:00:27. > :00:30.Hello and welcome to The Arts Show and the second of our specials on
:00:30. > :00:34.the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queens. We're coming towards the
:00:34. > :00:38.end of this year's Festival but there's still a lot to see and do.
:00:38. > :00:41.Here's what's coming up tonight. Paisley & Me, the much-anticipated
:00:41. > :00:45.second play in the Ulster Trilogy exploring the Big Man's impact on
:00:45. > :00:49.our Protestant community opened last week. We meet the team behind
:00:49. > :00:52.it. 25 years after his death, celebrated Belfast poet, John
:00:52. > :00:57.Hewitt, is remembered at the Festival with readings of his work.
:00:57. > :00:59.We explore his legacy. South Africa's Magpie Art Collective,
:00:59. > :01:01.known for creating artworks worldwide from discarded items,
:01:01. > :01:09.were in Belfast to create their latest piece which they just
:01:09. > :01:12.unveiled at Queen's Naughton Gallery. And Grammy-nominated
:01:12. > :01:14.American artist, Greg Porter, one of the hottest new acts on the
:01:14. > :01:18.international Jazz circuit, made his first appearance at the
:01:18. > :01:25.Festival on Sunday. He took time out to give The Arts Show an
:01:25. > :01:28.The The National Theatre of Scotland made a huge impact in 2006
:01:28. > :01:30.with its award-winning play, Black Watch, about a much-criticised
:01:30. > :01:35.military operation in Iraq and the complex decisions taken by the
:01:35. > :01:39.soldiers involved. Their latest play, Enquirer, takes a similar
:01:39. > :01:41.approach to the recent scandals within the newspaper industry.
:01:41. > :01:44.Built from testimony from actual editors and journalists, it
:01:44. > :01:46.fictionalises how some reporters embrace dirty or illegal practices,
:01:46. > :01:56.while others struggle to find a place for responsible journalism
:01:56. > :01:56.
:01:56. > :02:03.within a post-Leveson Industry. Water to think the mail online is
:02:03. > :02:07.getting right? Hits is all they care about and they are successful
:02:07. > :02:12.because they know their readership is so brilliant. They feed the
:02:12. > :02:16.fears of immigration, disease, crime, being fat, getting old, and
:02:16. > :02:22.a particularly vicious to women and the readers are women. It's very
:02:22. > :02:26.bizarre. I was in New York with a co-director and we were discussing
:02:26. > :02:30.the crisis in the press. A lot of our friends, the same age as us,
:02:30. > :02:34.are journalists, and they were getting to the early Forties saying
:02:34. > :02:38.what is the future for the profession? We realised
:02:38. > :02:40.straightaway to make a piece about the newspaper industry needed to be
:02:40. > :02:46.immediate and we wanted to be about the voice of the journalists
:02:46. > :02:51.themselves. I'll always find myself reading a lot of it. I think it
:02:51. > :02:55.brings up the worse than anybody. It's always so negative. I hated.
:02:55. > :03:00.Scottish journalist came to my house in London and said we would
:03:00. > :03:06.like to talk about what the state of the process is at the moment,
:03:06. > :03:11.where we are going, will journalism and newspapers survive? That was on
:03:11. > :03:16.the minds of the playwrights as they were tackling the subject.
:03:16. > :03:20.Would you work for them? The 20 years ago. It was surprising how
:03:20. > :03:25.open the journalists were. It was like we had unleashed something in
:03:25. > :03:30.them and given them the opportunity to talk about their profession.
:03:30. > :03:35.Nobody is going to believe that Alan did it? What am I going to do?
:03:35. > :03:39.I think the shame and anger they felt and the reasons why people had
:03:39. > :03:44.become journalists in the first place where good reasons, in order
:03:44. > :03:48.to uncover things which needed to be uncovered. Give me your opinion
:03:48. > :03:53.of Rebekah Brooks saying, I am the victim of a witch hunt. It's always
:03:53. > :03:57.been mother's milk to the Sun newspaper, hasn't it? We didn't
:03:57. > :04:01.shirk any of the things we said. We had a lot of conversations with the
:04:01. > :04:09.lawyers and there's loads of stuff that is not in it that we could not
:04:09. > :04:15.keeping up. 1 N -- whenever somebody was accused, she went for
:04:15. > :04:22.them. Then she says to the British nation of shears part of a witch-
:04:22. > :04:28.hunt. It is sickening. -- she is. think we have a place for
:04:28. > :04:33.rambunctious, robust, Ruud tabloids for so I think that's important.
:04:33. > :04:37.But what they need to do is not to intrude on the privacy of people
:04:37. > :04:42.unnecessarily and they need to, in terms of methods, news-gathering
:04:42. > :04:51.methods, they need to be much more rigorous. Wasn't she involved in
:04:51. > :04:56.the searing pain thing? The backing of the mother's phone? -- Sarah
:04:56. > :05:02.Payne. I know it exclusive stories come in, I cannot fail to ask where
:05:02. > :05:05.they come from. We got a really complex and detailed view of
:05:05. > :05:10.journalism and that industry, so we just pieced it together and we
:05:10. > :05:14.never thought there was going to be one thesis. We were not saying one
:05:14. > :05:19.single thing. We were trying to uncover these questions and throw
:05:19. > :05:23.out the debate, really. After the horror stories, the corruption, and
:05:23. > :05:27.criminality, it all amounts to nothing because at the end of the
:05:27. > :05:37.day, it is a political decision and the politicians are not going to
:05:37. > :05:37.
:05:37. > :05:40.take it. Yes, it's like bolting the stable door when the horse has died.
:05:40. > :05:45.I'm joined once again by Eithne Shortall, arts writer for The
:05:45. > :05:49.Sunday Times, Ireland. And Joe Nawaz, local arts journalist. The
:05:49. > :05:57.idea of seeing yourself as a journalist played out in drama, did
:05:57. > :06:02.it work? Yes, we were allowed to walk around the desks on the set
:06:02. > :06:06.and I recognised my desk and others, people I work with. I thought,
:06:06. > :06:15.there was a bit when they interviewed an editor and I thought
:06:15. > :06:20.was like my editor. Completely believable. Did you feel of that
:06:20. > :06:27.the set landed something to the piece of drama? There was a crowd
:06:27. > :06:31.of angry youths just outside lending a topical melodrama to it.
:06:31. > :06:36.It was a long dark teatime examination of the media, bleak but
:06:36. > :06:43.exhilarating. A whirlwind of travelogue through a day in the
:06:43. > :06:48.life of a newsroom, later tonight. Did it make you feel uncomfortable?
:06:48. > :06:54.I squirmed slightly, yes. There was a lot of self reflection and
:06:54. > :06:57.because it was the testimony of real journalist... It's not just
:06:57. > :07:04.about the Leverson Inquiry but the demise of what the reputation of
:07:04. > :07:09.the journalists. They were well considered. Stephen Fry at the
:07:09. > :07:12.Baftas referred to them as assorted media scum. This and energy there
:07:12. > :07:17.and you can see why the play is such a success, because it is
:07:17. > :07:21.constantly updated, as well. The they reference the Olympics.
:07:21. > :07:28.Journalism is a sexy industry populated by ugly people. I thought
:07:28. > :07:34.that was great. Some say a good use for today's newspapers is they
:07:34. > :07:37.become tomorrow's fish-and-chip wrappers. Finding a new use for
:07:37. > :07:39.what we throw away is what South Africa's Magpie Art Collective do
:07:39. > :07:41.every day. They make artworks entirely from reclaimed items to
:07:41. > :07:43.highlight environmental responsibility. The Obama White
:07:43. > :07:45.House recently acquired two of their string and bottle-top
:07:45. > :07:55.chandeliers. They have been in Belfast throughout October working
:07:55. > :08:11.
:08:11. > :08:17.with the public on a new sculpture There is a kind of charm and whimsy
:08:17. > :08:25.but something quite anachronistic about what we do. We used materials
:08:25. > :08:32.people in the art world traditionally kind of denigrate. We
:08:32. > :08:39.do something incredibly different with that. Belfast is an amazing
:08:39. > :08:45.city. What I find most interesting is it is quite small. We found a
:08:45. > :08:49.lot of places in Belfast by purely walking the streets. We arrived and
:08:49. > :08:53.immediately started working at the Norton gallery. Quite an exciting
:08:53. > :09:00.process to begin with as we saw the bottles and plastics which had been
:09:00. > :09:09.collected for us. The next day was to get in there and get these
:09:09. > :09:16.pieces prepared, cut up. From there, it has been a slog every day to
:09:16. > :09:22.create these waterfalls of plastic, colourful creations, which will now
:09:22. > :09:28.grace the Norton gallery with pride. We have achieved something that
:09:28. > :09:33.could be called unique. It's not something you see every day. It's
:09:33. > :09:38.also about the fact it's a human element to it, and the fact other
:09:38. > :09:43.people have gotten involved in the process. I think we have achieved
:09:43. > :09:53.all of those objectives. Again, it is subjective. The viewer,
:09:53. > :09:54.
:09:54. > :10:01.everybody will have their own I hope that the thought people
:10:01. > :10:08.leave wears are what they're going to do the next plastic bottle they
:10:08. > :10:17.buy. And to be aware of the fact that the covering, this thing that
:10:17. > :10:20.we so easily throw away, as a life beyond just being packaging. Now,
:10:20. > :10:22.even in the rough and tumble arena of Northern Ireland politics, few
:10:22. > :10:26.people divide opinion quite like the Reverend Ian Paisley. Love or
:10:26. > :10:29.hate him, no-one can deny his command as a public figure. A
:10:29. > :10:31.controversial new play, Paisley & Me, explores his impact on the
:10:31. > :10:34.Unionist community through the experiences of a Protestant family
:10:34. > :10:37.and how he affected each individual. Written by Ron Hutchinson and
:10:37. > :10:41.produced by Martin Lynch, it's the much-anticipated second play in the
:10:41. > :10:51.Ulster Trilogy series. It stars actor Dan Gordon in the lead role.
:10:51. > :10:52.
:10:52. > :10:57.Eamonn Mallie has been following I met Ian Paisley in 1976 when I
:10:57. > :11:00.went to his home to do interviews. A report develop that day which is
:11:00. > :11:04.obtained right until now and perhaps I would no more about the
:11:04. > :11:08.man behind the public image than most journalists in this town. He
:11:08. > :11:12.towered over Northern Ireland's history for more than 50 years and
:11:12. > :11:16.like these cranes, he's something of an icon. This new play is not a
:11:16. > :11:21.biopic about Ian Paisley. Essentially, it is the exploration
:11:21. > :11:26.of how Ian Paisley divide opinion within the Protestant community.
:11:26. > :11:32.For many, he was a hero during the Troubles but to others, he fanned
:11:32. > :11:42.the flames of tension between the two communities. Never! Never!
:11:42. > :11:48.What else do need to know? How many more facts, and what would you do
:11:48. > :11:52.with them? You will put one on top of another and another on top of
:11:52. > :11:57.that and then what? You think you have the truth about me? About what
:11:57. > :12:06.happened here? What is this play about? Paisley &
:12:06. > :12:11.Me is a play that is about a writer grappling with his feelings about
:12:11. > :12:14.Ian Paisley and being a Protestant, the family conflicts, the things
:12:14. > :12:19.from his own history, wrapped up together and his feelings about Ian
:12:19. > :12:25.Paisley. We will bring up some tough questions people would want
:12:25. > :12:32.to ask him. Did I single-handedly bring this province to the brink of
:12:32. > :12:36.civil war? Did I stand by my rights to lead my followers where I chose
:12:36. > :12:44.and chose to lead them down the Falls knowing it would end in a
:12:44. > :12:50.riot? My mother and father never agreed about Ian Paisley.
:12:50. > :12:54.there's anything you want, anything you need, my door is always open.
:12:54. > :12:58.The play has echoes of that argument, me trying to understand
:12:58. > :13:07.ultimately what it might have been about. You were in the building
:13:07. > :13:14.trade, yes? Ugborough key 50 years. 50 years? Imagine that. -- A
:13:14. > :13:18.brickies. How to do avoid turning into a cartoon character? The fact
:13:18. > :13:24.that this is a personal story, there is a collision with that man
:13:24. > :13:34.in my mind and in my heart that I have had to pursue on the page.
:13:34. > :13:36.
:13:36. > :13:41.course, the spotlight will be on I only took the role because I
:13:42. > :13:48.thought I could not do it. I am basing my character on the
:13:48. > :13:52.impression of him. I am nervous about doing this, I do not mind
:13:52. > :14:01.telling you. To some, it may be only a play but it is my life and
:14:01. > :14:05.it is his life. I never pulled the wool over your
:14:05. > :14:11.eyes. But if you had seen me, Mister, the records are man blown
:14:11. > :14:16.here and there. Casting around for answers. Knowing that no one could
:14:16. > :14:26.find them but him alone. Knowing that he had to fling the familiar
:14:26. > :14:27.
:14:27. > :14:33.no into their faces, or find the voice for... Yes. And to face you,
:14:34. > :14:38.because how many more of them had to die before I got to you?
:14:38. > :14:41.It is a very thought-provoking play. What emerges here is a whole crisis
:14:41. > :14:45.about the identity of the Protestant and you get a sense
:14:45. > :14:50.coming through the plight of this considerable paranoia in the
:14:50. > :14:55.Protestant mind. What seems very odd to me is, the protagonist, the
:14:55. > :15:00.man at the centre of this play, Ian Paisley is the weakest character.
:15:00. > :15:07.He is not given any of the great lines, none of the quintessence
:15:07. > :15:10.that Paisley captured. His voice did not fit in my opinion. But
:15:10. > :15:16.given the philosophical debate behind the thinking of the author,
:15:16. > :15:21.I think it is a play that everybody, if possible, should go and see.
:15:21. > :15:24.he says one word over me, hit him with that.
:15:24. > :15:30.Eithne, there has been huge interest in this play, particularly
:15:30. > :15:36.who was going to play Ian Paisley. Dan Gordon got the role, does he
:15:36. > :15:41.nail the Big Man? I don't think so. He is not physical enough in his
:15:42. > :15:46.stature, whatever your view of Paisley's politics, he is a
:15:46. > :15:49.commanding person. You cannot help but listen to him. But for this, I
:15:49. > :15:55.was earning in and out of what Dan Gordon was saying and sometimes
:15:55. > :16:00.forgetting he was on stage. It is not a biopic of Ian Paisley, it is
:16:00. > :16:04.Ron Hutchinson looking back at his own Protestant identity, is it a
:16:04. > :16:09.biographical play? I never thought I would feel sorry for in Paisley
:16:09. > :16:15.but after watching that, he was reduced to the role of the
:16:16. > :16:22.supernatural marriage guidance Council and a sidecar and must -- a
:16:23. > :16:27.Psycho analysts. It is too personal, it is to about Ron Hutchinson, and
:16:27. > :16:31.not about a larger problem he has experienced personally about trying
:16:31. > :16:34.to decipher where he was from, it was specifically about him. Were
:16:34. > :16:38.they any moments when he was addressing what it must have been
:16:38. > :16:43.like to be young northern Protestant growing up under the
:16:43. > :16:48.shadow of Ian Paisley? Not relating to that particular aspect of that
:16:48. > :16:53.culture, I can relate to it but it seemed to be unconvincing as a
:16:53. > :16:58.piece of theatre. To it is too removed. One Hutchinson, the writer,
:16:58. > :17:02.he left Northern Ireland, so the view he is giving of the North
:17:02. > :17:05.feels very detached, it does not feel like he was part of it. He has
:17:05. > :17:12.the characters picking up the soil and it is hard not to roll your
:17:12. > :17:17.eyes. Was there anything you like to back -- was there anything you
:17:17. > :17:20.liked about tip? There were some good lines. I did like Ron
:17:20. > :17:26.Hutchinson trying to find his own personal identity because Sears
:17:26. > :17:30.from Ireland but being Protestant he is not sure he can say he is
:17:30. > :17:32.Irish. That is interesting. Another son of Ulster who grappled with
:17:32. > :17:35.cultural and political identity was celebrated Belfast poet, John
:17:35. > :17:38.Hewitt. This year marks 25 years since his death and the Queens
:17:38. > :17:45.Festival has invited three of Ireland's leading poetic voices to
:17:45. > :17:51.recite his work at the John Hewitt Bar in Belfast.
:17:51. > :17:55.Born in Belfast in 1907, John Hewitt was a poet and essayist, a
:17:55. > :18:01.socialist and art curator. During the 19 forties and fifties, he
:18:01. > :18:07.broadcast talks about regionalism as it related to the arts. His
:18:07. > :18:12.first poetry collection was produced in 1948. In 1957, a
:18:12. > :18:20.controversial decision saw him passed over as the top job for the
:18:20. > :18:25.director of Belfast Museum and Art Gallery, labelled as he saw it,
:18:25. > :18:30.Communist and pro Catholic. He went to Coventry but returned to Belfast
:18:30. > :18:33.in 1972 where he would publish seven poetry collections. He is
:18:33. > :18:41.remembered as the father figure for up several Irish poets including
:18:41. > :18:49.Seamus Heaney. I think it was like October sunlight for the rest of us,
:18:49. > :18:55.when this considerable man came back home. Now he was 30 or 40
:18:55. > :19:01.years older than us, older than me and Seamus Heaney and Simmons, but
:19:01. > :19:08.he was, in his very reserved way, one of the boys. He would come
:19:08. > :19:13.drinking with us but only for one or two 1/2 pts. Why do you think
:19:13. > :19:20.his memory is so well preserved? addresses the big issues. The
:19:21. > :19:30.issues of love and loss, the beauty of nature, the horror of war. All
:19:31. > :19:33.
:19:33. > :19:38.the big themes are dealt with by his imagination. It was an old done
:19:38. > :19:46.mastic fate when asked by gasp, my father died. No mourners at the
:19:46. > :19:53.palace gate... He showed us that art was third to be found in one's
:19:53. > :19:58.own backyard, and if you did not know the area around where you live
:19:58. > :20:04.to you were not worth knowing yourself. I write for my own kind,
:20:04. > :20:10.I do not pitch my voice that every phrase be heard by those... Their
:20:10. > :20:18.quality of mind must be withdrawn and still as Moth that answers Moth
:20:18. > :20:25.across a roaring Hill. Did he ever talk to you by your poetry?
:20:25. > :20:31.talked about my proclivity for turning on a sixpence. I think he
:20:31. > :20:36.suggested occasionally that formally I was in danger of
:20:36. > :20:42.disappearing up my own fundament. What would he make of you sitting
:20:42. > :20:48.in this pub named after him reading poetry? Going for a drink with John
:20:48. > :20:53.Hewitt was quite a chaste affair. You would say, what are you having?
:20:53. > :20:58.Half a bass, please. And then when he had finished it you would say,
:20:58. > :21:02.don't you want another one? No, don't you think it is time we were
:21:02. > :21:06.leaving? Name in a bar after John Hewitt is
:21:06. > :21:12.like naming a massage parlour after Mother Teresa! I still think he
:21:12. > :21:18.would enjoy it if he was sitting way you are now. With a half of a
:21:18. > :21:28.bass. This, making it to last a long time.
:21:28. > :21:31.He is remembered that is he read? Do you read him? Not so much. He is
:21:31. > :21:37.read in a number of institutions, including my own favourite, the
:21:37. > :21:44.John Hewitt bar? For You being from Dublin, what does John Hewitt mean
:21:44. > :21:48.for you? He is definitely an Ulster poet. The people he influenced were
:21:48. > :21:53.coming from Northern Ireland. They would be island of Ireland poets.
:21:53. > :21:58.It is all about keeping poetry a life which is what the John Hewitt
:21:58. > :22:03.society is about. Is to be keeper of a flame in many ways? Very much.
:22:03. > :22:10.He was the curator of the Ulster poetry tradition. And people were
:22:10. > :22:15.coming from all over Ireland. He wrote about the death of his father
:22:16. > :22:19.and other people read about fathers. And from the rhyme to the rhythm,
:22:19. > :22:25.there's been some great gigs in the Festival so far and here with more
:22:25. > :22:29.of his personal recommendations is Ralph McLean.
:22:29. > :22:34.Thank you, festival may be winding down but the musical treats keep on
:22:34. > :22:39.coming. I was lucky enough to see Van Morrison at the Europa Hotel
:22:39. > :22:47.and he plays another gig tomorrow night, it is called Van Morrison's
:22:47. > :22:51.Supper Club. It offers some great music from third-man. Whether you
:22:52. > :22:55.will get a gravy chip with a great man himself, I cannot say but it
:22:55. > :23:01.will be a special night. The so-called Bard of Salford, John
:23:01. > :23:05.Cooper Clarke, has been melding poetry and music since the 1970s.
:23:05. > :23:07.He is really looking forward to coming back to Belfast. He will be
:23:07. > :23:12.in the White Room at Queen's on Saturday night.
:23:12. > :23:18.Finally, those who lack a bit of fun but their Festival, I heartily
:23:18. > :23:22.recommend you Czekaj the Dirty Dozen brass Band. These guys are
:23:22. > :23:27.the real deal. They will play at the White Room at Queen's tomorrow
:23:28. > :23:30.night. A Gemma Hayes makes a trip up to
:23:30. > :23:37.the Flowerfield Arts Centre in Portstuart.
:23:37. > :23:47.One of my faith - a one of my favourite singer-songwriters bap
:23:47. > :23:47.
:23:47. > :23:53.Kennedy will be at Crusoe's coffee- shop and then the braid theatre.
:23:54. > :23:59.The festival -- Belfast musical week -- Belfast Music Week brings
:23:59. > :24:04.together a number of different traditions. And finely, Rufus
:24:04. > :24:10.Wainwright makes a welcome return to Belfast. Get your glad rags on
:24:10. > :24:18.and I will see their. Three days of festival like, any
:24:18. > :24:21.last minute recommendations? Chana Riley, a performer, has devised a
:24:21. > :24:27.piece telling you what it is like to be deaf -- Shane a Riley. He
:24:27. > :24:34.grew up with deaf parents. Everybody should go and see John
:24:34. > :24:43.Cooper Clarke, the post-punk genius. Thank you, Eithne shortall and Joe
:24:43. > :24:46.Nawaz. That is almost it for tonight. You can keep up to date
:24:46. > :24:49.with more coverage on BBC Radio Ulster each week day, with Festival
:24:49. > :24:53.Desk at 11.55am and 4.55pm and Arts Extra at 6.30pm.
:24:53. > :24:56.I'll be back in a few weeks but we leave you tonight with some music.
:24:56. > :24:58.American Jazz artist, Greg Porter, is one of the hottest emerging
:24:58. > :25:01.talents on the international circuit. His first album, Water,
:25:01. > :25:05.received critical acclaim earning him a Grammy Nomination for Best
:25:05. > :25:08.Jazz Vocal in 2010. He's back with a new album, Be Good, and did his
:25:08. > :25:18.first appearance at the Belfast Festival in The Mac on Sunday. He
:25:18. > :25:43.
:25:43. > :25:53.took time out to give The Arts Show # Be Good.
:25:53. > :25:55.
:25:55. > :26:00.She would, she could, she pulled my line's tail and caused me pain.
:26:00. > :26:06.She said Lions are made for cages, just to look at and delight, you
:26:06. > :26:15.dare not let them walk around because they might just buy it.
:26:15. > :26:25.She knows what she does, she dances round my cage, and says, Be Good,
:26:25. > :26:29.
:26:29. > :26:39.Be Good... Be Good is her name. I trim my
:26:39. > :26:44.
:26:44. > :26:54.lion's claws and I cut my main. And I would, if I could, but then woman
:26:54. > :26:54.
:26:54. > :26:59.treats me the same. She said, Lions are made for cages, just to look at
:26:59. > :27:08.and delight. You dare not let them walk around because they might just
:27:08. > :27:18.buy it. There she know what she does? When
:27:18. > :27:52.
:27:53. > :28:02.# she said Lions are made for cages, just to look at and delight. You