Last week’s Ticket carried a story about the impending launch of the new Light House Cinema, on May 9th:

The new Light House at Smithfield is a custom- built, four-screen cinema with a 614-seat capacity – 277 in the largest auditorium, and seating for 153, 116 and 68 in the others.

“The four screens will allow for enormous flexibility in terms of programming, delivering a greater choice and diversity of films to invigorate the cultural cinema landscape in Ireland,” promise Neil Connolly and Maretta Dillon, who also ran the original Light House on Middle Abbey Street until it closed in 1996. The new venue promises “stunning, imaginative architecture, making Light House at Smithfield the most unique of cinema spaces”.

Says architect Colin Mackay: “The organisation and distribution of screens will allow patrons to walk over, under and around the forms, affording an alternative and dramatic cinema experience.”

The old Light House Cinema on Abbey Street closed in 1996;  this new addition to Dublin’s cultural landscape is bound to be a popular one, and will hopefully breathe some life into the Smithfield development, which has had its share of difficulty creating a sense of community and activity around its swish new buildings.