Mr Denis Lawrence Wilson Smyth

Denis was born in Belfast on 25th June, 1936. He was a talented choir boy and won awards for his soprano solos. He also loved playing rugby.

On leaving Instonians Secondary School, he became an actor at the Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast. Like his wife, he trained as an English Teacher and from 1958 taught for nine years. A school principal described him as ‘an excellent teacher (with) an ideal manner, keeps a firm impartial control, and succeeds in encouraging his pupils to their best efforts’. He later completed an open university degree where he was awarded a first class honours in Drama. He went onto complete a diploma in Anglo-Irish Literature at the University of Ulster and lectured there in Drama.

Denis studied directing for theatre and theatre administration at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court Theatre, the Northcott Theatre Exeter and the Berliner Ensemble in Germany. This enabled Denis to work with some of the most talented directors in the UK and Europe.

He was a director at both the Arts Theatre and Lyric Theatre in Belfast, was the holder of a Leverhulme Fellowship in Theatre Research and of a School Teacher Fellowship to research educational television. In 1962 he became Associate Director at The Lyric Theatre, Six years later it had a full-time professional company of actors in the first purpose-built theatre in Northern Ireland for nearly a century. Denis was appointed Director and created twenty full-length productions for professional theatre companies in Northern Ireland with hits including Oh What a Lovely War and Titanic. Productions were cited by the Head of Drama on radio as ‘outstandingly effective. Each time we presented Mr Smyth with a new challenge in the Arts Council her met it and developed and expanded the original idea with imagination and practicality’.

Denis joined the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in 1970 and was founder Artistic Director of Interplay Theatre, a company set-up to introduce theatre for education and production develop touring in Northern Ireland. In 1978 he became Youth Drama Director for the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and initiated the Ulster Youth Drama Scheme. This established a network of thirteen drama centres across the nation and led to the formation of the Ulster Youth Theatre. From 1986, as Drama and Dance Director, he oversaw the upsurge in the number of companies and in the range of dramatic and dance activity in Northern Ireland. Over a six year period he establish Ulster Youth Dance, a developmental programme of training, participation and performance which created opportunities for all those in local communities who wished to become involved in all forms of dance. At this time Denis’s wider professional circle included poets who became internationally renowned like Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley. He introduced Northern Ireland to exceptional London West End Theatre and Dance Directors.

Denis retired from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in 1995 after twenty-five years of pioneering work in Drama, Theatre and Dance across the nation.

Outside of work, Denis loved to socialise over delicious food, swim, sail and travel. He had an adventurous spirit and delighted in meeting people across the globe. He loved throwing house parties with his wife that went long into the night and even the next morning. Later he developed his cookery skills and created six unique soups. The party queues to sample these were legendary. Family was important to Denis and he dedicated every summer to planning meticulously camping holidays in Europe, and later sailing holidays further afield.

Denis Smyth trained and worked as a teacher, theatre director and senior arts administrator. He retired from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland after twenty-five years of pioneering work in Drama and Dance. In the 1970’s he was the founder and Artistic Director of Interplay Theatre - a company set up to introduce theatre for education and developing touring across the nation. Denis also directed twenty plays in Belfast’s Arts Theatre and Lyric Theatre. He also won a number of fellowships to study in England, Germany and Austria. In 1978 Denis became Youth Drama Director and initiated the Ulster Youth Drama Scheme which established a network of thirteen centres and led to the formation of the Ulster Youth Theatre. From 1986 as Drama and Dance Director he oversaw the upsurge in the number of companies and in the range of dramatic and dance activity in Northern Ireland. He went onto introduce Ulster Youth Dance, a developmental programme of training, participation and performance which created opportunities for all those in local communities who wished to become involved in all forms of dance. In his personal life he loved sport, travel and any opportunity to socialise and have a good yarn. In later life he was an excellent cook and created a series of unique soups that friends queued up to sample. Denis was always hungry for life. His determination and enthusiasm were sustained throughout his nearly 89 years with us.