0:00:07 > 0:00:14Hello, and welcome to a brand-new series of The Arts Show for 2014.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17And we kick things off here in Parliament Buildings, Stormont,
0:00:17 > 0:00:20where I'll be talking to the key decision-maker
0:00:20 > 0:00:23at the heart of arts and culture in Northern Ireland.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54So, we're at the beginning of a brand-new year for the arts,
0:00:54 > 0:00:56and there's a lot to get through on tonight's show.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58Here's what's coming up.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01The Minister For Culture, Arts And Leisure, Caral Ni Chuilin,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04shares her vision for the coming year.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet and literary lothario -
0:01:07 > 0:01:09we investigate.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11Exciting new Londonderry band The Clameens
0:01:11 > 0:01:13make their BBC TV debut.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16And we hear from some of our arts practitioners
0:01:16 > 0:01:18who to watch out for in 2014.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22My big one-to-watch for 2014 has got to be Ballet School.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25It's Ros Blair, originally from Antrim, now based in Berlin.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28She's working with the Bella Union label, hugely influential,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31already got one single under her belt, more to come this year.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33I think it's a guaranteed winner.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35# And the friends who we make
0:01:35 > 0:01:38# Are the stones that we lay. #
0:01:38 > 0:01:41As well as that, keep an eye on Verse Chorus Verse, and Arborist,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43two singer-songwriters with music in the pipeline
0:01:43 > 0:01:46that is going to blow some people's minds.
0:01:46 > 0:01:47In the world of craft,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50my one-to-watch for 2014 is Alison Lowry,
0:01:50 > 0:01:52a Belfast-based glass-maker.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55She's a recent graduate from the University of Ulster
0:01:55 > 0:01:58and she's had some very good international
0:01:58 > 0:02:02and national success already, including Shanghai and London.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05And she's just been selected for a residency for one month
0:02:05 > 0:02:09in the prestigious Corning Museum Of Glass
0:02:09 > 0:02:11in New York State.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14For me, this year, it's Claire McGowan.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16One of that new breed of writers from the North of Ireland
0:02:16 > 0:02:20and, most importantly, writing from the feminist perspective.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24Her new novel, The Lost, takes us on a journey with Paula Maguire,
0:02:24 > 0:02:26a forensic psychologist,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29as she investigates crime in current-day Northern Ireland,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31but has strong links to the past.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Ken Bruen says she is Ireland's answer to Ruth Rendell.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Of all the plays written about life in Ireland,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43few have put as many bums on seats on both sides of the Atlantic
0:02:43 > 0:02:45as The Colleen Bawn.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48Written in the mid-19th century by Dubliner Dion Boucicault,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51it's rumoured that even Queen Victoria
0:02:51 > 0:02:52went to see it several times.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56Now, leading contemporary Irish theatre company Druid
0:02:56 > 0:03:00is bringing it here to the Grand Opera House in Belfast next week.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04But what is the secret of this play's enduring appeal?
0:03:04 > 0:03:05Eithne Shortall finds out.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12The Colleen Bawn is about people in a mess.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18Eily O'Connor, a beautiful young woman from a humble background,
0:03:18 > 0:03:22secretly marries Hardress Cregan, a wealthy landowner.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24But his family is facing financial ruin,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27and his mother has fixed him up with a local rich girl.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29There are many more twists to this story,
0:03:29 > 0:03:32but suffice to say that the stage is set
0:03:32 > 0:03:34for love, betrayal, social embarrassment,
0:03:34 > 0:03:36and maybe even murder.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42Melodrama doesn't get any more, well, melodramatic, than this.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45It's a very boisterous, intense world.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48It has a convoluted plot, a use of spectacle.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50One moment you can be laughing,
0:03:50 > 0:03:52the next moment, you're hopefully crying.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55It would be the equivalent of a television soap opera today.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58It's a story about people you can care about.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00And lots of fun as well.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04It was only a shower, I believe. Are you wet, ma'am?
0:04:04 > 0:04:06Dry as a biscuit.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10Ah. Then it's yourself is the brave and beautiful lady,
0:04:10 > 0:04:14as bold and proud as a ship before the blast.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17'But The Colleen Bawn is always going to be a leap of faith
0:04:17 > 0:04:18'for a director today.'
0:04:18 > 0:04:21There's my mare! And who comes with?
0:04:21 > 0:04:23It's Mr Hardress Cregan himself.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Are there certain elements of the play
0:04:25 > 0:04:27that you've had to push to the fore
0:04:27 > 0:04:29to make sure it works for a contemporary audience?
0:04:29 > 0:04:33The obviousness of the drama, i.e. the melodrama,
0:04:33 > 0:04:37appears so out of...
0:04:37 > 0:04:40sync with the kind of nuanced
0:04:40 > 0:04:42sort of interior drama
0:04:42 > 0:04:45of the 20th/21st century.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49'But the fact is that if you then commit to
0:04:49 > 0:04:53'telling the story in as truthful a way as you can,
0:04:53 > 0:04:57'it actually takes care of itself very well.'
0:04:57 > 0:04:59- I'm yours.- Anne, you don't know all.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01I know more than I wanted, that is enough.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03This certainly says a lot
0:05:03 > 0:05:07for the man who wrote it a century and a half ago.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10If you put it in terms of its time,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Boucicault was a rock star.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17The Colleen Bawn occurs at a real peak of Boucicault's career.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20It ran for nearly 280 performances.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22It made Boucicault a fortune.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26But Boucicault's biggest success was putting Ireland on stage.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29He said, "I have written the first national drama set in Ireland.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31"I have written the first Irish drama."
0:05:31 > 0:05:33He was very proud of himself.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36Yet, Boucicault was living in New York
0:05:36 > 0:05:38when he came across the true story
0:05:38 > 0:05:40of the murder of 15-year-old Ellen Scanlan
0:05:40 > 0:05:42in Clare in 1819.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47He immediately knew that if he changed the tragic outcome,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50this story could be a hit with Irish Americans,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52desperate for a glimpse of the old country.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55When The Colleen Bawn was first staged,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59was it portraying a certain image of Ireland to foreign audiences?
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Boucicault is presenting an image of Ireland as charming,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05as rustic, as romantic, and as appealing.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07It may seem, from our perspective of the 21st century,
0:06:07 > 0:06:10to be stereotypical and almost racist,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13but it's more than that, because what...
0:06:13 > 0:06:15Boucicault's trying to do
0:06:15 > 0:06:17is create, at the time,
0:06:17 > 0:06:20quite a modern take on the complicated relationship
0:06:20 > 0:06:23between the different social classes in Ireland.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26Cos that's certainly how the Irish audience
0:06:26 > 0:06:28and critics at the time saw it.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32- My name is Anne Chute. - I am Eily O'Connor.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36You are the Colleen Bawn - the pretty girl.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39And you are the Colleen Ruaidh.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41She is beautiful.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43How lovely she is.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47- We are rivals.- I am sorry for it.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49Like all melodrama, The Colleen Bawn
0:06:49 > 0:06:52isn't really about the psychology of the individual characters,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54but about their place in society.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57In this production, the set and costumes
0:06:57 > 0:07:00neatly define the twin worlds of landlords and peasants,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03chandeliers and shillelaghs.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07Everybody is deformed by the colonising process.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12So there's an unnaturalness about it as a way of living.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15Boucicault caught that quite well.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17All art creates fictions.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20But there are fictions that, in some way,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23help us understand ourselves better.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26So, surely stereotypes don't get more obvious
0:07:26 > 0:07:28than a poteen-drinking tramp?
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Now I'll go up to my whiskey-still.
0:07:30 > 0:07:31It is above my head this minute,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34being in a hole in the rocks they call O'Donoghue's Stables.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36A sort of a water cave.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40The people round here think that the cave is haunted with bad spirits,
0:07:40 > 0:07:42and they say that of a dark, stormy night,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46strange unearthly noises is heard coming out of it.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49It is me singing The Night Before Larry Was Stretched.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52'However, Boucicault created Myles na Coppaleen
0:07:52 > 0:07:55'as full of wit rather than drink,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58'and subverted that prevailing view of the Irish.'
0:07:58 > 0:08:03He took what appeared to be stage Irishness,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05and turned it into a weapon.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09So that the most obviously stage-Irish character on stage,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12who's Myles na Coppaleen, is in fact cleverer
0:08:12 > 0:08:15than anybody else on that stage.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17Here's the taste of a letter I was asked to give Your Honour.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20'No-one ever mentions home rule.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23'And the Anglo-Irish and peasants accommodate each other.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27'It's a reassuring world, painted in broad brush strokes,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30'and this demands a broad style of acting too.'
0:08:30 > 0:08:33He didn't, no, I am his wife.
0:08:35 > 0:08:36Oh, what have I said?
0:08:36 > 0:08:40- What?- I didn't mean to confess it - no, I didn't.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42But you wrung it from me in defence of him.
0:08:42 > 0:08:43You're his wife?
0:08:43 > 0:08:47- They're at it and I'm too late. - I can't believe it.
0:08:47 > 0:08:48Show me your certificate.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50'One of the things we all know we did,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52'and the actors and everything,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56'we would sit down and say we're subtexting this too much,
0:08:56 > 0:08:58'and playing the implications of the scene,
0:08:58 > 0:09:00'or the psychology of the scene.'
0:09:00 > 0:09:03But in order to move the play through its various scenes,
0:09:03 > 0:09:05you have to play the action of the piece.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07OK, so it's not one of those plays that you go to
0:09:07 > 0:09:10looking for what they really mean in what characters are saying.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Well, the play won't let you.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15I'm not going to give the ending away,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18but let's just say Boucicault is a master
0:09:18 > 0:09:20when it comes to sorting out a mess,
0:09:20 > 0:09:24and getting the audience to buy into it.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26It plays on the emotions of its audience,
0:09:26 > 0:09:30and it's actually quite amazing
0:09:30 > 0:09:31to see audiences react
0:09:31 > 0:09:35in standard and stereotypical fashion,
0:09:35 > 0:09:38so we are getting "oohs" and "aahs" and intakes of breath
0:09:38 > 0:09:42at turns of the plot which seem, on the face of it,
0:09:42 > 0:09:43to be tremendously obvious.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47All I ask is that you never mention this visit to Mr Daly.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51As for you, this should purchase your silence.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Life to you!
0:09:55 > 0:09:57HORSE NEIGHS
0:09:57 > 0:10:02The Colleen Bawn is not the literary theatre of Yeats, or indeed Synge,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05it's not a play that poses questions,
0:10:05 > 0:10:07but it does provide answers
0:10:07 > 0:10:10that make sense at a gut level.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14After a century and a half, surely this is the key to its success.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19One artist I'm looking forward to seeing more of in 2014
0:10:19 > 0:10:22is Cian Donnelly. He's a performance artist,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25and in the last couple of years he's had shows in Belfast and in Derry,
0:10:25 > 0:10:27which have really developed his work.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29The performances are challenging,
0:10:29 > 0:10:30thought-provoking,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33disturbing, sometimes, but always really engaging
0:10:33 > 0:10:34and they make you think.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38Another artist I'm looking forward to seeing this year is Gerard Carson,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41a younger artist who works with small,
0:10:41 > 0:10:45delicate, intricate sculptures, paintings and drawings,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48which have fields of colour, delicate lines -
0:10:48 > 0:10:49really beautiful work.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54I think Emma Logue is really interesting this year.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57She is a Northern Ireland girl, based in London,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59not formally trained in fashion design,
0:10:59 > 0:11:02and has created these most stylish corporate-wear fashions
0:11:02 > 0:11:06for women in the financial sector and women in business.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08I think she's hit the nail on the head
0:11:08 > 0:11:11for what people want in the fashion world this season.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16The voice to listen out for this year is Newry baritone Ben McAteer.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19Ben's been completing his training in London at the National Opera Studio.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21He's a fantastic young singer.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Big guy. Big, wonderfully resonant voice - really knows how to use it.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27This guy could go all the way.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32See him in May at the Ulster Hall at a lunch-time recital.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38Now, the Minister of the Department Of Culture, Arts And Leisure,
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Caral Ni Chuilin, has been in post here for nearly three years now.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44After an amazing year for Derry-Londonderry,
0:11:44 > 0:11:47we wondered what her strategy for 2014 holds for
0:11:47 > 0:11:49the rest of Northern Ireland?
0:11:49 > 0:11:51I met her here at Stormont to discuss.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04Happy New Year to you, as well.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08You've been in the post since May 2011.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Was it a baptism of fire, taking on that post?
0:12:11 > 0:12:13It was, absolutely.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15And I still enjoy the view
0:12:15 > 0:12:20that I have the best portfolio in the Executive.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22But not everyone shares that view,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24so, particularly around budgets,
0:12:24 > 0:12:25I have to fight my corner.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29How do you fight your corner then? How do you say arts is important?
0:12:29 > 0:12:33- I have a basket full of arguments that I regularly use.- Like what?
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Well, I mean, if we look, for example, at the City Of Culture
0:12:36 > 0:12:38and the experience from it,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40and the economy for the northwest
0:12:40 > 0:12:42has certainly received a boost as a result of it.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45Aspirations have been raised.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47People, if they didn't already know,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50certainly know now that there's money to made in the arts -
0:12:50 > 0:12:52at a very, very crude level.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54So, is that how you argue then?
0:12:54 > 0:12:58- The success of a theatre show, or a ballet or..?- Absolutely.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01Absolutely. But, I mean, when we talk about the economy,
0:13:01 > 0:13:03we need to include arts in it.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06And I think the argument thus far...
0:13:06 > 0:13:10When I came into the department, it wasn't there.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12To be frank, it wasn't there.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15I think we have a brilliant and thriving sector here.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19And we need to make sure that there's a constant stream
0:13:19 > 0:13:23and a seamless link from school until college,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26or even until whatever...vocation people decide to choose,
0:13:26 > 0:13:30and to make sure that people see it as a good career path.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33Do you think that confidence that you're talking about
0:13:33 > 0:13:34has been demonstrated through....
0:13:34 > 0:13:39We've just recently left the Year Of Culture in Derry-Londonderry.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44Did you see a change in the dynamic of that city over the last year?
0:13:44 > 0:13:49Certainly, the creativity and the vibe around arts and culture
0:13:49 > 0:13:52was a real strong pulse in the city.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55I recognised that going into it.
0:13:55 > 0:13:56I went up with an open mind,
0:13:56 > 0:13:58and I got sucked in.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00I got sucked in big-time,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03and I think we need to learn from Derry.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05Well, you've obviously put your money where your mouth is
0:14:05 > 0:14:07and invested more money
0:14:07 > 0:14:11into some form of legacy to continue into 2014.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Recently, on the news,
0:14:14 > 0:14:18there has been the protests outside the Ebrington buildings,
0:14:18 > 0:14:211881, to keep that open.
0:14:21 > 0:14:26- Should Derry aspire to have a municipal gallery?- Of course.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30And I'm currently scoping out the Shirt Factory in Rosemount.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33What about the fact that those two buildings
0:14:33 > 0:14:36are already match-fit for contemporary art?
0:14:36 > 0:14:40I understand that. But they're not in my department
0:14:40 > 0:14:42and I'm not waiting on an argument getting sorted -
0:14:42 > 0:14:46I'm scoping out, not just about a gallery space,
0:14:46 > 0:14:47but an exhibition space.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50So, you're looking at another shirt factory,
0:14:50 > 0:14:52not the one on Patrick Street?
0:14:52 > 0:14:53Well, I'm looking at...
0:14:53 > 0:14:55Cos that's already been made match-fit, as well.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59At the minute, I'm scoping out space,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02and what I'll do is I'll look at options and then make a decision.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05Some people might say, "Could you ever just leave Derry to one side?
0:15:05 > 0:15:07"They've had their year in the sun,
0:15:07 > 0:15:09"Belfast has also had a lot of investment.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12"I'm sitting here in Cookstown..." Other parts, I mean, Fermanagh.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15- Are you going to look at the whole of Northern Ireland?- I have been.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18And recently I was in Newry,
0:15:18 > 0:15:20working with Sticky Fingers,
0:15:20 > 0:15:22a children's arts programme.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25And Newry are quite angry, because they don't feel
0:15:25 > 0:15:27they've got their fair share, as does Fermanagh,
0:15:27 > 0:15:29as does East Tyrone, West Tyrone.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31As does parts of Down,
0:15:31 > 0:15:33as are parts of Belfast.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35Because there's still an argument in Belfast,
0:15:35 > 0:15:39all the investment goes to east and south and the city centre,
0:15:39 > 0:15:41north and west are by and large overlooked.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44And I have no issue with that, I think people have a right to demand,
0:15:44 > 0:15:47and not just demand, but to expect services.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50It shouldn't be access to services or arts by postcode.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52But I haven't got enough money,
0:15:52 > 0:15:53so I need to prioritise
0:15:53 > 0:15:55and what I've done to that end
0:15:55 > 0:15:58is look at a business plan that does look at social inclusion,
0:15:58 > 0:16:00that does look at tackling poverty,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03that does look at enhancing what we can do collectively.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07And I'm asking people to come up with, I suppose,
0:16:07 > 0:16:08a product that meets that
0:16:08 > 0:16:11and, if it does, I would certainly find the money.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13With the recent Haass talks,
0:16:13 > 0:16:17culture became almost a divisive issue.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20How can arts and culture here bring people together?
0:16:20 > 0:16:23What would be your aspiration as the Culture Minister?
0:16:23 > 0:16:25I don't mind about a controversy around arts,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27because I think it's good.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29And I would like to have a debate around
0:16:29 > 0:16:33the importance of culture and arts in our community and our society.
0:16:33 > 0:16:34I'd like people to have a debate
0:16:34 > 0:16:37about how they can access those services
0:16:37 > 0:16:39and that experience a lot better.
0:16:39 > 0:16:45I just think that at times people feel that the arts has been hijacked,
0:16:45 > 0:16:47it's become elite.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51I don't accept that. I know the arts providers don't accept that, either.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53I know some of the arts providers I work with,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56particularly around the Christmas period, in Belfast,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58went out of their way
0:16:58 > 0:17:03to make sure that people came to the exhibitions and shows.
0:17:03 > 0:17:08We provided additional money for tickets
0:17:08 > 0:17:11to help people who really couldn't afford, in the month of Christmas,
0:17:11 > 0:17:13to go to arts, or people who felt it wasn't for them.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16It's difficult though if somebody's going to leave a bomb in a holdall
0:17:16 > 0:17:19outside the MAC when you're bringing your kids to see a Christmas show.
0:17:19 > 0:17:20It's hugely difficult.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23They're a minority of people who don't have the support of people,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26and arts do what they did best, they just got on with it.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30You know, you love the learning of the Irish language,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32and the Feile and the Irish music,
0:17:32 > 0:17:34what else fires you?
0:17:34 > 0:17:37What do you do when you do have spare time?
0:17:37 > 0:17:39I put my MP3 player on.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44And I have a real range of taste of music
0:17:44 > 0:17:46that goes from Led Zeppelin to Bach.
0:17:46 > 0:17:47If it's not too late,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51I put the music on really loud and I'll chill.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54By and large, I normally turn the TV off, I'm a big radio fan.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58I went in to see the Ulster Orchestra one time in Ulster Hall,
0:17:58 > 0:18:00and it was amazing.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03It was brilliant, and I went in kind of thinking,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06"I'll have to go and see one of these, because I haven't been yet."
0:18:06 > 0:18:07Do you know, almost as a duty?
0:18:07 > 0:18:09And I was hooked.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12I haven't really been to a lot of plays.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15And it's not because I don't like them, it is just about time.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17But I think I'm really lucky enough
0:18:17 > 0:18:18to be looking at the things,
0:18:18 > 0:18:20rather than looking for the things.
0:18:20 > 0:18:21Minister, thank you very much
0:18:21 > 0:18:23- for your time.- Thank you.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35My picks for 2014, Maiden Voyage Dance Company premiere a new piece
0:18:35 > 0:18:37by Spanish choreographer Enrique Cabrera
0:18:37 > 0:18:40at the Belfast Children's Festival in March.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42Then, in autumn, they're undertaking an exciting project
0:18:42 > 0:18:45with Liz Roche's dance company from Dublin.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48On the touring circuit, we have Swan Lake coming to the Opera House
0:18:48 > 0:18:50and Phoenix Dance Company present a mixed bill
0:18:50 > 0:18:52at the Theatre In The Mill in Newtownabbey.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55And world-renowned choreographer Jiri Kylian presents
0:18:55 > 0:18:58a new Beckett-inspired production, East Shadow,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01at the Happy Days International Festival in Enniskillen.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04Young performers to keep an eye on in 2014 for me
0:19:04 > 0:19:06would be Turlough Convery,
0:19:06 > 0:19:08graduated from Guildford last year,
0:19:08 > 0:19:10straight into the West End
0:19:10 > 0:19:12and won the Stephen Sondheim Vocal Award
0:19:12 > 0:19:14for the whole of the UK.
0:19:14 > 0:19:15And Mairead Carlen,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19who's just been snapped up by Celtic Woman in the States
0:19:19 > 0:19:20for one of four to tour.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38The 25th of January celebrates the birth of Scotland's greatest poet,
0:19:38 > 0:19:40Robert, or Rabbie, Burns.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43Northern Ireland has a strong connection with him.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45He used to write to the Belfast Newsletter
0:19:45 > 0:19:48long before he was published in book form,
0:19:48 > 0:19:50and they printed his original work.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53Original copies are held here at the Linen Hall Library in Belfast,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56which boasts the largest repository of Burns material
0:19:56 > 0:19:57outside of Scotland,
0:19:57 > 0:20:00some of which is currently on display.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03But Rabbie Burns was as prolific in his love life
0:20:03 > 0:20:05as he was in his writing.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08The Arts Show goes under the tartan to find out more.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20# Ae fond kiss
0:20:20 > 0:20:24# And then we sever... #
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Ae fond kiss, and then we sever
0:20:29 > 0:20:32Ae fareweel, and then for ever!
0:20:32 > 0:20:36Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50He stands proudly in line
0:20:50 > 0:20:53among a long list of literary bad boys.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55Behan and Bukowski liked to drink
0:20:55 > 0:21:00but, like Lord Byron, Robert Burns loved the lassies.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06A celebrity poet in his own short lifetime,
0:21:06 > 0:21:08Robert Burns remains today
0:21:08 > 0:21:10an international superstar.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15Having penned such world music favourites as Ae Fond Kiss,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Auld Lang Syne, and the Red Rose.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23# My love is like a red, red rose... #
0:21:23 > 0:21:26Who shall say that fortune grieves him,
0:21:26 > 0:21:30While the star of hope she leaves him?
0:21:30 > 0:21:33Me, nae cheerful twinkle lights me
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Dark despair around benights me.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42Burns can be said, with straight face, to be the nearest thing
0:21:42 > 0:21:45that Scotland has to a Lennon or McCartney.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy
0:21:57 > 0:22:00Naething could resist my Nancy
0:22:00 > 0:22:02But to see her was to love her
0:22:02 > 0:22:05But to love her and love for ever.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13But alongside the tenderness and the careful craftsmanship,
0:22:13 > 0:22:16he was also a master of in-your-face bawdry.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18Lyrics fired by a machismo
0:22:18 > 0:22:22that might put a modern-day gangsta rapper to shame.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26Songs such as The Fornicator or Nine Inch Will Please A Lady
0:22:26 > 0:22:30show a peculiar pride in his performance and endowments.
0:22:33 > 0:22:34If he had been around today,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38Robbie may well have featured on the front pages of the red-top tabloids -
0:22:38 > 0:22:42a serial love rat, a father of love children
0:22:42 > 0:22:45all the way from the Highlands to high society in Edinburgh.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54Had we never lov'd sae kindly
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Had we never lov'd sae blindly.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58Never met or never parted
0:22:58 > 0:23:00We would ne'er been broken-hearted.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06Robbie was a prolific lover,
0:23:06 > 0:23:10with at least 13 pregnancies bestowed upon at least five women.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Fare-thee-weel, thou first and fairest!
0:23:17 > 0:23:20Fare-thee-weel, thou best and dearest!
0:23:20 > 0:23:23Thine be ilka joy and treasure
0:23:23 > 0:23:26Peace, enjoyment, love and pleasure!
0:23:32 > 0:23:34Burns was a prodigious talent,
0:23:34 > 0:23:40he has a back catalogue of some 400 songs and some 200 poems -
0:23:40 > 0:23:43translated eventually into over 40 languages.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49In fact, Burns' texts have appeared in every major anthology
0:23:49 > 0:23:53that has attempted the complete survey of poetry in English
0:23:53 > 0:23:55since the early 19th century.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05Ae fond kiss, and then we sever!
0:24:05 > 0:24:09Ae fareweel alas, for ever!
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21And before you get the idea that Robbie was just a heartless womaniser
0:24:21 > 0:24:25without a conscience, a brute who loved and left,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28there is more evidence of his sensitive soul.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33In A Poet's Welcome To His Love-Begotten Daughter,
0:24:33 > 0:24:38he embraces in rhyme his newborn, illegitimate daughter
0:24:38 > 0:24:41in the face of his public censure by the Kirk.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Here though is a clue to an attitude which, if not exactly feminist,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51points to the fact that he believes women are as intelligent as men.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55Burns had several correspondents who were aristocratic ladies,
0:24:55 > 0:24:59women upon whom he could try out his ideas, his work too.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05His homely Scots dialect and plain-spokenness appealed
0:25:05 > 0:25:09to the masses in Scotland and also in Ulster -
0:25:09 > 0:25:13prone as so many of these people were to be politically critical
0:25:13 > 0:25:16of their supposed masters and betters.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25His support for the French Revolution,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28his ability to poke the finger of fun at religious hypocrisy,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31his appetite for life, and the ladies,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34meant that he wasn't everyone's cup of tea back then.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41I'm sitting at the heart of the very cottage where Robbie was born.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45And, in the 250th anniversary of his birth,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47an estimated 90 million fans
0:25:47 > 0:25:51celebrated Burns Night across the globe.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53I think Robbie would have settled for that.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03Lock up your great-granddaughters!
0:26:03 > 0:26:05Well, that's it from The Arts Show for tonight.
0:26:05 > 0:26:06Join me live on Twitter now.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10And just to say many congratulations to Sinead Morrissey
0:26:10 > 0:26:14who has won the TS Eliot Prize for poetry.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16You can keep up-to-date with arts and culture
0:26:16 > 0:26:20on BBC Radio Ulster's Arts Extra, weeknights at 6:30pm.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24But we leave you with one of the most exciting local music acts
0:26:24 > 0:26:27of 2014 - The Clameens, from Derry.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31In honour of Burns, we asked them to reinterpret the Burns classic
0:26:31 > 0:26:34My Luve Is Like A Red, Red Rose. Good night.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46# O my Luve is like a red, red rose
0:26:46 > 0:26:49# That's newly sprung in June
0:26:50 > 0:26:54# O my Luve is like a melodie
0:26:54 > 0:26:58# That's sweetly played in tune
0:26:58 > 0:27:01# As fair art thou, my bonnie lass
0:27:01 > 0:27:05# So deep in luve am I
0:27:06 > 0:27:09# And I will luve thee still, my dear
0:27:09 > 0:27:13# Till the seas a' gang dry
0:27:13 > 0:27:17# Till the seas gang dry, my dear
0:27:17 > 0:27:20# Till the seas gang dry
0:27:21 > 0:27:24# Till the seas gang dry, my dear
0:27:24 > 0:27:27# Till the seas gang dry
0:27:36 > 0:27:39# Till the seas gang dry, my dear
0:27:39 > 0:27:42# And the rocks melt wi' the sun
0:27:43 > 0:27:47# And I will luve thee still, my dear
0:27:47 > 0:27:50# While the sands of life shall run
0:27:51 > 0:27:55# Fare thee well, my only Luve
0:27:55 > 0:27:57# Fare thee well, a while
0:27:59 > 0:28:02# And I will come again, my Luve
0:28:02 > 0:28:06# Tho' ten thousand mile
0:28:06 > 0:28:10# Till the seas gang dry, my dear
0:28:10 > 0:28:13# Till the seas gang dry
0:28:13 > 0:28:17# Till the seas gang dry, my dear
0:28:17 > 0:28:21# Till the seas gang dry
0:28:21 > 0:28:24# O my Luve is like a red, red rose
0:28:24 > 0:28:27# That's newly sprung in June
0:28:29 > 0:28:32# Till the seas gang dry, my dear
0:28:32 > 0:28:35# Till the seas gang dry
0:28:36 > 0:28:40# Till the seas gang dry, my dear
0:28:40 > 0:28:42# Till the seas gang dry. #