The playwright talks about being back on stage and playing a money-lender with a ‘bit of a heart’

When playwright Martin Lynch first asked Marie Jones to play Sarah Montague in the new production of Dockers at the Lyric, she said, ‘Absolutely not! No way.’

Jones likes to keep her hand in as an actor – writing can be a solitary occupation and she loves the craic in rehearsals – but she didn’t want to commit to a run at the Lyric. As she points out, ‘I’d usually be getting ready for my holidays.’ Lynch, and two vodkas, convinced Jones to change her mind.

She’s glad she did. Both Dockers and the Lyric Theatre have special meaning to her as an artist.

Back when the idea of rebuilding the Lyric Theatre was first mooted, she and Jane Coyle (journalist and CultureNorthernIreland contributor) cynically agreed that they would be on zimmer-frames before it was finished. Jones delights in proving herself wrong with every visit.

‘The first thing I ever did was perform at the [old] Lyric,’ Jones explains. ‘And when I saw the new Lyric for the first time, I knew I was going to be on this stage. I needed to be.’

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