:00:36. > :00:41.Hello welcome to The Arts Show. It is our last show of 2012. We're in
:00:41. > :00:46.a festive mood. James Nesbitt talks about his extremely successful
:00:46. > :00:51.stage and screen career and his role in Peter Jackson's cinematic
:00:51. > :00:57.epic, released today, The Hobbit. Northern Irish artist Debarah Brown,
:00:57. > :01:02.a leading figure in the art world since the 60s is a major at the
:01:02. > :01:07.retro sceptic at the F.E McWilliam Gallery. She talks to the art show.
:01:07. > :01:15.There's festive music from the teenager everyone is talking about
:01:15. > :01:19.- Londonderry's singing sensation - Soak. Pantomime theatre has been
:01:19. > :01:25.described as the Marmite of the stage - loved by the public,
:01:25. > :01:30.loathed by critics. The season is once again in full swing, so no
:01:30. > :01:37.better time than to seek a fresh perspective. Theatre historian Mark
:01:37. > :01:47.Phelan is a supporter of what he argues is a major mainstay of the
:01:47. > :01:58.
:01:58. > :02:02.theatrical calendar. Hello, boys It has been seen as crude and
:02:02. > :02:06.commercial. Alfred Tennyson described pantomime as "brainless."
:02:06. > :02:11.George Bernard Shaw found it vulgar. I couldn't disagree more, nor could
:02:11. > :02:17.the punters. Financially speaking, pantomime is no laughing matter.
:02:17. > :02:21.Its popularity means its worth �23 million a year in the UK a year.
:02:21. > :02:24.Without it, many children would not experience the pleasures of live
:02:24. > :02:30.theatre and many theatres themselves could go dark,
:02:30. > :02:36.permanently. They are on the streets..: The cast of Cinderella
:02:36. > :02:43.is performing for over 80 performances in the coming weeks.
:02:43. > :02:49.We are the glamour in town! The fact it is eight weeks of our
:02:49. > :02:54.programme it needs to be financially successful. It brings
:02:54. > :02:57.80,000 people to see it alone. That is 20% of our income and 20% of our
:02:58. > :03:07.audience. That is why it is so important to us. It is a great big
:03:07. > :03:17.driver in sales. We have just sold our �1 million worth of ticks this
:03:17. > :03:18.
:03:18. > :03:22.year. It is big business. -- tickets this year. It is not a
:03:22. > :03:31.musical. It is not a play. It is comedy. It is fun. Everyone is
:03:31. > :03:37.having a great night out. You are a radiator... Not that - you are
:03:37. > :03:47.radiating. You radiate, nap pi rash... Happyness. Oh, Cinderella,
:03:47. > :03:53.
:03:53. > :04:03.everyone I see you I get tied- tongue. I think you mean tongue-
:04:03. > :04:06.
:04:06. > :04:13.tide. It is as traditional asure ki. -- as Turkey. Pantomime has been
:04:13. > :04:19.around for centuries, from Greece to England. The long revolution has
:04:19. > :04:25.led us to a family show, where men in drag play dames in a musical
:04:25. > :04:32.tradition. From Shakespeare to the Roman stage.
:04:32. > :04:36.Where the principal boy is played by a pretty girl and men ogle the
:04:36. > :04:46.shapely legs and tight-fitting trousers, which shows the success
:04:46. > :04:51.
:04:51. > :04:58.of panto. It works on different What is going on here? It sounded
:04:58. > :05:03.like you were all having fun. at the Waterfront Hall, 25,000
:05:03. > :05:07.parents and children will see Sleeping Beauty. Theatre director,
:05:07. > :05:12.Lisa May, is tackling the challenges of this genre for the
:05:12. > :05:16.first time. We're going to go from page 17... I think the exciting
:05:16. > :05:21.thing about panto is finding that balance between the madness and the
:05:21. > :05:25.chaos that is integral to make it work. It is quick and I know it is
:05:25. > :05:35.a bit tricky... It is getting that balance. It is the actors
:05:35. > :05:37.
:05:37. > :05:41.constantly thinking on their feet. There's also where the audience
:05:41. > :05:51.become part of the cast. There's nothing like it for live theatre.
:05:51. > :05:51.
:05:51. > :05:57.It's a great experience! It is an echo of the tumultuous
:05:57. > :06:03.conditions of the 19th century playhouse, when the audience
:06:03. > :06:11.interrupted the actors on stage, hurling abuse and worse. Oh, yes I
:06:11. > :06:21.will... Oh, no you won. It got so bad that actors sometimes performed
:06:21. > :06:24.
:06:24. > :06:28.behind a net to protect them from The pleasure from pantomime was far
:06:28. > :06:34.beyond the special licence it grants us to misbehave in the
:06:34. > :06:39.theatre. Much of the rich pleasure comes from the form. It is as fixed
:06:39. > :06:44.a tradition as the festive season itself. So, here is to wicked
:06:44. > :06:50.villains, panto dames and principal boys, all in that riot of colour
:06:50. > :06:54.and clamour that comes but once a year!
:06:54. > :06:59.James Nesbitt has had an amazingly successful career, which has seen
:06:59. > :07:04.him work with Paul Greengrass, Michael Winterbottom and Oliver
:07:04. > :07:13.Hirschbiegel. He is constantly challenged himself by having
:07:13. > :07:21.complex and diverse roles from Adam in Cold Feet to Bloody Sunday. An
:07:21. > :07:31.undercover cop in Murphy's Law. Audiences can see him in cinemas
:07:31. > :07:37.
:07:37. > :07:41.today as Bofur the Dwarf in Peter Allow me to inintroduce deuce you...
:07:42. > :07:48.What has it been like as an experience? You are playing a dwarf.
:07:48. > :07:55.One of the dwarfs. I'm Bofur, who is kind of - I am delighted to say
:07:55. > :08:01.is Northern Irish. It is incredible. Nothing could prepare you for it.
:08:01. > :08:09.You asked me to find the 14th member. I have chosen Mr Baggins.
:08:09. > :08:15.got to work with an incredible cast. Ian, at 73 just was the best
:08:15. > :08:19.education I could have had at an important time for me. Just to see
:08:19. > :08:27.him so dedicated to his craft and he was a real inspiration. Many of
:08:27. > :08:32.them like that, Kate Blanchet. do you make of yourself being a
:08:32. > :08:36.Lego person? I was never really into Lego. I love the idea of this
:08:36. > :08:41.being lodged up to noses of kids all over the world. His father was
:08:41. > :08:45.principal of a primary school. It is the hard-working rural heartland
:08:45. > :08:51.of Northern Ireland but has a strong tradition of amateur theatre.
:08:51. > :08:59.James was on stage from the age of # Come on babe
:08:59. > :09:06.# Why don't we paint the town # And all that jazz #
:09:06. > :09:09.I see this gorgeous young boy, 15, 16 years of age, you can see that
:09:09. > :09:15.James Nesbitt sparkle in his eyes. You can see him loving the camera
:09:15. > :09:19.and the camera loving him back. don't know. It is not a bad song we
:09:19. > :09:22.were singing. We were learning a craft there. We were learning
:09:22. > :09:27.different skills, acquiring skills. That is really, I have tried to
:09:27. > :09:32.hold on to that, but you are learning stuff.
:09:32. > :09:35.James started a degree in French, but gave this up to study acting in
:09:36. > :09:43.London. His first small role came within weeks of graduating. It took
:09:44. > :09:49.more than ten years until he achieved household name status in
:09:49. > :09:53.Cold Feet. This was a major one when I was 16. It was so
:09:53. > :09:58.fascinating to watch you playing somebody from Northern Ireland, who
:09:58. > :10:07.had no political baggage. That was my point. I was getting tired
:10:07. > :10:12.myself of the Northern Irish accent and the Northern Irish person. It
:10:13. > :10:18.was only connected to conflict. The families didn't approve. It was a
:10:18. > :10:22.Romeo and Juliet kind of thing. Forbidden love. You cannot fight
:10:22. > :10:29.that. Because you were Protestant and she was Catholic. No, she was
:10:29. > :10:36.my geography teacher. It was written for an English person. I
:10:36. > :10:41.said I have to play this as an Northern Irish person. Did that
:10:41. > :10:46.define you then? I think so. I think so. But you know, that's
:10:46. > :10:49.why, in a way, I went on to different things.
:10:49. > :10:56.With the momentum of Cold Feet behind him, James was able to pick
:10:56. > :11:02.a role that was very different - Protestant civil rights leader Ivan
:11:02. > :11:07.Cooper in Bloody Sunday. A typical question - did that make
:11:07. > :11:13.you feel better able to take on the part because he was Protestant?
:11:13. > :11:19.I just remember, thinking, I've got to do this. I was scared of people
:11:19. > :11:21.from my background feeling I was in some way betraying them. I was also
:11:21. > :11:31.some way betraying them. I was also very scared that national ists in
:11:31. > :11:32.
:11:32. > :11:38.Derry and the families would not -- nationalists in Derry would not
:11:38. > :11:42.appreciate it. When we were filming, I was so immersed in it. Paul was
:11:42. > :11:47.talking in my ear constantly and giving me incredible back-up, but
:11:47. > :11:52.being firm with me. I lost any fears about what people's reactions
:11:52. > :11:56.would be. It was a game-changing performance,
:11:56. > :12:02.underpinned by an important aspect of James's work - research with
:12:03. > :12:08.real people N this case, the real Ivan Cooper. He had not done the
:12:08. > :12:13.march since the day. We did it. We went around, just the two of us. It
:12:13. > :12:19.was brilliant. It was an incredible help to me. It was very helpful of
:12:19. > :12:24.him. He presented me with just the most enormous amount of literature.
:12:25. > :12:28.I had to read everything, all the literature from the past. I had to
:12:28. > :12:38.literature from the past. I had to be completely immersed in it.
:12:38. > :12:41.D five minutes ago I was at the bar. Him here, no way back in. Murphy's
:12:41. > :12:49.Law had been fuelled by James's success in Cold Feet.
:12:49. > :12:54.But, by series three, he insisted on changes to his character. You
:12:54. > :13:00.showed a man capable of extreme violence. That was a shocking thing
:13:00. > :13:04.for people who thought they knew you and the roles you had
:13:04. > :13:09.previously embraced. Was it a liberation? That's a good question.
:13:09. > :13:15.Did I consciously want to beat someone up on camera? Probably not
:13:15. > :13:25.I went hand in hand with the part. Yes, it felt like - you are right -
:13:25. > :13:31.
:13:31. > :13:36.It felt - of course this is what I do. I am an actor. I am supposed to
:13:36. > :13:41.do something different here. Minutes of Heaven won a string of
:13:41. > :13:48.awards and saw him appear alongside Liam Neeson. It is a fiction, but
:13:48. > :13:53.one inspired by real events. It imagines an encounter between
:13:53. > :14:03.Gabrielle Giffords and the UVF man who killed his brother. For James
:14:03. > :14:04.
:14:04. > :14:08.meeting -- Mr Griffins and the UVF man who killed his brother.
:14:08. > :14:14.don't we take a few moments ago. have been up and down the stairs. I
:14:14. > :14:21.will meet him. I want to meet him. I taped him for five hours. I would
:14:21. > :14:26.speak to him a lot. What are you looking at then? You are not going
:14:26. > :14:31.to do an imitation of him. What he's thinking when he is quiet?
:14:31. > :14:41.Then he's off again. You know? He did that a lot. Also just, you are
:14:41. > :14:46.
:14:46. > :14:56.looking at a lot of the pain in his It's not your typical Hollywood
:14:56. > :15:03.fight scene. It is messy and awkward... Liam Neeson said it
:15:03. > :15:10.should be messy, I have lent, hard to watch. That's his Fve Minutes of
:15:10. > :15:18.Heaven. He doesn't even get that. It feels to me that you've had a
:15:18. > :15:21.very long journey in becoming an actor. 25 years of being an
:15:21. > :15:28.overnight success. Why were you never satisfied with one particular
:15:28. > :15:35.part? Because it is my job. That does hark back to, you know, my
:15:35. > :15:40.work ethic. Right from the moment I get a script, or from the moment of
:15:40. > :15:44.an idea, I am consumed with, you know the construction of a part,
:15:44. > :15:51.the construction of that character's identity, his
:15:51. > :15:56.background, how they move, how they sound, the way they listen. It is
:15:56. > :16:01.absolutely what I hope will define me and continue to define me.
:16:01. > :16:06.there ever a sense that because you did not follow your dad down the
:16:06. > :16:11.road of education and become that French teacher there has been a
:16:11. > :16:15.guilt over the years? That is probably very true, because the
:16:15. > :16:21.notion of anything of money and fame and all that comes with that,
:16:21. > :16:28.I think there's certainly been a lot of guilt. I probably spent 25
:16:28. > :16:32.years of... Playing Bofur the Dwarf in The Hobbit has only been the
:16:32. > :16:42.latest sharp corner turn James has made. Part of a relentless series
:16:42. > :16:43.
:16:43. > :16:52.of challenges he's taken on. wrote for travel mags... They are
:16:52. > :16:59.doing the work. And loving what they do. The Way took James to a
:16:59. > :17:07.Hollywood audience. He brought something of county Antrim. You are
:17:07. > :17:14.walking along with the stick. You swing that stick quite well. As I
:17:14. > :17:20.say, I grew up and there was not much else to do. They thought, hey
:17:20. > :17:28.a marching band. They were like, "I love that!" I am blessed with what
:17:28. > :17:38.I do. I hope it continues. That seems a fitting end. Thank you very
:17:38. > :17:39.
:17:39. > :17:42.And you can see James Nesbitt's full interview in an art show in
:17:42. > :17:47.conversation special on 28th February.
:17:47. > :17:51.Now, sculptor and artist Debarah Brown is counted among Northern
:17:51. > :17:59.Ireland's leading art figures. Trained in Dublin as a painter she
:17:59. > :18:03.returned to Belfast for most of her career, where her work evolved into
:18:03. > :18:06.three-dimensional form. Famous for exploring glass fibre, she has
:18:06. > :18:14.achieved extensive international fame. Now in her 80s and creating,
:18:14. > :18:24.she is the subject of a majorette introduce speckive which has just
:18:24. > :18:26.
:18:26. > :18:33.opened at the F.E McWilliam Gallery. The art show met up with her.
:18:33. > :18:43.I'm constantly looking for forms and shapes and lines.
:18:43. > :18:44.
:18:44. > :18:50.Almost like a composure, striking notes on the piano.
:18:50. > :18:57.Put some shapes down and then work from that, make a whole piece. Form
:18:57. > :19:02.is not there - to my mind it will not be interesting. You want to
:19:02. > :19:06.recreate the thing into sculptural terms. Form is not there just to be
:19:06. > :19:11.a copy, but there's still the problem of becoming a work of art
:19:11. > :19:21.or not. I like that because I think the
:19:21. > :19:30.
:19:30. > :19:36.more you struggle with it, the D I started as a painter and
:19:36. > :19:46.trained as a painter. Gradually eI started to build up from the
:19:46. > :19:47.
:19:47. > :19:53.surface and build up with paper match they. -- papier mache. It was
:19:53. > :19:57.not permanent - you could not put it outside easily. I decided to
:19:57. > :20:04.cast one or two bits in bronze. Once you cast in bronze, it's very
:20:04. > :20:13.hard to go back to any other medium, because it's a nice, very nice
:20:13. > :20:22.result. At least you hope it's nice. The way it reflects light - you can
:20:22. > :20:30.buff it up, tone it down. I just like doing big things. They give
:20:31. > :20:40.you scope to sort of let light hit them and get different sort of
:20:41. > :20:42.
:20:42. > :20:49.tones into bronze and so on. It was the image of those sheep
:20:49. > :20:57.coming along the road and the man taller than they were - making him
:20:57. > :21:02.upright and that shape coming towards me.
:21:02. > :21:08.It does not do to put it on too thick at first. I've always loved
:21:08. > :21:13.animals. I used to go and help the farmer. I
:21:14. > :21:18.used to feed the pigs. I liked the pigs. They are nice animals. They
:21:18. > :21:22.are very friendly and nice. Even when I was a painter I always had
:21:22. > :21:30.to paint what I knew - the landscape I knew. It's just the
:21:30. > :21:38.same with sculpture. There's no use in doing that with something you
:21:38. > :21:44.don't know. I'm 85-year-old now. I suppose I
:21:44. > :21:53.have - should have - some experience behind me.
:21:53. > :21:59.I've learnt from the faults and successes I've had over the years.
:21:59. > :22:03.I think the exhibition in Banbridge will probably be my last one-man
:22:03. > :22:12.show. I can't see myself doing another one. You say that sort of
:22:12. > :22:17.thing and then you do it. I don't suppose I'll ever give up
:22:17. > :22:24.until physically I have to give up. It's just something you love to do
:22:24. > :22:29.and there it is, you know - I have to make it.
:22:29. > :22:35.I haven't decided yet what the next thing will be, but there will be
:22:35. > :22:41.something. Of course the pig isn't finished yet.
:22:41. > :22:43.What an amazing lady and that exhibition runs until 2nd March at
:22:43. > :22:49.the F.E McWilliam Gallery in Banbridge. Now, with his tips on
:22:49. > :22:55.what's not to miss in the music world over the holiday season
:22:55. > :23:04.here's Ralph. This is the story of the
:23:04. > :23:08.Proclaimers, released in 1997. They continue to play with Celtic
:23:08. > :23:13.passion. Trust me, you have not lived until you have had a sing-
:23:13. > :23:18.along with the band. It is quite an experience. You can sample it for
:23:18. > :23:24.yoursz at the Limelight in Belfast on Saturday night. Saturday sees
:23:24. > :23:28.the return of Mumford and Sons to these shores.
:23:28. > :23:33.2012 has been a great day for them. If you have not been lucky enough
:23:33. > :23:37.to get a ticket, well I am afraid, you are out of luck. It is sold out
:23:37. > :23:40.if you are going down to the gig, get there early for a great
:23:41. > :23:47.seasonal treat. If you wonder why I am always going
:23:47. > :23:51.on about what amazing young musicalal lapbt we have in this
:23:51. > :23:58.country, -- musical al lapbt we have in this country, it is because
:23:58. > :24:02.it is true. Fresh, poppy and with more shiny
:24:03. > :24:08.hooks than at a fisherman's convention this is one gig not to
:24:08. > :24:18.miss. As former front-man of the Frames
:24:18. > :24:24.and one half of the Oscar-winning - Glenn has han an amaze career. Do
:24:24. > :24:29.yourself a favour and go and see him on Sunday night.
:24:29. > :24:35.Ricky Warwick has been in the revived Thin Lizzie. Now that
:24:35. > :24:40.project has been put to bed, he's out on the solo road. I have seen
:24:40. > :24:44.him sing a few times. His voice pins you to the back wall n the
:24:44. > :24:54.nicest possible way. Finally, looking ahead into the New
:24:54. > :24:57.
:24:57. > :25:04.Year, there's a chance to celebrate Derry's City of Culture status -
:25:04. > :25:08.they will kick-start an incredible year, with a gig on the 11st
:25:08. > :25:13.January. Go along and support local musical if you can. Thank you. That
:25:13. > :25:19.is almost it for tonight. The art show will be back on 24th January,
:25:19. > :25:24.when we will be in Derry, Londonderry, as it begins its
:25:24. > :25:34.inaugural Year of the City of Culture. You can keep up-to-date on
:25:34. > :25:36.
:25:36. > :25:40.BBC Radio Ulster Arts Extra. We leave with some music. At 16 Soak
:25:40. > :25:46.is the name on everyone's lips. Having first picked up a guitar
:25:46. > :25:50.only a few years ago, she has released two EPs Trains and Sea
:25:50. > :25:58.Creatures, which have attracted huge industry attention and Radio
:25:58. > :26:04.One air-play. She plays support to Snow Patrol in the Waterfront Hall
:26:04. > :26:10.and will play on 20th January. Joined my her father and younger
:26:10. > :26:20.brother, she gives the art show an exclusive, festive performance.
:26:20. > :26:25.
:26:25. > :26:35.# We're walking in the air # We're floating in the moon-lit
:26:35. > :26:41.
:26:41. > :26:50.# The people far below # I'm holding very tight
:26:50. > :27:00.# I'm riding in the midnight moon # I'm finding I can fly
:27:00. > :27:05.
:27:06. > :27:15.# So high # The villages go by
:27:16. > :27:16.
:27:17. > :27:23.# The rivers and the hills # The forests and the streams
:27:23. > :27:33.# Children gaze open-mouthed # Taken by surprise
:27:33. > :27:35.
:27:35. > :27:45.# Nobody down below # Believes their eyes
:27:45. > :27:46.
:27:46. > :27:53.# We're surfing in the air # We're swimming in the frozen sky
:27:53. > :28:03.# We're drifting over ice and mountains floating by
:28:03. > :28:11.
:28:11. > :28:14.# Suddenly swooping low # On an ocean deep