Episode 7 The Arts Show

This programme contains some strong language and contains some scenes

which some viewers may find Welcome along once again to The

Arts Show, our monthly look at the best of arts and culture in

Northern Ireland. We've a packed show for you tonight. Here's what's

coming up: Israeli-born Hofesh Shechter is one

of the most exciting choreographers on the contemporary dance scene.

His acclaimed show Political Mother is coming to Derry-Londonderry as

part of the UK City Of Culture. For the first time he will be working

with local dancers and musicians. The Arts Show has been following

the journey. Derry Artist Maurice Harron is one

of our most prolific public sculptors whose work features

throughout the country. He's just unveiled his latest sculpture,

Finvola Of The Roe, in Dungiven. We investigate how it came together.

And music comes from the hottest new star on the British music scene,

Jake Bugg. Just 18-years-old and with a number one album and a Brits

nomination already under his belt, we caught up with him before his

recent gig in Belfast where he gave The Arts Show not one, but two

exclusive performances. Derry-born actress Bronagh

Gallagher has enjoyed a stellar career since her big break in Alan

Parker's film The Commitments in 1987. She's gone on to appear in

seminal movies such as Star Wars and Pulp Fiction, sharing the

screen with A-listers like John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Dustin

Hoffman and Glenn Close. She's also appeared in numerous TV dramas

where her work has been characterised by harrowing roles in

gritty productions such as Holy Cross and Jimmy McGovern's The

Street. More recently she's appeared on the West End Stage in

the hugely successful War Horse at the National Theatre. She also has

a parallel music career and recently released her second album,

Bronagh Gallagher. She's been home performing as part of the UK City

Of Culture and I caught up with her between gigs for a chat about how

it all began. I asked her how it all began.

grew up and went to school in the Cregan and St Mary's. There was a

wonderful film crew working in the area who made a fantastic film, an

award -- an award-winning film, a share buy baby. -- hush and by a

baby. They were approached by Michael Winterburn - I Michael

Winterbottom who was doing the film. He offered me a part in his film. I

said I was going to London but thank God someone talk sense into

me and told me to do the film. big break is the Commitments. Is

that fair to say? Absolutely. How do actors get opportunities in

their life? Those are the lucky breaks that you get. You are in

front of Alan Parker, one of the world's biggest directors at the

time, how did you nail the accent? When I heard I had a second

audition I went up to Dublin and asked for directions somewhere. I

kept asking until I heard that particular accent. She is about to

drop another one. My dad is in the hospital and I am the anyone

bringing in any money. It is tough, I know but it is hard having three

back-up singers won only to show up. When I look back I just seem to

keep going. I worked a lot. It was relentless. I covered a lot of

ground. I did huge theatre tours with Theatre de Complicite. That

was some of my most favourite word that I have ever done. I worked

with a Japanese director and went all the way around the world with

him. They were huge theatre jobs. I was delighted to get home but I had

moved to Dublin by that stage. us move to LA. What has become a

cult classic, Pulp Fiction. The air I had arrived the night before from

Ireland and I just walk straight on to step. I was agrees kit, Saturday

Night Fever and staying alive. -- Greece. You are in one of the most

famous movie scenes. The adrenalin. Going straight into the Uma

Thurman.'s heart. The rehearsal for me was to go straight in there and

mess it up. He said getting there. What they were doing was so

brilliant and I thought that in some one is that offer head and

Matt Stone or whatever it is, you just sit there and look at the

person. I thought that would be funnier. I thought I would play it

straight rather than chaos as well. If you all right, then say

something. Something. Two roles are buried and challenging that you

have chosen. If we had one word, harrowing comes up a lot in your

later stuff. I am thinking of Sinners. You have taken my baby.

never meant... What do you tell them? You promised. I panic.

Marriage. I think it was the first time I heard it. People really

pointed the finger at the church. Did you know that these children

were being sold for a huge money to people who could not have children?

These people were left and shipped off to England or whatever. The

shame. It was shocking that it went on. Is that why, then, you would

choose a role like the mother, the Protestant mother in Holy Cross.

Because you believe it is your duty as an actress to tell these stories

to a wider audience? If you are given the opportunity and you know

that the piece of writing is coming from some once mutual research

point of view and you Rick -- you are representing people in the

community that actually exist and this is going on than I have no

problem with that. As long as I know that what I am doing as a

backbone. Just give it a few more nights and we will get the war that

we want. This is your home. Home is where you look forward to going to

of your work. Home is where you take little things for granted like

not being able -- not be afraid to put a Legon for fear of being able

to cut through a window. You are bowling along with a hugely

successful musical career, singer- songwriter, writing your own stuff.

Eight years ago were released my first album. It had a wonderful

reaction. Then I decided about two years ago I would do this again. I

wrote 10 more songs and got my dream band together and I made it

and just did it. Do I get the feeling now that you're taking

acting parts now but the passion is the music? Is that what is

happening? I am doing both and I love it. Again it is always issued

passion and I have worked a lot in the theatre and a lot of people

wouldn't know the work I have done. I had such a great time in War

Horse. It was such an incredible experience. We took the show from

the National as a massive hit and into the West End. Now has been in

the West End for four years. It was an amazing two years but it was

hard going. Eight shows a week is hard graft. We are very lucky to do

what we do and I constantly remind myself of that. What is really cool

to me and his resets his people to keep going, you don't sit in a bar

crying into your pint and thinking you could have done up. Just keep

going because you're the one they are waiting for. The great Buddhist

quo but it is true. I am happy and honoured to do what I do. Yes, keep

it going. And you can see the full interview

in an Arts Show special on 7th March. Our next artist has been

compared to a young Bob Dylan despite coming from Nottingham.

Still just 18, Jake Bugg boasts a number one album co-written and

produced by Ian Archer. He has toured the States with Noel

Gallagher and has been nominated as Best breakthrough artist at the

Brit Awards. He took time out from his recent gig in Belfast to

perform exclusively for the Arts # Gonna sing you an old country

song. # From the heart. # So I can cry at night and call

you. # When I'm sad.

# And when you have gone. # And run so far.

# From me. # You retreat.

# Walkin' down that old. # Country lane.

# Drops of rain. # Call upon.

# The one. # Who calls your name.

# Will I see you again? # And please just come.

# Run back home. # To me, so I'm not.

# Gonna sing you an old country song.

# From the heart. # From the strings of this old.

Fantastic stuff. Tens of thousands of us see his artwork every day in

towns, cities and roadsides right across Northern Ireland. Derry

sculptor Maurice Harron is our most prolific public artist, with firm

views about what such sculpture must say, if it's to be fully

accepted by people on the street. We caught up with him at his studio

in Donegal, making his latest bronze, that's just gone on display

It must be in my genes. I could draw before I could talk. Sculpture

is one of the ultimate things. It is today's work and tomorrow is

that I think about. My real public Korea begins in Londonderry with

the well known sculpture off Hands Across The Divide, known as

Reconciliation. Up went up in 1991. Since then I have of more than 50

public pieces in the UK, Northern Ireland and the USA. Fibre glass

casing off. This latest work is for Dungiven, right in the centre of

town. I began thinking about this by asking people what do you know

about them give up. People set Finvola. She was a princess that

lived years ago. She was a very beautiful lady and she married a

Scottish prints and United's Ireland and of -- Scotland and

Ulster. The sculpture Hands Across The Divide began as a public

competition. At the time I was unemployed and since I lived here I

thought I would go and look at the site. To the left you go to the

Bogside and to the left -- to the right to go to the fountain. I knew

it was the confluence of two cultures. I looked at it and had a

vision of two men looking at each other. The plinth of it is actually

an abstract sculpture all of itself. Is inspired by the idea that there

are two separate is to Izmir and wind around each other in an

ancient spiral shape. They make the gesture and the separation of them

right up to the end. Right up to not meeting, there is a history in

progress, a story in progress. It became a symbol of peace. Martin

McGuinness said to me that it predicted the peace process which I

thought it was a case of life imitating art in a way. That was

the beginning of a hope for peace and 10 years later the opportunity

came to make a large-scale work Instagram. The piece was called Let

The Dance Begin but the local You have a fiddler and a drummer.

We use a bronze. We could it into a Crucible and melt it about 2,200

degrees. The mould will be heated up. This is the face of Finvola. It

It is an enormous privilege to have a piece in a public place. With

contemporary works, large-scale works are controversial. They are

often designed by architect teams, but the danger with that is that

people are not intrigued by a fall. The people like ideas, so if a

piece is put up like that large ball in Belfast, it does not have a

central core meaning, idea that people relate to. So when they do

not relate to it, it -- it irritates them. People have to feel

it is our sculpture. I have a lot of works here, there and everywhere

and I disengage from a thing. Once it goes up it is as if I never did

it. I walk away from it and never think about it, and sometimes

accidentally, I think, my God, I did that. But in a way, if I kept

on doing it, I could not do any other work.

The very first cast of the Finvola sculpture. We only have another 35

to go. She is going to be way up above us like that.

A work of art should prompt feelings and thoughts as well as

being end landmark. An artist is privileged. I am allowed to come

out and play every day and so I love to try out new techniques. And

be intrigued by things. I am very Israeli-born Hofesh Shechter is one

of the most exciting choreographers on the international scene. His

large scale creations are often involved rock bands to accompany

his visceral choreography. His acclaimed show is coming to Derry-

Londonderry next month. It will feature at 20 people on stage

including locals. He also commissioned dancers to create five

satellite performances around the city. We have been following the

My name is Hofesh Shechter. We are in Derry. SERCO -- also called

Londonderry. There is an intensity in the air. It is not a simple

place, as you can understand from the name of the place. We are

looking for people who are fiercely have talent and skill. It is not

necessarily about taking the people who can absolutely nail the school.

It is also about seeing who can learn and progress from the process

they are going to have with us. Political Mother deals with the

power and following a certain urge for people to either rule will be

ruled. -- or the ruled. I felt a connection to the city because of

the similarities in the place I come from. The conflict, the

tension, out of that feeling came the feeling that bringing Political

Mother to here would be interesting. This is the first time we have

involved people from the community in pitiless tickle mother. -- in

Political Mother. Until now it was just the company and the Company of

musicians. We are working on one specific part of Political Mother

and he split it up into five or six different pieces. We have daily and

weekly workshops. The community dance performances will take place

in places throughout the town. There might be five or six

different performances happening at the same time around the city. I do

not think there has ever been an internationally renowned

choreographer in Derry. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

we are starting our journey today so hopefully we can create a good

fight in the rehearsal and on the stage, because it is going to be

fun. I am looking for a very specific sound from strings players,

a very gusty, sort of breathy sound, something that comes from the

desert. Good morning, everybody. The percussionists are struggling

with Auch what structures, because it is unique for dance. There are a

lot of structures that deal with memory issues and rhythms that I

think are unusual for them. I think everybody is challenged one way or

another. Normally I struggle to get out of my bed in the morning but

for this I am out of bed straight away and really excited. Before I

came here it was all about technicality and if you were not

playing something completely clean lake it was not that good, but our

teacher for the guitarist has taught me more to make a guitar not

sound like a guitar. Bring it out of the box. You have to get all the

scales down but at the end of it music is about having fun and I

think you have to enjoy it and feel it. Do you think it is big enough?

Maybe! Do you like it? Very much. It is great. A football pitch. We

have so many musicians. They will be like a mountain on stage. We are

building platforms as high as possible. It is going to be

rock'n'roll, like a say. It has given me a lot more motivation to

play and continued his music. It is a very inspiring experience.

sense of hope and possibility is that that out there, that is the

single most important thing a person needs in order to do stuff.

It is the fuel for action. That should be quite a spectacle.

Political mother runs at the Venue at Ebrington on the eighth and

ninth March. Tips on what not to miss in the music world next. We

are starting with the Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival.

This celebration of the cult drug connections between the sister

cities of Belfast and National started yesterday and runs until

Sunday at a range of venues across Belfast. There are American acts

like Nanci Griffith and home-grown heroes like Brian Kennedy and

Gareth Dunlop. Do not let the words Nashville scare you, either. It is

a musical celebration for everybody. Superstar DJ Fatboy Slim, Norman

Cook, will be donning a fancy shirt and raising his hands in the air

like he just don't care at Lush in Port Rush on March 2nd. He used to

play based in the house martins, which is when I first came across

him. Support behind the decks comes from Tom Starr and Col Hamilton.

The first release from, O'Brien as the Villagers of won the unassuming

-- won en Mercury Prize in 2010. His latest album is even better. It

has to be one of the best albums this year so far. Villagers play

the Empire Music Hall in Belfast on 16th March. Gretchen Peters has

penned songs for the likes of Neil Diamond and Martina McBride but it

is her own work that gets me really excited. She is great live. She

plays the Market Place Theatre in Armagh on the 20th of this month

and then moves on to the real music club on the 1st March before

finishing in Rose Farley cultural centre in Limavady on the second.

Support from Ben Glover. The last few months have been fantastic for

local hero Foy Vance. He released a brilliant new EP towards the end of

last year and has just come from a tour. He has had to cancel a few

Northern Irish dates due to business but there have been

rescheduled. He will be in the Mandela Hall in Belfast on 5th

March and in the Play house in Portrush on the 6th. Clannad will

be joining forces with the Ulster Orchestra for a night celebrating

the group's musical legacy. Much more than a folk collective. It is

a free BBC event and tickets have already been allocated but you can

tune in live on the night on March 17th from 8pm on BBC Radio Ulster.

Thank you. That is almost it for tonight. Back next Thursday for the

first in a series of Art Show specials. We will be talking to

You can keep up-to-date each week night at 6:00pm on BB0 -- BBC Radio

Ulster. I will be on Twitter between 8:00pm and 12:00pm. --

between 12:00pm and 8pm. And next is Jake Bugg. This is Lightning

# Morning, it's another pure grey morning.

# Don't know what the day is holding.

# When I get uptight. # And I walk right into the path of

a lightning bolt. # Sirens of an ambulance comes

howling. # Right through the centre of town

and no one blinks an eye. # And I look up to the sky in the

path of a lighting bolt. # Met her as the angels parted for

her. # But she only brought me torture.

# But that's what happens when it's you who's standing in the path of a

lightning bolt. # Everyone I see just wants to walk

with gritted teeth. # But I just stand by and I wait my

time. # They say you gotta tow the line,

they want the water not the wine. # But when I see the signs I jump

# Chances, people tell you not to take chances.

# When they tell you there aren't any answers.

# And I was starting to agree. # But I awoke suddenly in the path

of a lightning bolt. # Fortune, people talking all about

fortune. # Do you make it or does it just

call you? # In the blinking of an eye.

# Just another passerby in the path of a lightning bolt.

# It was silent, I was lying back # Everyone I see just wants to walk

with gritted teeth. # But I just stand by and I wait my

time. # They say you gotta tow the line,

they want the water not the wine. # But when I see the signs I jump

on that lightning bolt. # It was silent, I was lying back