Episode 6 The Arts Show

Hello, and welcome to our first show of 2013, and we begin the year

with an Arts Show Special. We're coming to you from The Playhouse

Theatre in Derry-Londonderry where the waiting is finally over as the

city is now officially the Inaugural UK City of Culture. It's

an historic moment for Derry and all eyes are upon it, but can it

and will it live up to the expectation? I'll be discussing all

this and more with our panel of special guests. Here's what's

coming up. We preview the Inaugural City of Culture Programme of Events,

month by month. Derry's internationally renowned chamber

choir, Codetta, fresh from their appearance at the Official Launch

Concert, Sons & Daughters, give The Arts Show an exclusive performance.

And Derry artist, Best Boy Grip, has just released his latest EP,

The Clerk, drawing comparisons with Neil Hannon and The Beatles. He's

in performance for The Arts Show. So, tonight is all about Derry-

Londonderry 2013 and many are intrigued as to what's planned for

the year ahead. We'll take a look in just a moment, followed by

discussion and analysis with our panel of guests who are: Irish

Author and Playwright, Jennifer Johnston. Her first novel was

published in 1972 and she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at

the Irish Book Awards 2012. Born in Dublin, she's been a resident of

Derry since 1974. Derry-born Professor Declan McGonagle was the

first curator of Derry's internationally-renowned Orchard

Gallery. He remains one of only two curators ever to be nominated for

The Turner Prize and has also served as a judge for the

prestigious award. He is the current Director of the National

College of Art & Design in Dublin. And, no stranger to The Arts Show,

Eithne Shortall, Arts Critic for The Sunday Times, Ireland. Welcome

all. So, without further ado, let's look at what you can expect in the

first half of the year. It's impossible to fit every event in so

here are our highlights from The year of culture got off to a

vibrant start with an impressive fireworks display on New Year's Eve.

This was followed by Sons & Daughters, the official launch

concert featuring Phil Coulter, The Undertones, Neil Hannon and Gary

Lightbody in The Venue at Ebrington, a new arena on the site of a former

army barracks. And you can see coverage of that this Saturday

night at 10:30pm on BBC 1. February sees Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical,

Starlight Express, come to The Millennium Forum. Dingle's

legendary Other Voices Festival expands to Derry, featuring

renowned musicians in tiny venues, including Derry-born Neil Hannon

and Two Door Cinema Club. Controversial comedian, Jimmy Carr,

brings his Gagging Order show to the Millennium Forum on the 10th.

Ireland's most famous living playwright, Brian Friel, is

celebrated throughout the year beginning on 11th Feb when Freedom

Of The City, his play about the events of Bloody Sunday, is staged

in the Millennium Forum. Actor Adrian Dunbar directs another Friel

play, Performances, featuring the internationally-renowned Brodksy

Quartet. March begins with a retrospective of celebrated local

artist, Basil Blackshaw. Blackshaw at 80 runs in the Gordon Gallery

all month. Israeli-born choreographer, Hofesh Shecter, one

of the most exciting contemporary dance artists around, brings his

acclaimed Political Mother project to Ebrington, specially reworked

for Derry 2013 Celebrated Irish novelist and author of The

Commitments, Roddy Doyle, drops into Derry along with The Gruffalo

author, Julia Donaldson, for the Humdinger Children's Literary

Festival. Derry is, of course, famous for producing shirts and a

former factory will be transformed into a pop-up museum for a major

art project led by artist, Rita Duffy. The Brian Friel season

continues with Translations at the Millennium Forum, again directed by

March sees two concerts at Ebrington. The London Symphony

Orchestra play their first ever concert in Derry performing the

music of John Williams on the 18th, the first of two visits to the city.

And Primal Scream with David Holmes are there on 19th. The Royal Ballet

returns to Northern Ireland for the first time in 12 years to present

highlights from their wide repertory in the Millennium Forum

on the 30th and 31st. It will feature Northern Irish soloist,

Melissa Hamilton, in her first performance in front of a home

crowd, with Derry-born Paul Murphy conducting. Should be very special

indeed. Celebrated Irish playwright, Frank McGuinness, came to

prominence with his play, The Factory Girls, which will be staged

at the City Factory from 24 to 27th April. May sees the world premiere

of a unique theatre event, The Conquest of Happiness by acclaimed

director, Haris Pasovic, the man behind the Sarajevo Red Line

project. Think big, as this will be a large-scale, open-air event with

music, dance and drama. One of the most eagerly-anticipated events has

been the return of the theatre side of Field Day Theatre Company.

Formed in Derry in 1980 by Brian Friel and actor Stephen Rea, it not

only produced original theatre but also published political analysis,

becoming an artistic response to The Troubles. After a 20 year break

they premiered two new one-act plays in December, one directed by

Rea. This month sees the premiere of their first new full-length play

by new writer, Claire Dwyer Hogg. Thirsty Dust is at The Playhouse,

once again directed by Rea. The Field Day Story is also told in a

new exhibition here in the Verbal Arts Centre which runs from May to

August. 9th June is the feast day of Derry's Founding Father and

Patron Saint, St Columba or Colm Cille. To celebrate, two

spectaculars are planned. The Return of Colm Cille is an epic-

scale event which imagines the battle that led to his exile in

Scotland and his triumphant return. Created by author, Frank Cottrell-

Boyce, writer of the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, the interactive

event will be performed on both sides of the Foyle. Later that

evening, a specially commissioned new oratorio, The Columba Canticles,

will be performed in Derry's oldest and most historic building, St

Columb's Cathedral. Other highlights in June include Agatha

Christie's The Mousetrap, the world's longest running play which

is going on tour for the first time. And Elvis Costello and Status Quo

both play Ebrington. And, finally, the entire city becomes a stage for

Music City! On 21st June. Hundreds of music performances will take

place in venues such as churches, offices, streets and even the sky

where hot air balloons will pump out a score from above. Also, in a

mass-gathering, all the choirs of Derry will come together to perform

Danny Boy, in celebration of the Core that is Danny Reed to June.

Declan, does it work for you? -- January to June. They are is a huge

variety of activity going on. wide ranging. There is a focus I am

interested on, a strong element in the first six months on the site-

specific works coming in. Haris Pasovic will be doing a project.

Rita Duffy will be working in the shirt factory and looking at the

issue of women's work in relation to the garment industry. I think

even the Israeli Dance Company, as a visual medium, that will be

customised to the context in Derry. I'm glad to see the dimension and

diversity. It is one of the aspects and features of the city, the

visual culture the city is known for. Jennifer's, does the

literature stand out for you? of the things that pleased me most

was to see that Roddy Doyle was coming to talk to children. That is

wonderful. He's just eliminating. And they adore him. -- illuminating.

He will awaken a lot of imaginations, and that will go on

after the year is over. Those children imaginations will still be

working. I think the programme looks pretty eclectic. I think they

have achieved a lot in catering for people of different age groups and

tastes. They do have a focus on artists that are from here and the

work that has been created helped by the site-specific work, but also

good international staff from the Republic and from Britain. His the

city ready for this? I imagine that is what everybody is wondering. It

ought to be. It has had its suffering. It has had its time to

recover from the suffering. Perhaps some culture now would be very good.

There are have been bumps along the road, Declan. They inevitably will

be for a project of this size -- they inevitably will be. It was

about inventing the organisational structure, and how to deliver the

programme, which is hugely complex, and there is a bureaucratic issue

around it as well. But this is the time to get over the bumps. There

is a difference between the preparation period and the

investment and speculative programming decisions, and then the

actual delivery. I think we have to step up the game for the delivery.

The still has to be. The tour have to be stepped up through the year.

-- it will have to be stepped up through the year. There will have

to be a continued organisational investment. You have come up from

Dublin today. Is there much chatter? It has been covered in the

media in the south and people are aware it is going on, but the most

important thing for getting people up to it is the key events that

people will make a journey for and then come back for something else.

I think a lot of those are happening in the second half, like

the Turner Prize. It just remains to be seeded people will come up. -

- remains to be seen if people. People actually believe that Derry

is 10 minutes' drive from Belfast, so you are in the whole thing,

instead of an hour-and-a-half. has been an aspect for decades in

terms of Arts Development, in terms of how you develop a profile while

living with unrest. We should have the experience to deal with that.

Essentially, that is our subject. That is a subject that citizens

here know all about. The City of Culture has to be about visitors,

attracting visitors. We want a new story to be understood about the

city, but it also has to be about the citizens and the context itself.

And will have visitors come for years to come? Hopefully not just

this one. For the moment, thank you. Derry musician, Eoin O'Callaghan,

better known as Best Boy Grip, sings, plays piano, clarinet and

guitar and his complex songwriting arrangements have drawn comparisons

with Neil Hannon and The Beatles. He's just released his second EP,

The Clerk, and tonight, exclusively for The Arts Show performs the

# You're in love with him, he's got money.

# I ain't got none, but I'm funny. # I won't make you cry in vain.

# You're in love with him, he's good looking.

# He stands naked as he's cooking white-powdered medicine for his

pain. # And I guess I'll take the blame

for it. # Never should have left you alone.

# He fought 45 men in the war. # And I can't remember the last

time I swore. # But I'd fight for you if you'd

# You're in love with him, I ain't bitter.

# He broke angel when he hit her. # He's bad company, that's for sure.

# And I guess I'll take the blame for it.

# Never should have left you alone. # He'll come home and he'll kick

down your door. # He'll abuse you, he calls you his

whore. # And I'd mess him up if you'd let

# You're in love with him, fact stays with me.

# Eats my heart out, stole my empathy.

# Earth met fire in the monster and # I guess I'll take the blame for

# Never should have left you alone. # You're in love with him. Oh-oh.

# You're in love with him. Oh-oh- oh-oh-oh.

Wonderful stuff. And Eoin will be performing again under yet a

different guise at the end of the show. Now, there's plenty more

happening in the second half of the Inaugural Year of Culture. So let's

take a look at our highlights from July to December. July begins with

a new music cantata, At Sixes and Sevens, by Mark-Anthony Turnage and

Paul Muldoon, performed simultaneously in the Guildhalls of

Derry and London by Barry Douglas' Camerata Ireland and the London

Symphony Orchestra, both linked by technology.

August hosts arguably the year's key anchor event, the Fleadh

Cheoilnah Eireann - the world's biggest celebration of Irish

Culture. An historic occasion, it is being held north of the border

for the first time since it began in 1951. For seven days Derry

becomes a mecca for the cream of traditional talent, attracting

300,000 visitors. Shakespeare's bloodiest play, Titus

Andronicus, about the latter days of the Empire, is re-imagined in

contemporary Northern Ireland in a Playhouse Theatre Production.

The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain take up residency in

Derry for ten days of performance and music-making with local

musicians in July, which includes performing 100 mini-concerts in

their homes on one day. The Walled City Tattoo will be a

vibrant display of music, theatre and dance from a 600 strong cast

which include Switzerland's acclaimed Top Secret Drum Corp

performing their impressive precision routines.

Moving into September and 72 Hour Urban Action is the world's first

real-time architecture competition. Teams have just three days to

transform ten public spaces to meet the needs of local communities.

The Brian Friel season continues with a production of his first

significant play, The Enemy Within, about St Columb's exile, at the

Playhouse Theatre. On Home Ground is a three day

poetry festival at Laurel Villa in Magherafelt featuring well known

poets from Ireland and worldwide. Seamus Heaney is Festival Patron

and gives the opening address. October holds one of the year's

biggest highlights, the Turner Prize 2013. Held at Ebrington, it

will be the first time the prestigious award has happened

outside England. The exhibition runs until January and the winner

is announced on December 2nd. The Royal Shakepeare Company visit

Derry to present Shakespeare's tragic poem, The Rape of Lucrece,

featuring acclaimed-singer, Camille O'Sullivan at The Playhouse Theatre.

London's Olivier Award-winning dance troupe, Boy Blue, premiere a

new martial-arts inspired production, Manga, at the

Millennium Forum. October is poetry month and will

feature performances from UK Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy.

October also features the Irish premier of NI Opera's The

Importance of Being Earnest. Based on Oscar Wilde's comedy, the

eccentric opera was a huge sensation when first performed in

London last year. Unseen, is the largest-ever

exhibition of works by acclaimed Derry-born artist, Willie Doherty,

featuring significant photographs and video installations from his

long career alongside new work. The month of November will launch

our first dedicated Dance and Movement festival, created by our

only professional dance company, Echo Echo, based in Derry. November

also sees the premiere of a new punk musical, Teenage Kicks,

written by novelist and screenwriter, Colin Bateman. Set in

Derry in the late '70s, it's about teenage lust and love, set to a

punk soundtrack. The Playhouse Theatre features

Three Monologues, by Jennifer Johnston. Written in response to

The Troubles and rarely performed, it's an opportunity for audiences

to see some of her lesser-known dramatic work.

One of the most visually spectacular events of the year will

be the acclaimed Festival of Light, Lumiere, which will feature

breathtaking light installations, including wrapping Derry's two

Cathedrals in projections from the Book of Kells.

And finally, the Year of Culture's Closing Concert sees the Ulster

Orchestra perform The Relief of Derry Symphony, by Northern Irish

composer, Shaun Davey, at Ebrington. First commissioned in 1989 to

commemorate the Siege of Derry, it's guaranteed to be one of the

outstanding performances of Derry- Londonderry 2013.

That is the highlights of a busy period. This seems to be a lot more

happening in the second part of the year. I think At Sixes and Sevens

has great people involved. And then something with a longer play out

time. There was a lot of talk about Sam Shepard writing a new play for

this year in Derry. It seems to be talked about less and less a row.

But that would be great. The theatre audience in Dublin would

know his work and would love to see it. And another event is the Turner

Prize. People travelled to London for that. The Turner Prize coming

to Derry. It is great that it is going to be in the city. It is the

greatest contemporary art prize in the world. It draws a number of

things for that city. It connects and acknowledges the work that has

gone on in the past in the arts in general in Derry. It will be really

interesting and challenging. It is always a challenging event. And it

set up some local organisations in terms of confidence building for

them. Because they will create programmes in relation to the

Turner Prize exhibition itself. you think people will travel from

England to see it. I think there is enough curiosity about the UK City

of Culture happening and then it also the Turner Prize. We know from

other places within England were the Turner Prize has been shown,

tens of thousands of people travelled to those cities,

Gateshead and Liverpool. Combined with curiosity about this place,

this context, and the Turner Prize, I believe people will travel.

we have the Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann. I think thousands will

come from all over Ireland and possibly America as well. Any of

those big musical events they have had have always had a great

following. I think this one will be better than any of them. What will

the legacy because my their is a mature Elk legacy. And we are lucky

to have this play at the moment, the Everton set which has huge

potential to be a world-class set of cultural experiences for the

future. Then we have the confidence building legacy and the way in

which individuals, organisations and communities will become used to

have stepped up quality of programming. And also for the

organisations to equip themselves to a large their ambitions for the

future. What were the legacy before you? It is what it inspires. The

Turner Prize will not come again. People will get excited about that

being in their city. Not just aspiring artists but organisers,

people who need to support artists. The Brian Friel season it is very

exciting. But I do not think there is a prominent theatre company

working in Derry at the moment, a contemporary one, so you would hope

that that would come in. And what about that journey from Dublin to

Derry, will that be shorter? There's not a direct train which is

a big problem. You have to go to Belfast and then back to Derry.

There are upgrading the line. if you have the inspiration to come

to this city then you will do it. would like to think it will fire

people's imaginations and they will understand what they have inside

themselves. And confidence will give them the energy to start up a

theatre company. That is what they really need in this city, a small

theatre company. And I know that this is expensive but it still can

be done. Well, we could talk all night but unfortunately we have to

leave it there. Thank you very much to our guests, Jennifer Johnston,

Professor Declan McGonagle and Eithne. We'll be reporting on

events throughout the Year of Culture, as well as the best of the

arts in Northern Ireland. We're back on 24th Feb. You can keep up

to date with BBC Radio Ulster's Arts Extra, weeknights at 6:30pm.

You can join our guest Tweeter-In- Residence, Dermot McLoughlin,

Project Director of The Culture Company, the team behind this

year's events, who'll be curating our Twitter account tomorrow.

We leave you tonight with some performers from the Official Launch

Concert. Derry's internationally acclaimed chamber choir, Codetta,

were formed in 2001 by Artistic Director, Donal Doherty. Their

members include tonight's performer, Eoin O'Callaghan, and various ex-

pats who return home monthly for rehearsals. They perform a wide

repertoire and tonight give The Arts Show an exclusive recital from