Reviews

Irish Times reviewers give their verdicts on a performance of Cinderella at the Grand Opera House in Belfast and a Christmas Exhibition at the Lavit Gallery in Cork

Cinderella at the Grand Opera House, Belfast

Cinderella is at the Belfast Grand Opera House and May McFettridge is flying inelegantly across the stage as a raucous, wise-cracking fairy godmother. Yes, it must be Christmas.

So much a part of the festive season has artistic director Derek Nicholls's panto become, that booking tickets in July is as much part of the ritual as ordering the turkey and putting up the tree.

This year, ¨however, there's a little less fizz and bubble than usual. What the line-up lacks is a big-name comic, capable of injecting the kind of anarchy and manic disorder on which McFettridge's inimitable brand of sharp-edged, black Belfast humour can thrive. As a result, her appearances - in uncharacteristically restrained costumes - are low-key and verging dangerously on the good-mannered.

Perhaps she is taking a leaf out of Richard Cadell's gentle, soft-hearted Buttons, who, from time to time, appears with a glove puppet stuck on the end of his arm. But when that puppet is the adorable Sooty, who's complaining? Sooty's magic show is the star turn of the evening, bringing cherished memories of childhood to the most senior members of the audience and new joy to the youngest.

As expected, the set pieces at the Royal Palace and the wedding finale are lavish and colourful, though they would have been enhanced by more imaginative and better danced choreography. The spectacular transformation of Cinders is all frosted snow and crystal, framed in a hi-tech laser show and led off by a cute pair of fluffy white ponies.

Wilson Shields's music is also at a lower octane level, but is very well sung by the principals Scott Wright and Lucy Morgans, while Jay Worthy and Miles Western are a funkily grotesque pair of uglies. The audience was at last given the opportunity for a good shout by a daft bit of business, involving the two sisters and a spooky ghost, entered into with gusto and enthusiasm, which underlined one of the real reasons for being there in the first place.

Runs until January 18th. Bookings from the Ticket Shop on Belfast 90241919.

Jane Coyle

Christmas Exhibition at the The Lavit Gallery, Cork

Christmas shows by their nature tend to have a fixed eye on the commercial market, with the selection process leaning toward accessible artworks. But the Lavit Gallery has balanced things out, with a mix of more challenging works included, ensuring most viewers will find something of interest.

Of the artists working with landscape subjects, Paul White's watercolours combine naturalistic colour with an unconventional approach to paint application. Lillian O'Sullivan's close up view of a wall with distant mountains is impressively realistic even though she has used colouring pencils. James English's Spanish coastal subject is by contrast immediate and expressive in its rendition.

A number of artists present a more abstracted view of the landscape. Keith Wilson's Turning Point is a seductive representation of a simple pathway, pared back to an elegant shape rendered using a palette knife. Tom Climent, who represents architectural subjects, brings similar brevity to his style. Tim Goulding's Mont 2 shows his fascination for surface effects, here established without an obvious landscape reference, as veils and flecks of paint establish a shimmering language of colour and texture. Samuel Walsh's Study 144 (Still Life) is deceptively simple with hard edged shapes floating against a discreet background, shifting in and out of view as the colour and tone seem to vary in dominance. Sinead Rice's work relates well to Walsh's, as her etchings of similar vessel-like forms manifest into a sculptural configuration in a bronze. Marie Foley's sculptures have a ritualistic feel, while Hugh Lorrigan's wall mounted tiles with altar and throne motifs, are particularly eye-catching through their vibrant, shimmering colour.

Runs until Dec 24th

Mark Ewart