Episode 1 The Arts Show

covering the best arts and culture in Northern Ireland. As usual, we

have a packed show for you. This is what is coming up: Richard Dormer is

best-known for playing Terri Hooley in Good Vibrations and Alex Higgins

in Hurricane. Drum Belly is running at Abbey Theatre to rave reviews. I

met him for a chat. The Billy Plays remain one of the most powerful

drama series set and filmed during the Troubles. The story is revisited

for a fifth instalment, Love, Billy, which premieres next week. The Arts

Show went behind-the-scenes. Celebrating ten years of the

Festival of Fools, which returns to Belfast next week, we have a

performance with a difference. Now, if you have been to the new

Lyric Theatre you can't have escaped the large-scale portraits of some of

our leading cultural figures, including Brian Friel, Adrian

Dunbar, Ciaran Hinds and Basil Blackshaw. They are the work of

Colin Davidson, who has just completed his latest piece, Seamus

Heaney. Colin allowed The Arts Show cameras into his Crawfordsburn

studio to capture a personal process.

We have no prayerries to slice -- prairies to slice a big sun in the

evening... There is an awareness of the greatness of the man. His road

into the cyclops eye... That is the scary bit. Do I want the

responsibility? Our unfenced country is bog, that keeps crusting between

the sights of the sun. The whole process at the drawing stage is very

much about the process of recording and if you are fortunate in the

final painting, or in some of the drawings, this extra spark comes

through. It surprises me. It is not something that I'm in control of. I

spent a few hours with Seamus and made probably about 15 reasonable

drawings. They have taken the skeleton of the great Irish elk...

The moment between the words are often the most interesting to look

at. When ever somebody is talking to you, they are in the here and now.

When ever they are thinking about what to say, they are in the past,

they are in the future. Those are the moments that I'm looking forward

to paint. Butter sunk under more than a hundred years was recovered

lls the discipline of making drawings in the studio before the

painting, it builds the familiarity with the subject. It helps form in

my mind the moment I'm looking for and I often combine quite a number

of drawings and look at the likeness from that point of view. It is not a

case of coming into the studio and starting the painting. Painting, I

think, is probably the most natural thing I could think of doing. But on

the other hand, it's the most challenging thing I can possibly

think of doing as well. This series that I'm on now - and I have been

working on for three years - was never started as a potential theme.

I had asked if he would sit for me. There is something about his look

that made me just want to paint him. I won a few awards with it and,

suddenly, I was getting more attention for that one painting than

anything I had done before. There's about 28, 30 paintings that I have

completed. The ground itself is kind, black butter, melting and

opening under foot... I didn't learn this from anywhere. I just do it.

With making a painting of a head this size, it is not a classical

portrait, as such. Carving into the wet paint here. These will leave

marks of their own. You become very aware of the face as a kind of a

landscape, where there's maybe bits of rock sticking out and there's a

topographical aspect to it. In some ways, you are carving the thing out.

You are teasing it out from the background. With Seamus Heaney, in

particular, his work is part of the landscape. There's a winland colour

to the background and he is emerging through it, as much of his work

does. They will never dig gold here, only the waterlogged trunks of great

firs... I'm bringing absolutely everything I have learnt to them.

The thicker, more sculptural paint that I used in the Belfast paintings

ten years back, then there's the excuse to use the thinner, more

blended paint of the window reflections paintings in the eyes

and in the background. Employ the blending techniques that I love as

well. And to bring them altogether in one painting. I think I have

happened upon a subject particularly of this scale that allows me to do

that. Yeah, I just spend so much more time. There's tension in the

painting. There's a lot of the means of identifying with a person. I love

the means of recognising a person and communicating with them. You get

to know the person through their eyes. I suppose it's all of those

things that make me just want to spend most time on that. I think the

whole way through this painting, there is always something of the man

that has come through it. Our pioneers keep striking inwards and

downwards. Every layer they strip seems camped down before. The bog

holes might be Atlantic seepage. The wet centre is butterness. I am

constantly on this quest to learn something new from each new painting

that I do. I need to have one of those little lessons learnt, one of

those little surprises to bring on to the next piece. I just love the

excuse to absorb as much as I can that the painting just gives me

that. I might be able to improve on this, but, equally, in the quest to

improve it, I might ruin the entire thing. So it is when ever that

balance just tips and you go, quted right, now is the time to leave the

thing alone." What an amazing piece. I can't wait to see it up close.

Now, local actor and writer Richard Dormer honed his craft over the past

20 years, mainly in the theatre, becoming best-known for playing Alex

Higgins in Hurricane. His latest authored play, Drum Belly is running

to public and critical acclaim in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. He is

becoming known to a wider audience with roles in game of thrones and as

Terri Hooley in the movie Good Vibrations. The scene of Terri's

epiphany, we filmed that in here. That was a kicking night. It was

just exhausting. Getting into the part of Terri as well was

exhausting, too? Yes. I run a record shop. Big time! I want that in my

show. As soon as I put the lens in, the fake eye, I couldn't see out of

the eye. What I start to do was lead with my shoulder and then I

realised, "That's what Terri does!" I think, ultimately, it's just

that... You have got it!Mad intensity. You are already

channelling him again. It is that kind of, that energy, you know. It

is not like theatre. You have to get it at that moment. If you don't get

it, for the rest of your life you will be kicking yourself. There was

also big pressure on you, other names were being mentioned. Did that

put you under pressure? When I got the call, you have got the part,

thought, "I cannot deserve it." I have been doing this 20 years. I

knew I could do it. It is not a label. It's a way of life! Richard

grew up in Lisburn and began acting at school? My old school teacher had

a drama class and my friends had said, "Come along." They were doing

it. I said, "Maybe, it is not really for me." I started walking home and

it started to pour with torrential rain. I thought, "It is closer to

school than it is home so I'll go along to this thing." The play that

they were planning to do was - I was cast as Jack Clitheroe. People were

looking at me. I don't feel nervous. They are listening to me. I think I

could do this, you know. Within a year, I had got into RADA. It

happened really fast. After graduating, Richard began to carve

out a name for himself in stage acting, but he claimed his place in

the upper ranks of the theatre world by writing a one man show for

himself about a Northern Ireland legend. I'm a self-made man. I rose

from the back-streets of Belfast and made my mark in the world and I did

it on my own. I'm a two-times World Champion. I'm at the top of my game,

looking down. How did that come about? Well, I saw a photograph of

Alex at the grave of Oliver Reed. I thought, "I would love to write a

film about this guy and I would love to play him." Then I met him in

Dublin when I was waiting in the bar. It was just fate, you know. I

bought him a pint. And we started talking and... What did he say? Did

you go, "Hello, my name is Richard Dormer." ? I said, "I'm an actor and

I would like to write about you." He said, "I don't recognise you." I

said, "I do mainly theatre." He said, "I don't go to the theatre."

For those of you who think I'm washed up and washed out, well I

have got news for you, the Hurricane hasn't blown itself out. What did

Alex make of your portrayal of him? He really liked it. He was

flattered. He came to see you a lot? Yeah, yeah. We became friends. He

would jump up there and take a bow. He was re-living the glory days.

That is an incredible journey for both of you, to have gone on. Did he

teach you anything? What he taught me was fearlessness because to do a

one man show for 70 minutes with that level of energy and emotion, it

takes balls, you know. I wrote the character but it was his life, his

life force. That propelled me. I met Peter Hall through it. That got me

one of the things I'm most proud of, playing Lucky. It is one of the true

masterpieces of 20th Century theatre and Sir Peter Hall's production

marked 50 years since the play was first performed in London. The

character Lucky has two lines, one of the lines is 700 words long. Can

you remember any of them? I can. It is weird. I do it about once a

month, I could be walking through a park and I go, "Given the

existence..." And you go... Yes! Because it's a muscle memory. It

took three months, at least three months to learn. It's got no

punctuation. You are a very physical performer, I have seen you on stage

where the sweat is lashing off you and you are swinging from the

rafters. Do you enjoy this aspect of your work? There is a calm comes

over you in the midst of it all. You are in the eye of the storm. During

that Lucky speech, I was literally - I wasn't acting, I was like, "Thank

God, I can fall on the floor." You really push yourself as an actor -

well, I do. Almost to the point of extinction! If you are not giving

everything you have got, then why are you doing it? Richard had become

an acclaimed actor on stage. Now, he wanted to be on-screen. As long as

you understand, because actions have consequences. That is the just the

law of nature. When I turned 40, I thought I had better get a move on

here. I stopped doing theatre. It all started to happen. I think

Hidden was the beginning of it. you watch other actors of your age

getting the big roles? I did. It was getting to me. I was thinking people

were looking at me and were going, "God love him, he never made it."

Now, Game of Thrones is taking Richard to a worldwide audience.

big fight is epic. It is a flaming sword, it is incredible. I can't

wait for people to see it. Despite his success in film and television,

theatre will surely always call Richard back. His latest play Drum

Belly is on the Main Stage at the Abbey in Dublin, the story of the

Irish Mafia in New York marks a major step forward. I'm actually was

sitting in rehearsals listening to it and going, "Did I write this?" I

don't know where it came from. That is a great thing. It means it is

coming from my sub conscious. Finally, I have found my voice.

has been a pleasure, thank you so much for your time. Thank you.

Playwright Graham Reid wrote the Billy Plays in the early 1980s. It

saw Kenneth Branagh in the role that launched his career. Reid has now

written a fifth unstallment, this time for the stage. Love, Billy

premieres on Wednesday with Joe McGann replacing Branagh in the lead

road. The Arts Show was invited to rehearse ales. We are going to read

Billy. Has he gone again? He is here! I'm hoping beyond hope that

the audience will not try and look at this play and start comparing the

characters that they see with those that they remember in the

television. That would be wrong. People change. Or especially over 25

years, you know. Billy Martin? I have heard of you. Everybody around

here has heard of you. You are a hard man. You and your dad. My dad

says he was the hardest man in Belfast. Norman has had a stroke. It

was his 73 Rd birthday. Because the girls fear he may never reach 74,

they want to have a last family get together. Worrying about you.

back is a big thing for Billy. He is fearful of the reception he will

receive because he knows he's neglected the family. Billy has been

in the house, hasn't seen Billy for 25 years. Nobody knows what is going

to happen. Take it from your line, Joe. Dad, it's good to see you.

You have lived amongst the English for too long! Have you been living

somewhere they -- where they don't speak bloody English? Maureen and

Lorna, Billy, Norman, Mavis, they are all in my head, the people who

were there 25 years ago. Tell them to listen to me. I'm trying to talk

to him! You are 16 years too late. Let him speak! Billy, the kids have

had enough for one night! That was one of my worries. I went over twice

to Belfast and we did a lot of auditions, we auditioned a lot of

people. What pleased me greatly - I'm out of touch with the local

scene in Northern Ireland - is there is a wealth of talent there. We were

spoilt for choice. We could have cast some of these parts three or

four times. Do you think I've nothing better to do than sit around

all bloody day and wait for him? Calm down, dad! Any actor who read

the play, who had never seen it, you would want to do it. It is an

actor's play. Sorry, everybody, for today, for being late. In the world

that I know of, these are the first position characters for me. I'm not

thinking about playing, "You would have been Brian." This is the cast

one as far as I'm concerned. Calm down, dad! Calm down?Give him a

chance. I'm Tracey. I'm playing Ann. You are not and that's final.

well, the way Graham has written the character, it is the way I would

have envisaged her life would have turned out, you know. You listening

to what I'm saying to you? Nobody saw me. The character is still the

same type of person, maybe a bit sadder and louder. But, you know,

she's had a fair old life. When I play Martin, I hear Jimmy. Everybody

is getting on me... I've done a lot of Graham Reid plays over the years

and this is strong. I come down out of my sick bed to hear what you have

to say. Now let me hear it. He is a tough act to get away from and to

find your own identity and your own character within the play. But

that's what I have to do. And I think we are starting to shape up,

you know. Dad, will you do what Mavis says? We will talk tomorrow.

You promise me? I think the play stands on its own. It is a story of

deep, deep family emotions and drama. Say something. What is the

point? You can choose your friends, but your family you are stuck with.

I think it's an instructive piece in how to try and negotiate swamps of

family life. Tell us why you left and why you have stayed away for so

long? He does have a hand grenade which he pulls the pin on. I'm not

going to tell you what it is. He lets something out. What a surprise!

Billy has come back and he's got a few skeletons in the closet that

creep out. I think this is the best, dialogue best, the best storyline.

To hell with the other Billies. This is great. Love, Billy runs from 1s t

to 25th May. I'm joined by Dr Mark Phelan from Queens University, who

teaches drama. You are very welcome to the programme. Thank you.We have

seen some examples of local theatre. It would appear that Northern Irish

theatre is in very good health? is. The great story of the last

couple of years is the enormous capital investment in buildings, in

the new Lyric and the refurbished Crescent, and other venues in

Belfast. You can have a great building but if nobody is coming to

see the play, what is the point of putting it on? We don't seem to have

the same dynamic, vibrant tradition of theatre going and support for the

arts. A lot of it is to do with a suspicion or scepticism at what are

the arts for. That is a spurious question. The arts are crucial to

how we interrogate the past and how we imagine the future. Who is

looking after young actors? Good question. I think young actors have

enormous pressures placed upon them. To be an actor is an unglamorous,

difficult, financially powerless and precarious job. The finest

pound-for-pound actor of his generation, Richard Dormer, at last

in a leading role on a film. It's been a long time in the making. How

many actors fall through the cracks and never make it? Most of them.

What about a rep theatre, that was employing actors on a regular basis

and within that, they get training? They become a place of excellence

and that excellence is recognised? think a rep is a wonderful idea in

principle. In practice, it would be great for those in the rep. What

about the other actors on the outside? What about the young actors

coming through? It is fascinating watching Prime Cut and the Lyric and

seeing many of our own graduates occupying the stages at these

theatre companies. What is the endgame for it? Where would you like

to see it going? For the future, the best thing to wish for would be the

levels of public funding which have been invested into bricks and

mortar, being invested into the most important constituent of the arts

scene, our actors, writers and producers. They are the most

important asset that we need to support. Otherwise, we will have

these wonderful buildings but they will be empty. Thank you very much.

That is almost it for tonight. The Arts Show will be back on 23 Rd May.

Until then, you can keep up-to-date on BBC Radio Ulster's Arts Extra.

And you can continue the conversation on our Twitter account

straight after the show. We leave you with something a little