ArtScape, edited by Gerry Smyth: As the Northern political parties gathered in Leeds Castle, charged with charting a route into a bright new future, back in Belfast an old, familiar mantra was being chanted, writes Jane Coyle.
"Anti-royalist! Lewd! Obscene!" were the charges being levelled at the Irish premiere of a play by a Nobel Literature Prize winner, which opens at the Old Museum Arts Centre in Belfast on Wednesday and then tours the country.
Dario Fo's Elizabeth Almost By Chance a Woman is being produced by Kabosh, one of the North's leading and most enterprising independent companies. This eagerly awaited event has, however, struck a rather more discordant note among a group of the usual protesters.
"The Free Presbyterians rang me and said that they had seen the show advertised and had contacted the Old Museum to find out about it," said Kabosh artistic director Karl Wallace. "On being told that it contains a scene of partial nudity and some of a humorously sexual nature, they advised me that they had been in touch with a DUP councillor, who was said to be 'disgusted'. They were also very annoyed that, in their view, the play is 'anti-royalist'."
Fo's political satire is set during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, when rumours were rife about the sovereign's sexuality. Director Rachel O'Riordan has assembled an all-male cast - as was the norm in Elizabethan times - to explore the issues that arise from cross-dressing and gender-swapping.
Karl Wallace has been down this road before with his highly acclaimed all-male R & J five years ago.
"They're actors, for goodness sake," he exclaims. "People have no problem watching Lily Savage presenting Blankety Blank, so what's the difference? It really is a lot of fuss over nothing. We are expecting a picket line and protesters, all of which will probably result in even more people coming along."
Cork spurns its maker
The good news that the imaginative West Cork Music Festival has confirmed a series of concerts for Cork city as part of the European Capital of Culture programme next year arrives in tandem with the bad news that the Cork 2005 organisation has refused any financial help for the proposed exhibition of the work of William Burges, architect of the city's Cathedral of St Fin Barre, writes Mary Leland.
Originally planned for the new Glucksman Gallery at UCC, this event, which would have an international dimension in artefacts, paintings and other rarely exhibited Burges material, was subsequently relocated to the fine new wing at the Cork Museum. Because it conformed to so many of the requirements outlined in the Cork 2005 proposal agenda it had been hoped that the cost of mounting the event, which was to include the restoration and preservation of the paper and moquette archive at the cathedral itself, would be partly met by the Capital of Culture organisation. Without any support from that organisation, and hampered also by a four-month delay before the decision was conveyed, the fundraising panel has agreed that other agencies should not be asked for help and therefore the proposal has been abandoned. This despite the fact that curator Richard Wood (with some assistance for expenses from Cork 2005) has spent the last two years researching Burges material, establishing sources, talking to Burges authorities willing to visit Cork and lecture on his work, and finding patrons (at home and abroad) keen to reveal the range, diversity and skill of the High Victorian architect with a passion for the medieval.
Although Burges's work in the city dominates the skyline and is thought by many to include the most significant 19th-century building in Ireland, with a complete documentary and graphic archive of its own construction, it is to be ignored during what is potentially the most important year in Cork's cultural history.
The Glucksman Gallery, however, figures strongly in the 2005 programme and will be the venue for several of the West Cork Festival's city recitals, which begin with Haydn's Seven Last Words on Good Friday at St Mary's, Pope's Quay. The Vanburgh String Quartet will be prominent, along with the Tokyo, Lindsay, Debussy, Casals, Contempo and Callino quartets, which will perform at a range of venues from UCC's Aula Max to restaurants, boardrooms, the Port of Cork and the Crawford Gallery.
Cork City Council's contribution to dedicated music venues will be the signing of a €2.8 million contract for a purpose-built archives centre on Great William O'Brien Street in Blackpool. Due for completion by October 2005 this new centre will release the famous Christchurch in South Main Street. When the church was taken over by the council 20 years ago the intention was to use it as a recital area for the adjacent Triskel Arts Centre, but this was found to be incompatible with its use as the city archive. With O'Sheas Builders beginning work in Blackpool next week it looks as if Christchurch and its splendid organ will once again become central to Cork's cultural life.
Traditional politics resume
After a nine-month consultation period, the Special Committee on the Traditional Arts, appointed by the Arts Council last December, has delivered its report, writes Siobhán Long. The recommendations of the report were adopted by the Arts Council at a special meeting on Monday, and the report will be published after it has been presented to the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue, within the coming fortnight.
The report is eagerly awaited across the traditional arts sector, as it is expected to reach conclusions on a range of crucial issues identified in the special committee's terms of reference, including a formal acknowledgement and recognition of the role of traditional arts, an agreed definition of what exactly is meant by "traditional arts", examination of the international dimensions of the traditional arts, and the relationship of traditional arts to the Irish language.
The publication of Comhaltas's Development Programme for the Traditional Arts at the Fleadh Ceol in Clonmel in August is seen by many in the sector to be a provocative attempt to undermine or pre-empt the special committee, having been published less than a fortnight prior to its report.
Network cuts on the quiet
The National Theatre is not the only major Arts Council client currently undergoing the rigours of managing a sizeable deficit, writes Michael Dervan. But Music Network, the national music development organisation, has kept itself out of the public eye while getting its shortfall under control. Staff numbers have been cut from a peak of 10 in the late 1990s to the current level of seven, activities have been trimmed, and the deficit, which peaked at just under €115,000 in 2002 (the year a major sponsorship deal with the ESB came to an end), was whittled back to €93,000 at the end of last year.
Music Network is now hoping to cut that deficit much further through a gala fundraising concert, presented with the assistance of RTÉ and Lyric FM, at the National Concert Hall on Tuesday, October 5th.
The starry line-up with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra under Proinnsías Ó Duinn features percussionist Evelyn Glennie (whose solos include a Vivaldi Piccolo Concerto arranged for vibraphone), pianist Finghin Collins (in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue) and the rapidly rising soprano, Ailish Tynan (singing Gounod, Puccini, Johann Strauss and Lehár). Tickets for the night are priced €35, €65 and €75.
The importance of getting the deficit under control is made even more urgent by indications from the Arts Council that doing so is a necessary pre-condition before any serious consideration is given to raising Music Network's annual grant. There is some irony associated with this state of affairs. The current arts programme director at the Arts Council is none other than John O'Kane, who was chief executive of Music Network when the organisation's deficit reached its peak.
Heading for Holywood
The Holywood Community Development Associationin Co Wexford, as part of a fundraising campaign for a new sports and community centre, is holding a gala concert in the National Concert Hall next Thursday.
The concert will be headed by the Lindsay Singers under the direction of Ethna Barror. Also appearing will be comedian Ray Barror. Special guests will be baritone Jimmy O'Byrne, and Fuinneamh, a traditional Irish music and singing group.
Tickets are priced €30 and €25 (tel: 01-4170000; website: www.nch.ie)