Episode 9 The Arts Show


Episode 9

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This programme contains some strong language.

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Welcome to The Arts Show, your monthly guide to the best arts and

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culture in Northern Ireland. And what a year of culture it has been.

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It is hard to believe this is our last show of 2013. An amazing year

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for the arts in Northern Ireland. Here is what is coming up. We meet

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jazz pianist extraordinaire Neil Cowley, who has played with everyone

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from Rhianna to Adele, as he prepares for his closing concert as

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the UK's City of Culture's musician in residence. The editors of the two

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main newspapers in Derry-Londonderry share their conclusions as the year

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of culture draws to a close. And members of our arts community

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tell us their cultural highlight of 2013. I have been to London for a

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few times in recent years to see the Turner Prize and never enjoyed it

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half as much as when it was in Derry. There was a huge sense of fun

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about the whole show that invoke curiosity and yet it was intelligent

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as well. My favourite piece was the paintings of people that did not

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exist, which was fascinating, something you do as a child. Hugely

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fun characters as well. Music every day, without a doubt. From dusk till

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Dawn, the city which is already known as the city of music, came out

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en masse. We started in Donegal and to go from there to The Sky

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Orchestra with orchestral music waking up the city at dawn, it was

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just incredible. The world premiere of Sam Shepard's A Particle of Dread

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- Oedipus Variations is one of the most anticipated highlights of the

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UK's City of Culture. Written for Field Day Theatre Company it stars

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Stephen Rea and is directed by Nancy Meckler. I caught up with them

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during rehearsals. Isn't this the place where you held me down, your

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foot on my back, my chest in the mud? Here, wasn't it? Field Day

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Theatre Company was founded in 1980 by Brian Friel and Stephen Rea, and

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it brought together the best literary minds of their time. They

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produced a new writing exploring the schisms and conflicts within society

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here. After a hiatus of 15 years, Field Day returned with a clutch of

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new plays for the City of Culture. The city has moved on. I am certain

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it will not move back. What theatre can do that politics here

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particularly does not do is to very subtly open up ideas and language,

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particularly language. What does it mean to be premiere airing Sam

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Shepard's new play here in Derry? It is a big return for Field Day to get

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Sam to write a play, to get Nancy to direct it, and I really believe we

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have a world-class group of people here working on this, you know. Sam

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Shepard is the Pulitzer prize-winning writer of the out of

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the way dusty expanses of the United States. What does Derry feel like as

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a writer? Very close. Continually you are meeting people. People are

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right up next to each other and people are very friendly. Does the

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city where we are now, does that inform the play? Sam knew he was

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writing it for Derry said he had that in mind. I thought it was

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interesting that in rehearsal Sam would walk the walls every

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lunchtime. For him it became part of the process to walk the walls and

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see the different parts of Derry. He is like a domiciled Derry man now.

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He says people know him when he walked along the street. Really? He

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is wearing a tweed jacket and I am worried now. Me has gone native? I

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prefer the cowboy! You have done six plays now. Yes, I met some in the

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70s. We both met him in the 70s, and by directed a very short and old

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play of his. -- eyes I directed. We are on the same wavelength. I get

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his writing. As soon as the light starts to come up, I should start

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talking? Stephen Rea left his native Belfast in the late 1960s to carve

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out a career as one of the most visceral actors of his generation on

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stage and on screen, achieving an Oscar nomination in 1992 for The

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Crying Game. I trust his approach. He doesn't make the big deal out of

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motivation, for instance. American actors tend to overindulge in

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reasoning and meaning and all that kind of stuff. In a play like this,

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you just cannot. Gripped by hawks and eagles, remnants, ribbons of

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people, strings. Small traces. A King. The story begins its curse

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right here. Begins to crawl. Naked traces, all. Family split in two and

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a man who can't escape his fate. We can trace these things throughout

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Sam Shepard's writing, but A Particle of Dread - Oedipus

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Variations is a modern setting of the Greek tragedy written nearly

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2500 years ago. Oedipus has committed a terrible crime, but

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doesn't realise it until the final act. It fired Sam Shepard's

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imagination. I have been ruminating on this subject for a long, long

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time. Sam produced a lot of disparate areas of writing and the

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job was to put it all together and that is where Nancy came in. We had

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this huge spread of scenes all over the floor. My goodness, where do we

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begin? Let's try that one and that one. Eventually Sam was able to take

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that away. Suddenly he had a sense of how to put it all together. You

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want no trace left of him, I suppose? Nothing but the toenail.

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Icon by growing up with this nightmare. -- I can't bear. You

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don't know. He could be revered. He could become anything. Maybe it is

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just you who can't take it. The pictures in your mind, the imagery,

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your husband locking the baby-sitter. Maybe it is only you.

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Killing your baby will not fix that. 20 bucks. $10 then? Are you out of

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your mind? Five? Where are you going? Left my purse in the car. The

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character suddenly realises that he is guilty. I think the recognition

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is the core of the whole play. As an actor, Sam Shepard achieved iconic

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status in Hollywood films like The Right Stuff. His good looks did not

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distract him from challenging projects. In Voyager he plays a man

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who begins an affair with a younger woman that his ex-wife reveals the

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woman is in fact his daughter. Like Oedipus, he has his moment of

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recognition. That is your child, not ours. Is this true? One word after

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20 years, one stupid words divided us? Exactly. And by the way, it is

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21 years. Why do you get figures wrong? It is interesting that you

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are the man of science, the man of mathematics, who cannot add nine

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months to one year. I am going to see my daughter. Being an actor

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really informs your writing. You are looking at it from the inside out.

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That is where my first started writing plays, and I realised that

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the intuitive knowledge that you have as an actor certainly informs

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you as a writer. In so much of your writing there is a male character

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trapped in themselves, seemingly unable to change their fate. I very

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much believe that things are written. Things are predestined.

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There are certain aspects of your being, one's being, of one's getting

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on with it, that you cannot help. You can't help who you, you know? It

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is an idea that Sam Shepard explored in his screenplay for the

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award-winning Paris Texas. And he took part in a special screening

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during his stay in Derry. That character of Travis, there is a man

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trapped, seemingly unable to change his fate. I am very interested in

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trauma. What happens when the whole being is traumatised? What happens

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in this state when you cannot speak any more? That is his character.

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Would you mind telling me where you disappeared two for the last four

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years? Have you seen Jane or talked to her? People keep PDAing him,

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chiding him, like they are trying to draw something out of him. But all

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the time he knows what his trauma is, he just can't speak. There is an

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incredible scene in the film when he is leaving a telephone message for

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his son. He is trying to avoid the trauma. It is all denial, all of it.

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The biggest thing I hoped for can't come true. I know that now. You

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belong together with your mother. Why are you drawn towards the

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writing of male characters who are trapped and seemingly unable to

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change their fate? God, I don't know. It is part of my background, I

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guess. The way I grew up. The witnessing of all the males in my

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family. There was this thrust of Eisenhowers and this whole kind of

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it is a brand-new world and everyone wants a refrigerator and a

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television, and you have to be... You know, positive. But all I around

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me was negativity. -- all I could see. Have you been in rehearsals?

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Yes, continuously adding and subtracting and driving the actors

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crazy. We have a tremendous cast. Really fantastic. And mainly an

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Irish cast as well. They are all Northern Irish. Mumbo jumbo. Bones.

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Blood. Dreams and guts hanging from clotheslines. I know his game, your

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uncle. I have seen what he does, how he does it.

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It was him, wasn't it? You shouldn't believe such wild superstition.

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That's my ideal, really, that we could do theatre that is highly

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achieved as in America or London, so we don't feel in the shadow of a

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bigger, next-door culture. Murder? Is that what he told to? Murder and

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rape? That's not our fate. We will see what comes of this. As

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an actor, I have long ago stopped reading reviews. But then, as

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management, I have two. I don't want to, but I will, and then I will

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probably have murder in my heart! You're sounding like Oedipus! You're

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channelling your inner Oedipus! I went to see good vibrations, and

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for the first 20 minutes I didn't know why somebody had made a film

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about somebody who owned a record shop. But it is about the redemptive

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power of art. It was great to see a Northern Ireland film with a huge

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idea in the middle of it. My highlight was seeing Melissa

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Hamilton at the City of Culture. It was mesmerising. She has recently

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been appointed soloist, but the sea, in such close quarters, such talent

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with three other dancers, was just amazing for me. One of my highlights

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for the year was the big weekend by the BBC, it was great to have

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national artists from across the globe here in our city. Particularly

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for the teenagers and young people. But also, the city looked fantastic.

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Seeing that broadcast across the world and we were so proud of that.

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In July this year, half way through the UK City of Culture we canvassed

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opinion from the Editors of the city's two leading newspapers - The

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Derry Journal's Martin McGinley and the Londonderry Sentinel's William

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Allen. Here's what they had to say back then. There is no doubt things

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are happening but it is important not to carried away and ignore some

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important issues. The City of Culture it programme has been

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important. But they intentions. If we hadn't made the issues of under

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resourcing public, I wonder if the council would have agreed to

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underwrite the project. There are complaints about the difficulty of

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getting private sector sponsorship because there is no brand. How can

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the first ever UK City of Culture not be a saleable brand? There is

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the direct and infrastructure, there are good news stories. We have city

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tours, reporting 30% increase in their business, and the best ever

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month for Hotel occupancy in May. Culture year is not a panacea, we

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still have 6000 people on benefits. We need the expanding university,

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the motorway, the jobs. But what we have is confident that things can

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happen. That confidence will be a big part of City of Culture's legacy

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but their legacy will have to be worked out and that is where the

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attention is turning to now. That's what you thought back in July, what

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do you think now? I'm still upbeat about how the year has gone. Since

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then, we have at the Fleadh, which was spectacular. Seeing Derry at its

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best, welcoming thousands of people from all over the world, really.

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Does the positivity continue for you? The things that Martin has

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mentioned. The Fleadh also. But being negative, and we have to look

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at it from all sides, it has been fantastic, but I don't think just

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saying that there is any good. I don't think the economic aspect has

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been that well thought out. I think they should have been some emphasis

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on regeneration. But in terms of regeneration, the city has never

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looked better? Physically, it looks fantastic but you walk along when

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you see so many empty shops. It's true, there is an issue of

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confidence, and how the city is positioned for future growth. There

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was a study which shows that Derry is the top ten of cities that are

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poised for growth. There were 600,000 visitors, that has been

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positive, the Chamber of Commerce is saying that businesses are starting

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to feel the enough it. The important thing is to keep the momentum. But

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that will need money. It will, one of the things that had supported me

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-- disappointed me has been the lack of rabid sector investment. Where

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could that private sector investment have gone? There has been debate

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around the fact it could have been bought for much cheaper then it

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ended up being rented for. People will look at that and think, ?6

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million, would you have done something with that? There will be

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questions about whether we should have continued with it. And the

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private sector, people didn't feel the confidence at this stage to

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operate something of that size. You were exercised about the

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organisational difficulties. Are you still worried, with the recent

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public spat between the culture company and the town clerk of Derry

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City Council? If we couldn't pull together this year, that suggests to

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me we have major problems in developing the legacy of it. We

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already know whether people will be kept on or not, we also have the

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Council developing its legacy and now we have the culture minister

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announcing a legacy project. So again, we are dividing. Is that

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quite muddled thinking? My view is it is all a lot of noise, it's all a

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lot of noise, it's all a bit of a people giving out, but when you

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think about it, there were three main bodies that had a mainstay in

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what was happening, the culture Company, the City Council which was

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charged in making sure the money was spent and then you have a storm

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want. A lot of people have a lot at stake. Everyone is looking after

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their own area. If you put artistic people and bureaucrats into apart

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and put fresh on it you will get a pop. There is still concern that in

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January, the venue is going to come down and the Turner prize, the big

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circus, will leave town and those holdings will become, essentially,

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offices. It can't be allowed to happen, you have spent so much on a

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gallery. The idea you would turn over an international standard

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gallery into basically offices, instead of developing it as a

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gallery of significance in a regional setting, so it would be

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another attraction for the city and would be something that would be

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remembered, this started in 2013. Willie Doherty said if it closes

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down, it sent out a message to the city and the world that the city

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doesn't deserve it. Or it might say that we not cultured enough for it,

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and I don't think that's true. Thank you very much.

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For me, there is no argument. The highlight was this moment of

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redemption for the city of Belfast when Belfast found its voice. We pay

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tribute to the unwritten, a man who brought us onto the higher ground --

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Van Morrison. That family made it perfect moral -- moment of 2013. It

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was before hundreds anniversary of the walls of Derry and it was marked

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by a very special event where there were simultaneous performances in

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Derry and London. It brought together wall-to-wall music, the LSO

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and more importantly, the young people of Derry and London, making

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music together. When I was 15 I studied the pop Art movement in

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school, and to be able to experience the art of an icon like anti-war

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hole in Belfast was remarkable. -- and the war hole. To see the posters

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I have previously seen in textbooks, in real life, it was a real

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experience for me. Jazz pianist Neil Cowley is the UK's Jazz Musician of

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the Year and has appeared on albums by the likes of Rihanna, Emilie

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Sande and Adele's global hit, 21. This year he has also been the UK

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City of Culture's Musician-in-Residence. For his

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closing concert he has created a brand new Derry-inspired work, The

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Eighth Gate. It's a beautifully warm place and

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has completely got into my heart and soul. This is much more of a

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journey, it's a piece with a melody that seemingly never repeats itself

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and it reflects the experience of the year that we have had here.

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There is a pita for couples feel to the place, it's deeply historic, and

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there is a great deal of history coming through its planes and a

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great deal of pride. The gates are a beautifully symbolic thing, so the

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eighth gate now is really just my gift back to say, thank you, you

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changed me. My year as a musician in residence

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has been totally unexpected gift. It started out as a job then it came a

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vocation. And then I realised it was a complete gift, it was a present to

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me. I almost feel naughty about the fact that I got so much from it. --

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feel guilty. The music promises to change throughout the year, but it's

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effectively to give the youth of the city and long lasting legacy and

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give them the opportunity to be involved with music. It is born

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great fruit. Almost from day one, I was involved and I ended up going to

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community centres, schools, workshops. The success of music is

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down to the fact there was this lifeblood of music running through

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every generation. When I wrote the piece, it became

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less about this city and its architecture, it became about

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people. I think every bar I have written has been a way of saying,

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thank you so much, for the way you have taken me in. And I want

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everyone to know, outside the border town, if you like, what an amazing,

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vibrant, intelligent place this is. And I hope that for my small part, I

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have helped in putting that out there.

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My cultural harlot was a political dance piece, I saw it up in Derry,

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it was a large-scale piece, I really exciting large-scale piece, with

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relentless energy. They had a wall of live sound and accompanying, the

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most beautiful, exquisite, thought-provoking dance. A personal

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highlight for me at the Festival was the production of Belfast by

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moonlight. It would together several classical and contemporary theatre

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styles, with echoes of a Greek chorus, and wonderful original music

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by Neil Martin. Well, that's it from The Arts Show

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for 2013. Join me live on Twitter straight after the show. You can

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also keep up to date with arts and culture on BBC Radio Ulster's Arts

:28:38.:28:42.

Extra every weeknight at 6.30pm. And visit our website for an exclusive

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interview with Belfast-born actress, Patricia Quinn, Magenta in The Rocky

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Horror Picture Show which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

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The Arts Show is back in January for a brand new series. Until then have

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a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. Goodnight.

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