Episode 3 The Arts Show

Hello and welcome to The Arts Show and the second of our specials on

the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queens. We're coming towards the

end of this year's Festival but there's still a lot to see and do.

Here's what's coming up tonight. Paisley & Me, the much-anticipated

second play in the Ulster Trilogy exploring the Big Man's impact on

our Protestant community opened last week. We meet the team behind

it. 25 years after his death, celebrated Belfast poet, John

Hewitt, is remembered at the Festival with readings of his work.

We explore his legacy. South Africa's Magpie Art Collective,

known for creating artworks worldwide from discarded items,

were in Belfast to create their latest piece which they just

unveiled at Queen's Naughton Gallery. And Grammy-nominated

American artist, Greg Porter, one of the hottest new acts on the

international Jazz circuit, made his first appearance at the

Festival on Sunday. He took time out to give The Arts Show an

The The National Theatre of Scotland made a huge impact in 2006

with its award-winning play, Black Watch, about a much-criticised

military operation in Iraq and the complex decisions taken by the

soldiers involved. Their latest play, Enquirer, takes a similar

approach to the recent scandals within the newspaper industry.

Built from testimony from actual editors and journalists, it

fictionalises how some reporters embrace dirty or illegal practices,

while others struggle to find a place for responsible journalism

within a post-Leveson Industry. Water to think the mail online is

getting right? Hits is all they care about and they are successful

because they know their readership is so brilliant. They feed the

fears of immigration, disease, crime, being fat, getting old, and

a particularly vicious to women and the readers are women. It's very

bizarre. I was in New York with a co-director and we were discussing

the crisis in the press. A lot of our friends, the same age as us,

are journalists, and they were getting to the early Forties saying

what is the future for the profession? We realised

straightaway to make a piece about the newspaper industry needed to be

immediate and we wanted to be about the voice of the journalists

themselves. I'll always find myself reading a lot of it. I think it

brings up the worse than anybody. It's always so negative. I hated.

Scottish journalist came to my house in London and said we would

like to talk about what the state of the process is at the moment,

where we are going, will journalism and newspapers survive? That was on

the minds of the playwrights as they were tackling the subject.

Would you work for them? The 20 years ago. It was surprising how

open the journalists were. It was like we had unleashed something in

them and given them the opportunity to talk about their profession.

Nobody is going to believe that Alan did it? What am I going to do?

I think the shame and anger they felt and the reasons why people had

become journalists in the first place where good reasons, in order

to uncover things which needed to be uncovered. Give me your opinion

of Rebekah Brooks saying, I am the victim of a witch hunt. It's always

been mother's milk to the Sun newspaper, hasn't it? We didn't

shirk any of the things we said. We had a lot of conversations with the

lawyers and there's loads of stuff that is not in it that we could not

keeping up. 1 N -- whenever somebody was accused, she went for

them. Then she says to the British nation of shears part of a witch-

hunt. It is sickening. -- she is. think we have a place for

rambunctious, robust, Ruud tabloids for so I think that's important.

But what they need to do is not to intrude on the privacy of people

unnecessarily and they need to, in terms of methods, news-gathering

methods, they need to be much more rigorous. Wasn't she involved in

the searing pain thing? The backing of the mother's phone? -- Sarah

Payne. I know it exclusive stories come in, I cannot fail to ask where

they come from. We got a really complex and detailed view of

journalism and that industry, so we just pieced it together and we

never thought there was going to be one thesis. We were not saying one

single thing. We were trying to uncover these questions and throw

out the debate, really. After the horror stories, the corruption, and

criminality, it all amounts to nothing because at the end of the

day, it is a political decision and the politicians are not going to

take it. Yes, it's like bolting the stable door when the horse has died.

I'm joined once again by Eithne Shortall, arts writer for The

Sunday Times, Ireland. And Joe Nawaz, local arts journalist. The

idea of seeing yourself as a journalist played out in drama, did

it work? Yes, we were allowed to walk around the desks on the set

and I recognised my desk and others, people I work with. I thought,

there was a bit when they interviewed an editor and I thought

was like my editor. Completely believable. Did you feel of that

the set landed something to the piece of drama? There was a crowd

of angry youths just outside lending a topical melodrama to it.

It was a long dark teatime examination of the media, bleak but

exhilarating. A whirlwind of travelogue through a day in the

life of a newsroom, later tonight. Did it make you feel uncomfortable?

I squirmed slightly, yes. There was a lot of self reflection and

because it was the testimony of real journalist... It's not just

about the Leverson Inquiry but the demise of what the reputation of

the journalists. They were well considered. Stephen Fry at the

Baftas referred to them as assorted media scum. This and energy there

and you can see why the play is such a success, because it is

constantly updated, as well. The they reference the Olympics.

Journalism is a sexy industry populated by ugly people. I thought

that was great. Some say a good use for today's newspapers is they

become tomorrow's fish-and-chip wrappers. Finding a new use for

what we throw away is what South Africa's Magpie Art Collective do

every day. They make artworks entirely from reclaimed items to

highlight environmental responsibility. The Obama White

House recently acquired two of their string and bottle-top

chandeliers. They have been in Belfast throughout October working

with the public on a new sculpture There is a kind of charm and whimsy

but something quite anachronistic about what we do. We used materials

people in the art world traditionally kind of denigrate. We

do something incredibly different with that. Belfast is an amazing

city. What I find most interesting is it is quite small. We found a

lot of places in Belfast by purely walking the streets. We arrived and

immediately started working at the Norton gallery. Quite an exciting

process to begin with as we saw the bottles and plastics which had been

collected for us. The next day was to get in there and get these

pieces prepared, cut up. From there, it has been a slog every day to

create these waterfalls of plastic, colourful creations, which will now

grace the Norton gallery with pride. We have achieved something that

could be called unique. It's not something you see every day. It's

also about the fact it's a human element to it, and the fact other

people have gotten involved in the process. I think we have achieved

all of those objectives. Again, it is subjective. The viewer,

everybody will have their own I hope that the thought people

leave wears are what they're going to do the next plastic bottle they

buy. And to be aware of the fact that the covering, this thing that

we so easily throw away, as a life beyond just being packaging. Now,

even in the rough and tumble arena of Northern Ireland politics, few

people divide opinion quite like the Reverend Ian Paisley. Love or

hate him, no-one can deny his command as a public figure. A

controversial new play, Paisley & Me, explores his impact on the

Unionist community through the experiences of a Protestant family

and how he affected each individual. Written by Ron Hutchinson and

produced by Martin Lynch, it's the much-anticipated second play in the

Ulster Trilogy series. It stars actor Dan Gordon in the lead role.

Eamonn Mallie has been following I met Ian Paisley in 1976 when I

went to his home to do interviews. A report develop that day which is

obtained right until now and perhaps I would no more about the

man behind the public image than most journalists in this town. He

towered over Northern Ireland's history for more than 50 years and

like these cranes, he's something of an icon. This new play is not a

biopic about Ian Paisley. Essentially, it is the exploration

of how Ian Paisley divide opinion within the Protestant community.

For many, he was a hero during the Troubles but to others, he fanned

the flames of tension between the two communities. Never! Never!

What else do need to know? How many more facts, and what would you do

with them? You will put one on top of another and another on top of

that and then what? You think you have the truth about me? About what

happened here? What is this play about? Paisley &

Me is a play that is about a writer grappling with his feelings about

Ian Paisley and being a Protestant, the family conflicts, the things

from his own history, wrapped up together and his feelings about Ian

Paisley. We will bring up some tough questions people would want

to ask him. Did I single-handedly bring this province to the brink of

civil war? Did I stand by my rights to lead my followers where I chose

and chose to lead them down the Falls knowing it would end in a

riot? My mother and father never agreed about Ian Paisley.

there's anything you want, anything you need, my door is always open.

The play has echoes of that argument, me trying to understand

ultimately what it might have been about. You were in the building

trade, yes? Ugborough key 50 years. 50 years? Imagine that. -- A

brickies. How to do avoid turning into a cartoon character? The fact

that this is a personal story, there is a collision with that man

in my mind and in my heart that I have had to pursue on the page.

course, the spotlight will be on I only took the role because I

thought I could not do it. I am basing my character on the

impression of him. I am nervous about doing this, I do not mind

telling you. To some, it may be only a play but it is my life and

it is his life. I never pulled the wool over your

eyes. But if you had seen me, Mister, the records are man blown

here and there. Casting around for answers. Knowing that no one could

find them but him alone. Knowing that he had to fling the familiar

no into their faces, or find the voice for... Yes. And to face you,

because how many more of them had to die before I got to you?

It is a very thought-provoking play. What emerges here is a whole crisis

about the identity of the Protestant and you get a sense

coming through the plight of this considerable paranoia in the

Protestant mind. What seems very odd to me is, the protagonist, the

man at the centre of this play, Ian Paisley is the weakest character.

He is not given any of the great lines, none of the quintessence

that Paisley captured. His voice did not fit in my opinion. But

given the philosophical debate behind the thinking of the author,

I think it is a play that everybody, if possible, should go and see.

he says one word over me, hit him with that.

Eithne, there has been huge interest in this play, particularly

who was going to play Ian Paisley. Dan Gordon got the role, does he

nail the Big Man? I don't think so. He is not physical enough in his

stature, whatever your view of Paisley's politics, he is a

commanding person. You cannot help but listen to him. But for this, I

was earning in and out of what Dan Gordon was saying and sometimes

forgetting he was on stage. It is not a biopic of Ian Paisley, it is

Ron Hutchinson looking back at his own Protestant identity, is it a

biographical play? I never thought I would feel sorry for in Paisley

but after watching that, he was reduced to the role of the

supernatural marriage guidance Council and a sidecar and must -- a

Psycho analysts. It is too personal, it is to about Ron Hutchinson, and

not about a larger problem he has experienced personally about trying

to decipher where he was from, it was specifically about him. Were

they any moments when he was addressing what it must have been

like to be young northern Protestant growing up under the

shadow of Ian Paisley? Not relating to that particular aspect of that

culture, I can relate to it but it seemed to be unconvincing as a

piece of theatre. To it is too removed. One Hutchinson, the writer,

he left Northern Ireland, so the view he is giving of the North

feels very detached, it does not feel like he was part of it. He has

the characters picking up the soil and it is hard not to roll your

eyes. Was there anything you like to back -- was there anything you

liked about tip? There were some good lines. I did like Ron

Hutchinson trying to find his own personal identity because Sears

from Ireland but being Protestant he is not sure he can say he is

Irish. That is interesting. Another son of Ulster who grappled with

cultural and political identity was celebrated Belfast poet, John

Hewitt. This year marks 25 years since his death and the Queens

Festival has invited three of Ireland's leading poetic voices to

recite his work at the John Hewitt Bar in Belfast.

Born in Belfast in 1907, John Hewitt was a poet and essayist, a

socialist and art curator. During the 19 forties and fifties, he

broadcast talks about regionalism as it related to the arts. His

first poetry collection was produced in 1948. In 1957, a

controversial decision saw him passed over as the top job for the

director of Belfast Museum and Art Gallery, labelled as he saw it,

Communist and pro Catholic. He went to Coventry but returned to Belfast

in 1972 where he would publish seven poetry collections. He is

remembered as the father figure for up several Irish poets including

Seamus Heaney. I think it was like October sunlight for the rest of us,

when this considerable man came back home. Now he was 30 or 40

years older than us, older than me and Seamus Heaney and Simmons, but

he was, in his very reserved way, one of the boys. He would come

drinking with us but only for one or two 1/2 pts. Why do you think

his memory is so well preserved? addresses the big issues. The

issues of love and loss, the beauty of nature, the horror of war. All

the big themes are dealt with by his imagination. It was an old done

mastic fate when asked by gasp, my father died. No mourners at the

palace gate... He showed us that art was third to be found in one's

own backyard, and if you did not know the area around where you live

to you were not worth knowing yourself. I write for my own kind,

I do not pitch my voice that every phrase be heard by those... Their

quality of mind must be withdrawn and still as Moth that answers Moth

across a roaring Hill. Did he ever talk to you by your poetry?

talked about my proclivity for turning on a sixpence. I think he

suggested occasionally that formally I was in danger of

disappearing up my own fundament. What would he make of you sitting

in this pub named after him reading poetry? Going for a drink with John

Hewitt was quite a chaste affair. You would say, what are you having?

Half a bass, please. And then when he had finished it you would say,

don't you want another one? No, don't you think it is time we were

leaving? Name in a bar after John Hewitt is

like naming a massage parlour after Mother Teresa! I still think he

would enjoy it if he was sitting way you are now. With a half of a

bass. This, making it to last a long time.

He is remembered that is he read? Do you read him? Not so much. He is

read in a number of institutions, including my own favourite, the

John Hewitt bar? For You being from Dublin, what does John Hewitt mean

for you? He is definitely an Ulster poet. The people he influenced were

coming from Northern Ireland. They would be island of Ireland poets.

It is all about keeping poetry a life which is what the John Hewitt

society is about. Is to be keeper of a flame in many ways? Very much.

He was the curator of the Ulster poetry tradition. And people were

coming from all over Ireland. He wrote about the death of his father

and other people read about fathers. And from the rhyme to the rhythm,

there's been some great gigs in the Festival so far and here with more

of his personal recommendations is Ralph McLean.

Thank you, festival may be winding down but the musical treats keep on

coming. I was lucky enough to see Van Morrison at the Europa Hotel

and he plays another gig tomorrow night, it is called Van Morrison's

Supper Club. It offers some great music from third-man. Whether you

will get a gravy chip with a great man himself, I cannot say but it

will be a special night. The so-called Bard of Salford, John

Cooper Clarke, has been melding poetry and music since the 1970s.

He is really looking forward to coming back to Belfast. He will be

in the White Room at Queen's on Saturday night.

Finally, those who lack a bit of fun but their Festival, I heartily

recommend you Czekaj the Dirty Dozen brass Band. These guys are

the real deal. They will play at the White Room at Queen's tomorrow

night. A Gemma Hayes makes a trip up to

the Flowerfield Arts Centre in Portstuart.

One of my faith - a one of my favourite singer-songwriters bap

Kennedy will be at Crusoe's coffee- shop and then the braid theatre.

The festival -- Belfast musical week -- Belfast Music Week brings

together a number of different traditions. And finely, Rufus

Wainwright makes a welcome return to Belfast. Get your glad rags on

and I will see their. Three days of festival like, any

last minute recommendations? Chana Riley, a performer, has devised a

piece telling you what it is like to be deaf -- Shane a Riley. He

grew up with deaf parents. Everybody should go and see John

Cooper Clarke, the post-punk genius. Thank you, Eithne shortall and Joe

Nawaz. That is almost it for tonight. You can keep up to date

with more coverage on BBC Radio Ulster each week day, with Festival

Desk at 11.55am and 4.55pm and Arts Extra at 6.30pm.

I'll be back in a few weeks but we leave you tonight with some music.

American Jazz artist, Greg Porter, is one of the hottest emerging

talents on the international circuit. His first album, Water,

received critical acclaim earning him a Grammy Nomination for Best

Jazz Vocal in 2010. He's back with a new album, Be Good, and did his

first appearance at the Belfast Festival in The Mac on Sunday. He

took time out to give The Arts Show # Be Good.

She would, she could, she pulled my line's tail and caused me pain.

She said Lions are made for cages, just to look at and delight, you

dare not let them walk around because they might just buy it.

She knows what she does, she dances round my cage, and says, Be Good,

Be Good... Be Good is her name. I trim my

lion's claws and I cut my main. And I would, if I could, but then woman

treats me the same. She said, Lions are made for cages, just to look at

and delight. You dare not let them walk around because they might just

buy it. There she know what she does? When

# she said Lions are made for cages, just to look at and delight. You