Car bomb explodes near the Lyric Theatre

A 300-pound car bomb exploded beside The Lyric while a new play, We Do It for Love, was opening there. The blast extensively damaged the rear of the theatre, but no one was injured. In the novel, the attack is also bound to Cushla’s fear for Michael: she learns of the explosion as she waits for him to return, then urgently asks where he has been.

The Explosion at The Lyric

Michael describes the play as good, though he had seen only a little of it, before telling Cushla that a car had exploded outside the theatre. The later account gives the scale of the attack: the bomb weighed 300 pounds and caused extensive damage to the building’s rear. The report records no injuries, distinguishing the substantial physical damage from the absence of casualties.

Cushla’s Alarm

The news reaches Cushla in a private, unsettled moment. She has been looking through materials that include a photograph of a man’s torture injuries, then tries to put the papers back as she found them. Smoking by the window, she becomes conscious that the illuminated room could be watched from outside; the papers, books, and whiskey no longer seem like ordinary clutter but take on a menacing quality. She draws the curtains, drinks, and starts the record again before Michael’s key turns in the lock.

When Michael comes in, Cushla rushes to him and tells him there has been a bomb, asking where he was. She explains that she knew something had happened to him; he insists that nothing happened to him. The exchange makes her immediate concern personal, while the bomb’s location beside the theatre supplies the public danger behind it. Michael takes the drink from her hand and drinks it, then draws attention to her state, a small gesture that redirects the scene from the blast outside to the strain visible in the room.

Damage and Narrative Significance

The event is presented through two complementary scales: the concise account of a heavy bomb and the damaged theatre, and Cushla’s close, anxious response to news of an attack near Michael. The absence of injuries does not make the blast inconsequential: the rear of The Lyric is extensively damaged, while the episode intensifies the sense that violence can intrude on ordinary cultural life and private relationships without warning. The play’s opening and the explosion occupy the same moment, setting a new production against the sudden disruption of the theatre around it.