:00:28. > :00:31.Hello. You're very welcome to The Arts Show in the first of two
:00:31. > :00:38.specials focusing on the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queens of
:00:38. > :00:41.it's a big year for Queens as they celebrate their 50th festival since
:00:41. > :00:46.it began. We're here to bring you the best of the festival coverage
:00:46. > :00:55.of the next two weeks. Charles Dickens's bicentenary is widely
:00:55. > :00:59.celebrated at this year's festival. We examine his enduring appeal.
:00:59. > :01:04.World-renowned soloist Maxim Rysanov performs an intimate
:01:04. > :01:09.recital for the Arts Show. Acclaimed artist Nele Azevedo
:01:09. > :01:12.reveals her unique ice sculptures commemorating Titanic victims at
:01:12. > :01:15.Belfast Square, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo played the Waterfront on
:01:16. > :01:19.Sunday. They took time out to give us an exclusive performance.
:01:19. > :01:23.Well, as we know, this is now the 50th Belfast Festival at Queens,
:01:23. > :01:28.but it's not actually the 50th anniversary. There were a few years
:01:28. > :01:31.it didn't happen along the way. From quite humble beginnings it's
:01:31. > :01:36.grown in reputation and stature to become one of the most prominent
:01:36. > :01:41.arts festivals on the British Isles. Let's have a look at how it all
:01:41. > :01:46.began. At 50, the Belfast Festival at Queens really has something to
:01:46. > :01:50.celebrate. What began in the early '60s as a bit of crack is now the
:01:50. > :01:53.third biggest arts festival in the UK. It has an established
:01:53. > :01:57.international reputation, programming everything from theatre
:01:57. > :02:01.to dance, lectures to literature, film to the visual arts, making it
:02:01. > :02:06.arguably Northern Ireland's annual cultural show piece. Opinions vary
:02:06. > :02:10.about when it actually started. There were student festivals in the
:02:10. > :02:14.early '60, but the temp plait that stuck was when a -
:02:14. > :02:24.PROBLEM WITH SOUND Was offered the post of first
:02:24. > :02:33.
:02:33. > :02:40.festival director in 1964. Under emmerson, the festival grew in
:02:40. > :02:46.popularity. In the Whitla Hall, it became one of the most popular
:02:46. > :02:52.draws attracting performers from both sides of the Atlantic
:02:52. > :02:58.including George Melly and Dizzy Gillespie. Emerson left to become
:02:58. > :03:03.part of RCA's classic label and Galloway's manager. The festival
:03:03. > :03:08.didn't happen in 1970 and '71 with the recent troubles a contributing
:03:08. > :03:11.factor. In 1973 a new director, Michael Barnes took over and
:03:11. > :03:15.remained director until 1994. During his years the festival
:03:15. > :03:18.attracted the likes of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Sir Laurence
:03:18. > :03:23.Olivier, Yehudi Menuhin, Judi Dench, Petula Clark, Clement Freud, Ben
:03:23. > :03:26.Kingsley and Richard Stilgoe, to name a few.
:03:26. > :03:31.Monty Python's Michael Palin was convinced by Michael Barnes to
:03:31. > :03:34.bring his one-man show exclusively to Belfast. Michael Palin loved it
:03:34. > :03:39.so much, he refused to perform it anywhere else, saying it couldn't
:03:39. > :03:43.be better than at the Belfast Festival. Other names to appear
:03:43. > :03:47.earlier in their career include Billy Connolly, Rowan Atkinson,
:03:47. > :03:52.Victoria Wood, Seamus Heaney, James Galway and even Van Morrison.
:03:52. > :03:56.Despite the Troubles, the festival kept going through the '70s and by
:03:56. > :03:59.the '80s it had expanded into two weeks across the city, hosting
:03:59. > :04:03.everything from the Moscow State Ballet to the Flying Pickets. It's
:04:03. > :04:06.had its ups and downs, but the Queens University has been
:04:06. > :04:11.instrumental in the city's cultural Renaissance and is still going
:04:11. > :04:14.strong. And what better way to mark the
:04:14. > :04:19.50th than with a fanfare, a specially commissioned work to
:04:19. > :04:24.Herald the opening of this year's festival. The idea was that
:04:24. > :04:28.musicians would be sort of calling to each other across the space
:04:28. > :04:31.inside Victoria Square. Finding the right location for this was
:04:31. > :04:34.critical, somewhere like Victoria Square which is a real landmark
:04:34. > :04:39.building, but it also provides a wonderful acoustic. You can imagine
:04:39. > :04:42.how the sounds of all of those 50 instruments will gather and rise up
:04:42. > :04:45.into the dome. It's absolutely right for the space, and I think
:04:45. > :04:49.it's really going to blow some people's, so off. There are lots of
:04:49. > :04:53.novel things about this piece - the audience is free to walk around.
:04:53. > :05:00.You can, as a member of the audience, go and stand next to
:05:00. > :05:07.somebody. Later on, all the musicians leave their locations and
:05:07. > :05:12.all gather together in the ground floor of the Victoria Square.
:05:12. > :05:17.I then take over as a conductor, and that really reveals a very
:05:17. > :05:22.different sound. It's now focused and very intense. The very last bar
:05:22. > :05:32.is the only straight forward conducted bar in the piece.
:05:32. > :05:43.
:05:43. > :05:47.What a roll call of names there - amazing. I am joined by Eithne
:05:47. > :05:53.Shortall for the Sunday Times and Joe Nawaz. They're going to be with
:05:53. > :05:56.us for the next two weeks to give us their views. First impressions?
:05:56. > :06:00.First impressions are very promising. It's just what you want
:06:00. > :06:05.from a festival so it takes the best from the local arts so
:06:05. > :06:10.musicians like Van Morrison and films such as Jump, then it mixs
:06:10. > :06:19.that with an eclectic range from everywhere else. There are a lot of
:06:19. > :06:29.comedians from the south and theatre from Britain. It has
:06:29. > :06:29.
:06:29. > :06:36.captured the cultural whirlwind that is the Belfast Festival. I
:06:36. > :06:43.caught the opening bars of Waterloo Sunset, so that was a microcome of
:06:43. > :06:47.You're going to be with us for the next two programmes. Thank you.
:06:47. > :06:50.This year marks 200 years since birth of Charles Dickens and the
:06:50. > :06:54.Queens University is celebrating with a variety of exhibitions,
:06:54. > :06:58.readings and performances in unusual venues such as May Street
:06:58. > :07:01.Church and the Templemore Baths in Belfast. Writer Ian Sansom
:07:01. > :07:09.investigates why after all this time we shouldn't just read, but
:07:09. > :07:14.also listen, to Dickens. And now he made for the wreck,
:07:14. > :07:18.rising with the hills, falling with the valleys, lost beneath the
:07:18. > :07:25.rugged foam. He was so near that with one more of his vigorous
:07:25. > :07:30.strokes, he would be clinging to it when a high, green, vast hillside
:07:30. > :07:40.of water moving on shoreward from beyond the ship - he seemed to leap
:07:40. > :07:40.
:07:40. > :07:44.up into it with a mighty bound, and the ship was gone. On Friday, the
:07:44. > :07:50.15th of January, 1869 Charles Dickens walked out centre stage
:07:50. > :07:55.here at the Ulster Hall in Belfast and read from his novel, David
:07:55. > :07:59.Copperfield. In his youth, Dickens had aspired to be an actor. Now he
:07:59. > :08:09.was getting his chance. So what the Belfast audience got that night was
:08:09. > :08:11.not just a reading from a book. It was a dramatic performance. Can you
:08:11. > :08:14.tell us about the reception that Charles Dickens received when he
:08:14. > :08:18.arrived in Belfast? We have accounts of people who came to
:08:18. > :08:22.listen to Dickens read. People ran over themselves and fell over the
:08:22. > :08:26.top of themselves to get to their places. People thought that he was
:08:26. > :08:29.the superstar of his age, and they wanted to have a piece of him, and
:08:30. > :08:36.this is why the public performance was so important. It wasn't enough
:08:36. > :08:39.to read the books. They wanted to see him. One of the things I admire
:08:39. > :08:43.about Dickens is that he was a dramatic writer, although, of
:08:43. > :08:47.course, he wasn't a dramatist, and we know that it's sometimes
:08:47. > :08:53.difficult to translate what's on the page to what's on the stage.
:08:53. > :08:56.But a new adaptation of Nicholas Nickelby is putting the words of
:08:57. > :09:01.the characters in the novel into the mouths of actors. I have seen
:09:01. > :09:05.the parents of some boys, and they're so glad to hear how he was
:09:06. > :09:12.getting on that there's no prospect at all of you going away. It's very
:09:12. > :09:19.good. It's very good, and that - He has an eye for observation. He
:09:19. > :09:27.has an ear for dialogue, and in the course of researching this, he
:09:27. > :09:31.heard the Yorkshire dialect, and he's able to translate that on to
:09:31. > :09:36.the page. And look after that spoon, or I'll give you enough... Yeah, I
:09:36. > :09:40.need you really to be showing me - "And you look after that -"
:09:40. > :09:44.much do you think his own interest in acting influenced the way that
:09:44. > :09:49.he wrote? Well, when he was writing his novels, he would get up from
:09:49. > :09:54.the desk, and get - and go into character. His body would change.
:09:54. > :09:58.He would be using his hands and his voice, and so he acted it out, and
:09:59. > :10:06.he would scuttle back to the desk and the actor then translated what
:10:06. > :10:11.was going on inside himself and in his imagination on to the page.
:10:11. > :10:17.Some of the finest passages in Dickens are when he's describing a
:10:17. > :10:23.place or an atmosphere or a mood. He wasn't just a storyteller. He
:10:23. > :10:29.was a conjurer of images. Dickens in the dark seats the audience in
:10:29. > :10:35.cubicles in a disused Victorian bathhouse and lets his words work
:10:35. > :10:41.their magic. "That man was the man that I had seen along Piccadilly
:10:41. > :10:45.and whose face was the colour of impure wax." What is it, then,
:10:45. > :10:49.about Dickens' language that enables you to turn it into drama?
:10:49. > :10:54.His descriptions are so precise, and he evokes so much detail in the
:10:54. > :10:59.world of the story that it's quite easy to visualise that folly and
:10:59. > :11:04.imagine that as a soundscape. I think it's very easy for an actor
:11:05. > :11:08.to take a passage of Dickens' prose and perform it. Because he wrote
:11:08. > :11:13.especially to be heard, it lends itself very easily to audio theatre
:11:13. > :11:20.and to the kind of work we do. inward expectation of seeing the
:11:20. > :11:25.figure in the dressing room in the dark, and I did not see it there.
:11:25. > :11:29.In Dickens' time, reading was a social and a sociable activity.
:11:29. > :11:34.People didn't just curl up with a good book. They would read and
:11:34. > :11:41.recite to one another, and so parlours across the land would echo
:11:41. > :11:45.to the sound of Great Expectation and Oliver Twist. It was a ghastly
:11:45. > :11:49.figure to look upon. The murderer staggered backward to the wall, and
:11:49. > :11:55.shutting out the sight with his hand seized the heavy club and
:11:55. > :11:59.struck her down! Dickens was an entertainer. He understood that
:11:59. > :12:06.prose, like poetry and drama, when it's most honest and moving and
:12:06. > :12:08.sincere, is when it's performed, when it's voiced out loud on stage.
:12:08. > :12:13.APPLAUSE Joe, does anybody read Dickens
:12:13. > :12:19.today Probably get the book of the film after having seen it in the
:12:19. > :12:21.cinema or on TV but Dickens himself - he read his own work. He was a
:12:21. > :12:25.performer as well as being a campaigning novelist, so I think
:12:25. > :12:30.one of the best mediums to see him in is the spoken word as she and I
:12:30. > :12:35.did at the Ulster Museum recently. He was an incredible performer. He
:12:35. > :12:39.would have loved the amount of work of his that reaches the screen now.
:12:39. > :12:44.That's it. He had early aspiration of being an actor, and when that
:12:44. > :12:48.didn't work, he combined the two. At the Ulster Museum you can see a
:12:48. > :12:54.replica of the lectern he would have read off of. It's carved out.
:12:54. > :13:00.You can see his legs, and it's quite low. Basically, health you to
:13:00. > :13:06.see him reading the work. You can see the text. He underlined certain
:13:06. > :13:10.words to emphasise it and altered it to make it a play and less of a
:13:10. > :13:14.reading text. What else struck you about his work at the festival?
:13:14. > :13:20.thing I learned, interestingly, about his work, is he found this to
:13:20. > :13:24.be a fine place with a rough people. He also found that he couldn't read
:13:24. > :13:28.the Nancy passage from Oliver Twist because we were Highly strung
:13:28. > :13:33.already. Oh. Actually, one of the readings we have done at the
:13:33. > :13:37.festival is that piece. It did get a reading here. How did it work,
:13:37. > :13:41.hearing that Nancy piece taken out of the book and dramatised? It was
:13:41. > :13:45.very good. It was done by a member of the English Department of
:13:45. > :13:49.Queenss. He's obviously an enthusiast himself. He happened -
:13:49. > :13:52.didn't happen to be wearing did he wore his gear. That's his look.
:13:52. > :13:55.put his heart and soul into it because obviously he wanted to do
:13:55. > :14:03.justice to the man he idolises. would be your favourite character?
:14:03. > :14:08.Out of Dicken, I have recently read Hard Times so fresh in my mind is
:14:08. > :14:13.Mr Guardgrimes, the pursuer of facts, facts. And you? I am going
:14:13. > :14:18.with Nancy, a heart of gold and comes to a sticky end. The viola is
:14:18. > :14:21.often the forgotten stringed instrument of the orchestra.
:14:21. > :14:25.Ukranian musician Maxim Rysanov has established himself as one of the
:14:25. > :14:29.world's leading viola soloists performing the small body of work
:14:29. > :14:33.written for the instrument. He played St George's Church Saturday
:14:33. > :14:43.in Belfast as part of the festival. We're delighted he took time to
:14:43. > :14:43.
:14:43. > :17:09.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 146 seconds
:17:09. > :17:16.perform exclusively for The Arts Guy and a cellist, so why am I
:17:16. > :17:22.feeling that why has this violin guy taken all the best music?
:17:23. > :17:32.a lot of these pieces have been adapted for the final lap. The
:17:33. > :17:33.
:17:33. > :17:38.pieces for the viola would definitely the strongest pieces.
:17:38. > :17:47.You felt whenever you heard music specifically written for the viola
:17:48. > :17:53.that the tone of the instrument just sank. I was Saviola version.
:17:54. > :18:00.The viola for me is somewhere between the cello and violin. It is
:18:00. > :18:05.almost a human voice like quality to it. He didn't come to life for
:18:05. > :18:10.me before the piano came in. There was a wonderful counterpoint
:18:10. > :18:17.between the two instruments. would go back and see it played
:18:17. > :18:19.again? I would if they were specifically for the viola.
:18:19. > :18:21.Internationally acclaimed Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo is known for
:18:21. > :18:26.creating interventions, or temporary monuments, in cities
:18:26. > :18:28.worldwide such as Sao Paulo, Havana and Tokyo since 2002. Entitled
:18:28. > :18:31.Minimum Monument, the travelling project features large numbers of
:18:31. > :18:37.ice figures celebrating the anonymous everyman in contrast to
:18:37. > :18:47.traditional permanent structures. For the Queen's Festival, she's
:18:47. > :18:47.
:18:47. > :21:44.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 146 seconds
:21:44. > :21:49.created 1,517 of the figures, one A fitting tribute to the Titanic?
:21:49. > :21:54.Weirdly, I found it moving. Lifting the little ice sculptures and
:21:54. > :22:01.putting them on the steps. Just when we started the sun came out.
:22:01. > :22:11.Did you find it moving? Not really. I thought it looked very pretty. As
:22:11. > :22:12.
:22:12. > :22:20.a tribute to the Titanic, would you use melted ice? As a festival
:22:20. > :22:30.events and something to bring the family to eat, it is lovely. We did
:22:30. > :22:32.
:22:32. > :22:38.our bit, we put up six or seven each. I accidentally stepped two
:22:38. > :22:43.together and they went down as a couple. You could have a little bit
:22:44. > :22:53.of individual creativity. By the end there was this what sensation
:22:54. > :22:54.
:22:54. > :22:57.of being watched by the Ice People. Still, very much a festival piece.
:22:57. > :23:05.Music figures large each Festival and here, with his pick of this
:23:05. > :23:07.Thanks, Marie-Louise. We'll start with one of this year's big hitters,
:23:07. > :23:09.the Buena Vista Social Club. Ry Cooder's original recordings of
:23:09. > :23:12.Cuba's thriving music scene sold something like seven million copies
:23:12. > :23:16.worldwide when they were released in 1996, sparking a passion for
:23:16. > :23:19.pure, pulsating Cuban music that's kept growing to this day. Naturally,
:23:19. > :23:22.the line up has changed down the years, but the vibe remains as
:23:22. > :23:26.thrilling as ever. Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, the latest
:23:26. > :23:30.incarnation of the collective, are a 15-piece band direct from Havana.
:23:30. > :23:36.They bring the heat to The Ulster Hall on Tuesday night. Take my
:23:36. > :23:38.advice and slip on your dancing shoes for this one.
:23:38. > :23:41.On an altogether different, but just as exciting tip, are Beach
:23:41. > :23:44.House who provide one of this weekend's must-see highlights.
:23:44. > :23:47.Everyone in the know is dropping their name right now so it's the
:23:47. > :23:50.perfect time to see them. A duo from Baltimore, their sound is
:23:50. > :23:53.dream pop in the drowsiest, trippiest sense - kind of like the
:23:53. > :23:55.Velvet Underground played at the wrong speed! If that sounds right
:23:55. > :23:58.up your sonic street, they're at the Mandela Hall in Queens
:23:58. > :24:02.University tomorrow night. The term Legends of Irish Folk
:24:02. > :24:04.hardly covers it in the case of Altan. County Donegal's finest have
:24:04. > :24:07.been trailblazers for traditional music here for three decades and
:24:07. > :24:11.performed everywhere from the Hollywood Bowl to the Albert Hall,
:24:11. > :24:14.collaborating with everyone from Dolly Parton to the Chieftains.
:24:14. > :24:17.They're playing as part of Festival's 50 Shades Of Green, a
:24:17. > :24:20.celebration of Irish poetry, literature, music and film. Catch
:24:20. > :24:22.them in The Mac in Belfast on Saturday.
:24:23. > :24:25.Outside of Festival there are some essential gigs happening in the
:24:25. > :24:28.next week I'd point you to. Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess
:24:28. > :24:31.makes a rare solo appearance in support of his excellent new album,
:24:32. > :24:34.Oh No I Love You, at the Stiff Kitten in Belfast on Saturday night
:24:34. > :24:37.One of the most wildly exciting collectives currently on the local
:24:37. > :24:46.traditional scene, At First Light, bring their unique blend of old and
:24:46. > :24:49.modern to the Alley Theatre in Strabane also on Saturday night.
:24:49. > :24:52.And, finally, hugely acclaimed alt- country duo The Civil Wars promote
:24:52. > :25:02.their Grammy Award Winning album Barton Hollow with a gig at the
:25:02. > :25:03.
:25:03. > :25:13.Mandela Hall in Belfast on Sunday. Definitely one not to miss.
:25:13. > :25:16.
:25:16. > :25:26.Thanks, Ralph. Nor will you choose this week? Another good play will
:25:26. > :25:29.
:25:29. > :25:31.be Macbeth at the Lyric. We imagined and said Northern Ireland.
:25:31. > :25:34.Thanks to my guests, Eithne Shortall and Joe Nawaz, who'll be
:25:34. > :25:38.back next week for the second of our Festival Specials. Until then
:25:38. > :25:41.you can keep up to date on BBC Radio Ulster each week day with our
:25:41. > :25:44.Festival Desk at 11.55am and Arts Extra at 6.30pm.
:25:44. > :25:46.We leave you tonight with a special performance from the South African
:25:46. > :25:49.choir best known for appearing on Paul Simon's seminal solo album,