:00:00. > :00:18.This programme contains some strong language.
:00:19. > :00:23.Welcome to The Arts Show, your monthly guide to the best arts and
:00:24. > :00:52.culture in Northern Ireland. And what a year of culture it has been.
:00:53. > :00:59.It is hard to believe this is our last show of 2013. An amazing year
:01:00. > :01:04.for the arts in Northern Ireland. Here is what is coming up. We meet
:01:05. > :01:09.jazz pianist extraordinaire Neil Cowley, who has played with everyone
:01:10. > :01:15.from Rhianna to Adele, as he prepares for his closing concert as
:01:16. > :01:20.the UK's City of Culture's musician in residence. The editors of the two
:01:21. > :01:23.main newspapers in Derry-Londonderry share their conclusions as the year
:01:24. > :01:44.of culture draws to a close. And members of our arts community
:01:45. > :01:47.tell us their cultural highlight of 2013. I have been to London for a
:01:48. > :01:50.few times in recent years to see the Turner Prize and never enjoyed it
:01:51. > :01:53.half as much as when it was in Derry. There was a huge sense of fun
:01:54. > :01:56.about the whole show that invoke curiosity and yet it was intelligent
:01:57. > :01:58.as well. My favourite piece was the paintings of people that did not
:01:59. > :02:00.exist, which was fascinating, something you do as a child. Hugely
:02:01. > :02:04.fun characters as well. Music every day, without a doubt. From dusk till
:02:05. > :02:09.Dawn, the city which is already known as the city of music, came out
:02:10. > :02:15.en masse. We started in Donegal and to go from there to The Sky
:02:16. > :02:22.Orchestra with orchestral music waking up the city at dawn, it was
:02:23. > :02:25.just incredible. The world premiere of Sam Shepard's A Particle of Dread
:02:26. > :02:29.- Oedipus Variations is one of the most anticipated highlights of the
:02:30. > :02:36.UK's City of Culture. Written for Field Day Theatre Company it stars
:02:37. > :02:40.Stephen Rea and is directed by Nancy Meckler. I caught up with them
:02:41. > :02:47.during rehearsals. Isn't this the place where you held me down, your
:02:48. > :02:54.foot on my back, my chest in the mud? Here, wasn't it? Field Day
:02:55. > :02:58.Theatre Company was founded in 1980 by Brian Friel and Stephen Rea, and
:02:59. > :03:04.it brought together the best literary minds of their time. They
:03:05. > :03:08.produced a new writing exploring the schisms and conflicts within society
:03:09. > :03:15.here. After a hiatus of 15 years, Field Day returned with a clutch of
:03:16. > :03:19.new plays for the City of Culture. The city has moved on. I am certain
:03:20. > :03:22.it will not move back. What theatre can do that politics here
:03:23. > :03:29.particularly does not do is to very subtly open up ideas and language,
:03:30. > :03:36.particularly language. What does it mean to be premiere airing Sam
:03:37. > :03:40.Shepard's new play here in Derry? It is a big return for Field Day to get
:03:41. > :03:44.Sam to write a play, to get Nancy to direct it, and I really believe we
:03:45. > :03:50.have a world-class group of people here working on this, you know. Sam
:03:51. > :03:57.Shepard is the Pulitzer prize-winning writer of the out of
:03:58. > :04:05.the way dusty expanses of the United States. What does Derry feel like as
:04:06. > :04:08.a writer? Very close. Continually you are meeting people. People are
:04:09. > :04:18.right up next to each other and people are very friendly. Does the
:04:19. > :04:22.city where we are now, does that inform the play? Sam knew he was
:04:23. > :04:25.writing it for Derry said he had that in mind. I thought it was
:04:26. > :04:30.interesting that in rehearsal Sam would walk the walls every
:04:31. > :04:35.lunchtime. For him it became part of the process to walk the walls and
:04:36. > :04:39.see the different parts of Derry. He is like a domiciled Derry man now.
:04:40. > :04:46.He says people know him when he walked along the street. Really? He
:04:47. > :04:57.is wearing a tweed jacket and I am worried now. Me has gone native? I
:04:58. > :05:04.prefer the cowboy! You have done six plays now. Yes, I met some in the
:05:05. > :05:17.70s. We both met him in the 70s, and by directed a very short and old
:05:18. > :05:23.play of his. -- eyes I directed. We are on the same wavelength. I get
:05:24. > :05:31.his writing. As soon as the light starts to come up, I should start
:05:32. > :05:36.talking? Stephen Rea left his native Belfast in the late 1960s to carve
:05:37. > :05:40.out a career as one of the most visceral actors of his generation on
:05:41. > :05:48.stage and on screen, achieving an Oscar nomination in 1992 for The
:05:49. > :05:54.Crying Game. I trust his approach. He doesn't make the big deal out of
:05:55. > :05:59.motivation, for instance. American actors tend to overindulge in
:06:00. > :06:06.reasoning and meaning and all that kind of stuff. In a play like this,
:06:07. > :06:14.you just cannot. Gripped by hawks and eagles, remnants, ribbons of
:06:15. > :06:30.people, strings. Small traces. A King. The story begins its curse
:06:31. > :06:37.right here. Begins to crawl. Naked traces, all. Family split in two and
:06:38. > :06:43.a man who can't escape his fate. We can trace these things throughout
:06:44. > :06:46.Sam Shepard's writing, but A Particle of Dread - Oedipus
:06:47. > :06:50.Variations is a modern setting of the Greek tragedy written nearly
:06:51. > :06:55.2500 years ago. Oedipus has committed a terrible crime, but
:06:56. > :07:00.doesn't realise it until the final act. It fired Sam Shepard's
:07:01. > :07:07.imagination. I have been ruminating on this subject for a long, long
:07:08. > :07:10.time. Sam produced a lot of disparate areas of writing and the
:07:11. > :07:16.job was to put it all together and that is where Nancy came in. We had
:07:17. > :07:21.this huge spread of scenes all over the floor. My goodness, where do we
:07:22. > :07:26.begin? Let's try that one and that one. Eventually Sam was able to take
:07:27. > :07:31.that away. Suddenly he had a sense of how to put it all together. You
:07:32. > :07:37.want no trace left of him, I suppose? Nothing but the toenail.
:07:38. > :07:50.Icon by growing up with this nightmare. -- I can't bear. You
:07:51. > :07:54.don't know. He could be revered. He could become anything. Maybe it is
:07:55. > :08:02.just you who can't take it. The pictures in your mind, the imagery,
:08:03. > :08:07.your husband locking the baby-sitter. Maybe it is only you.
:08:08. > :08:20.Killing your baby will not fix that. 20 bucks. $10 then? Are you out of
:08:21. > :08:27.your mind? Five? Where are you going? Left my purse in the car. The
:08:28. > :08:38.character suddenly realises that he is guilty. I think the recognition
:08:39. > :08:43.is the core of the whole play. As an actor, Sam Shepard achieved iconic
:08:44. > :08:47.status in Hollywood films like The Right Stuff. His good looks did not
:08:48. > :08:51.distract him from challenging projects. In Voyager he plays a man
:08:52. > :08:55.who begins an affair with a younger woman that his ex-wife reveals the
:08:56. > :09:01.woman is in fact his daughter. Like Oedipus, he has his moment of
:09:02. > :09:12.recognition. That is your child, not ours. Is this true? One word after
:09:13. > :09:20.20 years, one stupid words divided us? Exactly. And by the way, it is
:09:21. > :09:26.21 years. Why do you get figures wrong? It is interesting that you
:09:27. > :09:36.are the man of science, the man of mathematics, who cannot add nine
:09:37. > :09:41.months to one year. I am going to see my daughter. Being an actor
:09:42. > :09:46.really informs your writing. You are looking at it from the inside out.
:09:47. > :09:49.That is where my first started writing plays, and I realised that
:09:50. > :09:55.the intuitive knowledge that you have as an actor certainly informs
:09:56. > :09:59.you as a writer. In so much of your writing there is a male character
:10:00. > :10:07.trapped in themselves, seemingly unable to change their fate. I very
:10:08. > :10:11.much believe that things are written. Things are predestined.
:10:12. > :10:17.There are certain aspects of your being, one's being, of one's getting
:10:18. > :10:26.on with it, that you cannot help. You can't help who you, you know? It
:10:27. > :10:32.is an idea that Sam Shepard explored in his screenplay for the
:10:33. > :10:40.award-winning Paris Texas. And he took part in a special screening
:10:41. > :10:45.during his stay in Derry. That character of Travis, there is a man
:10:46. > :10:51.trapped, seemingly unable to change his fate. I am very interested in
:10:52. > :10:54.trauma. What happens when the whole being is traumatised? What happens
:10:55. > :11:00.in this state when you cannot speak any more? That is his character.
:11:01. > :11:07.Would you mind telling me where you disappeared two for the last four
:11:08. > :11:19.years? Have you seen Jane or talked to her? People keep PDAing him,
:11:20. > :11:22.chiding him, like they are trying to draw something out of him. But all
:11:23. > :11:29.the time he knows what his trauma is, he just can't speak. There is an
:11:30. > :11:34.incredible scene in the film when he is leaving a telephone message for
:11:35. > :11:42.his son. He is trying to avoid the trauma. It is all denial, all of it.
:11:43. > :11:54.The biggest thing I hoped for can't come true. I know that now. You
:11:55. > :12:02.belong together with your mother. Why are you drawn towards the
:12:03. > :12:08.writing of male characters who are trapped and seemingly unable to
:12:09. > :12:13.change their fate? God, I don't know. It is part of my background, I
:12:14. > :12:19.guess. The way I grew up. The witnessing of all the males in my
:12:20. > :12:26.family. There was this thrust of Eisenhowers and this whole kind of
:12:27. > :12:32.it is a brand-new world and everyone wants a refrigerator and a
:12:33. > :12:46.television, and you have to be... You know, positive. But all I around
:12:47. > :12:51.me was negativity. -- all I could see. Have you been in rehearsals?
:12:52. > :12:59.Yes, continuously adding and subtracting and driving the actors
:13:00. > :13:03.crazy. We have a tremendous cast. Really fantastic. And mainly an
:13:04. > :13:14.Irish cast as well. They are all Northern Irish. Mumbo jumbo. Bones.
:13:15. > :13:21.Blood. Dreams and guts hanging from clotheslines. I know his game, your
:13:22. > :13:33.uncle. I have seen what he does, how he does it.
:13:34. > :13:47.It was him, wasn't it? You shouldn't believe such wild superstition.
:13:48. > :13:54.That's my ideal, really, that we could do theatre that is highly
:13:55. > :14:01.achieved as in America or London, so we don't feel in the shadow of a
:14:02. > :14:04.bigger, next-door culture. Murder? Is that what he told to? Murder and
:14:05. > :14:27.rape? That's not our fate. We will see what comes of this. As
:14:28. > :14:34.an actor, I have long ago stopped reading reviews. But then, as
:14:35. > :14:42.management, I have two. I don't want to, but I will, and then I will
:14:43. > :14:46.probably have murder in my heart! You're sounding like Oedipus! You're
:14:47. > :15:04.channelling your inner Oedipus! I went to see good vibrations, and
:15:05. > :15:07.for the first 20 minutes I didn't know why somebody had made a film
:15:08. > :15:21.about somebody who owned a record shop. But it is about the redemptive
:15:22. > :15:25.power of art. It was great to see a Northern Ireland film with a huge
:15:26. > :15:31.idea in the middle of it. My highlight was seeing Melissa
:15:32. > :15:43.Hamilton at the City of Culture. It was mesmerising. She has recently
:15:44. > :15:48.been appointed soloist, but the sea, in such close quarters, such talent
:15:49. > :15:54.with three other dancers, was just amazing for me. One of my highlights
:15:55. > :15:59.for the year was the big weekend by the BBC, it was great to have
:16:00. > :16:05.national artists from across the globe here in our city. Particularly
:16:06. > :16:10.for the teenagers and young people. But also, the city looked fantastic.
:16:11. > :16:22.Seeing that broadcast across the world and we were so proud of that.
:16:23. > :16:27.In July this year, half way through the UK City of Culture we canvassed
:16:28. > :16:30.opinion from the Editors of the city's two leading newspapers - The
:16:31. > :16:38.Derry Journal's Martin McGinley and the Londonderry Sentinel's William
:16:39. > :16:43.Allen. Here's what they had to say back then. There is no doubt things
:16:44. > :16:50.are happening but it is important not to carried away and ignore some
:16:51. > :16:58.important issues. The City of Culture it programme has been
:16:59. > :17:04.important. But they intentions. If we hadn't made the issues of under
:17:05. > :17:09.resourcing public, I wonder if the council would have agreed to
:17:10. > :17:12.underwrite the project. There are complaints about the difficulty of
:17:13. > :17:17.getting private sector sponsorship because there is no brand. How can
:17:18. > :17:24.the first ever UK City of Culture not be a saleable brand? There is
:17:25. > :17:31.the direct and infrastructure, there are good news stories. We have city
:17:32. > :17:36.tours, reporting 30% increase in their business, and the best ever
:17:37. > :17:42.month for Hotel occupancy in May. Culture year is not a panacea, we
:17:43. > :17:48.still have 6000 people on benefits. We need the expanding university,
:17:49. > :17:52.the motorway, the jobs. But what we have is confident that things can
:17:53. > :17:56.happen. That confidence will be a big part of City of Culture's legacy
:17:57. > :18:03.but their legacy will have to be worked out and that is where the
:18:04. > :18:08.attention is turning to now. That's what you thought back in July, what
:18:09. > :18:16.do you think now? I'm still upbeat about how the year has gone. Since
:18:17. > :18:22.then, we have at the Fleadh, which was spectacular. Seeing Derry at its
:18:23. > :18:27.best, welcoming thousands of people from all over the world, really.
:18:28. > :18:35.Does the positivity continue for you? The things that Martin has
:18:36. > :18:41.mentioned. The Fleadh also. But being negative, and we have to look
:18:42. > :18:44.at it from all sides, it has been fantastic, but I don't think just
:18:45. > :18:49.saying that there is any good. I don't think the economic aspect has
:18:50. > :18:56.been that well thought out. I think they should have been some emphasis
:18:57. > :19:01.on regeneration. But in terms of regeneration, the city has never
:19:02. > :19:06.looked better? Physically, it looks fantastic but you walk along when
:19:07. > :19:11.you see so many empty shops. It's true, there is an issue of
:19:12. > :19:16.confidence, and how the city is positioned for future growth. There
:19:17. > :19:22.was a study which shows that Derry is the top ten of cities that are
:19:23. > :19:26.poised for growth. There were 600,000 visitors, that has been
:19:27. > :19:29.positive, the Chamber of Commerce is saying that businesses are starting
:19:30. > :19:37.to feel the enough it. The important thing is to keep the momentum. But
:19:38. > :19:42.that will need money. It will, one of the things that had supported me
:19:43. > :19:48.-- disappointed me has been the lack of rabid sector investment. Where
:19:49. > :19:56.could that private sector investment have gone? There has been debate
:19:57. > :19:59.around the fact it could have been bought for much cheaper then it
:20:00. > :20:06.ended up being rented for. People will look at that and think, ?6
:20:07. > :20:11.million, would you have done something with that? There will be
:20:12. > :20:15.questions about whether we should have continued with it. And the
:20:16. > :20:20.private sector, people didn't feel the confidence at this stage to
:20:21. > :20:24.operate something of that size. You were exercised about the
:20:25. > :20:29.organisational difficulties. Are you still worried, with the recent
:20:30. > :20:36.public spat between the culture company and the town clerk of Derry
:20:37. > :20:40.City Council? If we couldn't pull together this year, that suggests to
:20:41. > :20:47.me we have major problems in developing the legacy of it. We
:20:48. > :20:52.already know whether people will be kept on or not, we also have the
:20:53. > :20:57.Council developing its legacy and now we have the culture minister
:20:58. > :21:06.announcing a legacy project. So again, we are dividing. Is that
:21:07. > :21:11.quite muddled thinking? My view is it is all a lot of noise, it's all a
:21:12. > :21:15.lot of noise, it's all a bit of a people giving out, but when you
:21:16. > :21:18.think about it, there were three main bodies that had a mainstay in
:21:19. > :21:24.what was happening, the culture Company, the City Council which was
:21:25. > :21:28.charged in making sure the money was spent and then you have a storm
:21:29. > :21:35.want. A lot of people have a lot at stake. Everyone is looking after
:21:36. > :21:37.their own area. If you put artistic people and bureaucrats into apart
:21:38. > :21:45.and put fresh on it you will get a pop. There is still concern that in
:21:46. > :21:51.January, the venue is going to come down and the Turner prize, the big
:21:52. > :21:58.circus, will leave town and those holdings will become, essentially,
:21:59. > :22:02.offices. It can't be allowed to happen, you have spent so much on a
:22:03. > :22:07.gallery. The idea you would turn over an international standard
:22:08. > :22:11.gallery into basically offices, instead of developing it as a
:22:12. > :22:16.gallery of significance in a regional setting, so it would be
:22:17. > :22:23.another attraction for the city and would be something that would be
:22:24. > :22:28.remembered, this started in 2013. Willie Doherty said if it closes
:22:29. > :22:34.down, it sent out a message to the city and the world that the city
:22:35. > :22:38.doesn't deserve it. Or it might say that we not cultured enough for it,
:22:39. > :22:46.and I don't think that's true. Thank you very much.
:22:47. > :22:54.For me, there is no argument. The highlight was this moment of
:22:55. > :22:59.redemption for the city of Belfast when Belfast found its voice. We pay
:23:00. > :23:07.tribute to the unwritten, a man who brought us onto the higher ground --
:23:08. > :23:15.Van Morrison. That family made it perfect moral -- moment of 2013. It
:23:16. > :23:19.was before hundreds anniversary of the walls of Derry and it was marked
:23:20. > :23:25.by a very special event where there were simultaneous performances in
:23:26. > :23:31.Derry and London. It brought together wall-to-wall music, the LSO
:23:32. > :23:38.and more importantly, the young people of Derry and London, making
:23:39. > :23:42.music together. When I was 15 I studied the pop Art movement in
:23:43. > :23:50.school, and to be able to experience the art of an icon like anti-war
:23:51. > :23:54.hole in Belfast was remarkable. -- and the war hole. To see the posters
:23:55. > :24:02.I have previously seen in textbooks, in real life, it was a real
:24:03. > :24:06.experience for me. Jazz pianist Neil Cowley is the UK's Jazz Musician of
:24:07. > :24:09.the Year and has appeared on albums by the likes of Rihanna, Emilie
:24:10. > :24:12.Sande and Adele's global hit, 21. This year he has also been the UK
:24:13. > :24:15.City of Culture's Musician-in-Residence. For his
:24:16. > :24:16.closing concert he has created a brand new Derry-inspired work, The
:24:17. > :24:41.Eighth Gate. It's a beautifully warm place and
:24:42. > :24:46.has completely got into my heart and soul. This is much more of a
:24:47. > :24:50.journey, it's a piece with a melody that seemingly never repeats itself
:24:51. > :25:04.and it reflects the experience of the year that we have had here.
:25:05. > :25:11.There is a pita for couples feel to the place, it's deeply historic, and
:25:12. > :25:18.there is a great deal of history coming through its planes and a
:25:19. > :25:24.great deal of pride. The gates are a beautifully symbolic thing, so the
:25:25. > :25:25.eighth gate now is really just my gift back to say, thank you, you
:25:26. > :25:51.changed me. My year as a musician in residence
:25:52. > :25:58.has been totally unexpected gift. It started out as a job then it came a
:25:59. > :26:02.vocation. And then I realised it was a complete gift, it was a present to
:26:03. > :26:09.me. I almost feel naughty about the fact that I got so much from it. --
:26:10. > :26:13.feel guilty. The music promises to change throughout the year, but it's
:26:14. > :26:17.effectively to give the youth of the city and long lasting legacy and
:26:18. > :26:22.give them the opportunity to be involved with music. It is born
:26:23. > :26:27.great fruit. Almost from day one, I was involved and I ended up going to
:26:28. > :26:34.community centres, schools, workshops. The success of music is
:26:35. > :26:35.down to the fact there was this lifeblood of music running through
:26:36. > :26:51.every generation. When I wrote the piece, it became
:26:52. > :26:58.less about this city and its architecture, it became about
:26:59. > :27:01.people. I think every bar I have written has been a way of saying,
:27:02. > :27:11.thank you so much, for the way you have taken me in. And I want
:27:12. > :27:19.everyone to know, outside the border town, if you like, what an amazing,
:27:20. > :27:22.vibrant, intelligent place this is. And I hope that for my small part, I
:27:23. > :27:31.have helped in putting that out there.
:27:32. > :27:40.My cultural harlot was a political dance piece, I saw it up in Derry,
:27:41. > :27:45.it was a large-scale piece, I really exciting large-scale piece, with
:27:46. > :27:50.relentless energy. They had a wall of live sound and accompanying, the
:27:51. > :27:57.most beautiful, exquisite, thought-provoking dance. A personal
:27:58. > :28:06.highlight for me at the Festival was the production of Belfast by
:28:07. > :28:09.moonlight. It would together several classical and contemporary theatre
:28:10. > :28:12.styles, with echoes of a Greek chorus, and wonderful original music
:28:13. > :28:31.by Neil Martin. Well, that's it from The Arts Show
:28:32. > :28:37.for 2013. Join me live on Twitter straight after the show. You can
:28:38. > :28:42.also keep up to date with arts and culture on BBC Radio Ulster's Arts
:28:43. > :28:45.Extra every weeknight at 6.30pm. And visit our website for an exclusive
:28:46. > :28:48.interview with Belfast-born actress, Patricia Quinn, Magenta in The Rocky
:28:49. > :28:56.Horror Picture Show which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
:28:57. > :29:00.The Arts Show is back in January for a brand new series. Until then have
:29:01. > :29:03.a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. Goodnight.