Follies, I knew that the Grand Opera House in Belfast wouldn’t just be a venue, it would become one of the characters in the story.
The piece itself is set in a once-grand theatre on the brink of demolition, filled with faded glamour and the ghosts of past performances. Its walls hold memories, secrets, regrets. And here we are, presenting it in a building that has been central to Northern Ireland’s theatrical history for over a century. That parallel is incredibly powerful and something I wanted to embrace fully.
We’re not hiding the Grand Opera House. We’re celebrating it. Niall McKeever, set designer and I have tailored the design and direction so that the building becomes part of the storytelling. Its ornate detailing, its balconies, its sense of grandeur, all of that echoes the emotional scale of Follies. The theatre feels lived-in, layered, and alive: just like the characters who return for their reunion, confronting their younger selves and the choices they made.
In many ways, this show is about memory, identity and time, all of which exist physically within the fabric of this building. You don’t have to imagine the past here: you can sense it in the architecture, in the atmosphere, in the sheer presence of the place and in the sweat and energy in the stage floor that has held so many powerful moments in its history.
We’re matching that presence with operatic scale. A cast of over 30. A full orchestra. Lesley Garrett CBE in one of the central roles. This is Follies as it’s rarely seen: not scaled back, not reimagined for a smaller space, but in all its full theatrical power.
The Grand Opera House gives us a rare opportunity to stage Follies exactly as it was intended: bold, beautiful and heartbreaking. I hope audiences will feel as though they’re not just watching a show, but stepping into a memory, one that belongs to the characters, the theatre, and maybe even to themselves.
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is principal funder of Northern Ireland Opera.
Follies runs at the Grand Opera House from 13th - 20th September. For further information, visit the Northern Ireland Opera website.