Fortnight Publications Ltd.

Auspicious OvertureAuthor(s): Judith JenningsSource: Fortnight, No. 277 (Oct., 1989), p. 31Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25552108 .

Accessed: 28/06/2014 07:55

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Fortnight Publications Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Fortnight.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 46.243.173.30 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 07:55:45 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

like a winner. To keep up your international

intake, jump for the Cuban group Manguare, or

the Bolivian Rumillajta. Nigel Kennedy is

exciting too.

At the Guinness spot we are going to be

truly spoiled. Steve Lacy hasn't been here

before, and the Hugh Frazer Quintet is back,

after a good night at Project Jazz in May, with

Jason Rebello sharing the slots. Then there's

the South African Dudu Pukwana and Zila,

Charles McPherson, and ... oh help ... what

about all those films?

QFT is giving us a magnificent choice. If

you've never heard of Nils Malmros, at the

very least try Beauty and the Beast. Do the

Right Thing has a rather relevant examination

of the uses of violence and Charles Lane's

Sidewalk Stories gives us a chance to see one

of the most important new talents in cinema.

Ireland is well represented by three films, all

with excellent cinematographers in Breffni

Byrne (Reefer), Gabriel Beristein (Joyriders) and ThaddeusO'Sullivan (Ladder of Swords).

Before you despair at the mounting ticket

cheque, make sure you book for the Siobhan

Davies Company?contemporary dance at its

best, from a choreographer who after one sea

son is said to rank amongst the country' s finest.

Different folk SHEILA HAMILTON reviews last

month's folk festival

THE BELFAST Folk Festival expanded this

year, Queen's students' union hosting the nor

mally scattered smaller events. For a weekend

the bleakly inhospitable union came to life.

S E Rogie from Sierra Leone played easy

going "palm-wine guitar music" and sang in a

rich, husky voice. But the musicians and danc

ers from Belfast's Indian cultural centre per formed to a lamentably small audience. The

highlight of the 'musics of the world' afternoon

was Makvirag, a Hungarian group whose

repertoire ranged from graceful, mandolin

accompanied lovesongs to wild, middle

eastern-sounding bagpipe tunes.

In the 'shamrock, rose and thistle' session,

Jimmy McCarthy from Cork?best known as a

songwriter for Mary Black and Christy Moore?

sang his complex, highly-wrought songs, sometimes rather lost on a rowdy, late-night audience. The Scottish singer-songwriter Archie

Fisher sang gently and with self-deprecating wit. And June Tabor from England sang a

mixture of traditional and contemporary songs, at her best in the sombre and bloodthirsty ballads with austere violin or accordion.

On the last night Mary Black packed the Ulster Hall. The music was pleasant but bland,

increasingly distant from her folk origins and

increasingly less distinctive. In the Mandela

Hall, meanwhile, there was an extraordinary

gathering of virtuosos of all ages: the legendary fiddler Tommy Peoples and his daughter Siobhan, the young fiddler and concertina play ers Brid Harper and Michelle O'Sullivan and

the veteran fluteplayer Seamus Tansey. Both

Paddy Keenan's witty and powerful piping and

the fine accordion playing and singing of

Seamus Begley were accompanied flamboy

antly by the guitarist Steve Cooney.

OPERA NORTHERN Ireland's autumn series fK^KKU^^wf lEii I I opened auspiciously last month with JHHHUl 1HHI 1 Mozart's spirited Don Giovanni, Judith BBH^^K^^ L.,# MmWr

The notorious rake has notched up Kp^ JB^^BIfc^iS^^I;:: Wmm\wW^ 1,003 female conquests and does his Kli^^^^HHBIHp iliHBBK damnedest to improve his score before n^HJj^^^^^ ISPMHBt being consumed in hellish flames. His

P ^*i^^^^ taste is indiscriminate: old, young, rich, r/

^JJ^^^^^ThP ^Jb poor, thin for summer, fat for winter.

I/ '

^ ^fl|Hj Obviously much depends not only on JL '^^^^^^^^^HB^ J^^GI an accomplished voice but on a hand- A ^^^^^^^^^^B^ ^HH some compelling presence. This the tall, ^ ^-wmwrnM

elegantly costumed Nicolas Rivenq Huub Claessens?not Billy Connolly certainly had. He was effectively comple mented by the manservant, Leporello (Huub Claessens), at times disconcertingly reminiscent of Billy Connolly.

Kim Begley, the upright Don Ottavio, was an appropriate foil but too stiff?surprising since he was an actor before taking up singing. By constrast Paul Parfitt, as the jealous

Masetto, made the most of every opportunity. His coquettish bride, Zerlina (Deborah Rees), by turns tortured and flattered him to

the point of madness. Yet one could understand how she was won by the smooth Don I in the famous duet 'La ci darem la mano', although rescued in the nick of time by the fiery Donna Elvira, played by the versatile local singer, Riona Bradley. The other

outraged lady, Donna Anna (Elizabeth Collier), was impressive when, realising the

identity of her father's murderer, she launched into 'Or sai chi I'onore'.

The chorus, tutored by Michael McGuffin, was vivacious, although 'the lads' could have been younger. And the splendid Ulster Orchestra, under Kenneth Montgomery,

| thankfully remained throughout!

Malcolm Douglas as Frank Stock?something not quite right

^^^ff ̂ mmw^mmmwmm^^Bm^&^i^W 'JBw? - jaJ^^^^m^^h|^^?^^^^H^^L^?^Sx 11

l Wft**asmw^ ? 'wmmmmmmmM***.vMmme.?^,.^s.\. * *^s&' .,^iF^^mmmmm^i i

HELENA Kaut-Howson's production of Stewart Parker's Spokesong at the Lyric Theatre last month was the second play she had directed. Like the first, The Plough and the

Stars, it was a mixed bag. And, like the first, I got the distinct impression that it was not her fault, John Keyes writes.

I saw it well into the run with a tiny audience. That night the show lacked energy. With the exception of Sean Caffery and Dan Gordon the actors ambled through the piece. Much of Parker's muscular language became flabby with inexpertise. And, as

in Ms Kaut-Howson's 'Plough', there was a disturbing picture of a company and

director not in total harmony. I would very much like to see this director working with a company from her native

Poland?or, indeed, with any company not so familiar. She has imagination, skill,

panache and a disciplined view of whatever text she works on. In Spokesong she gave us excellent and exciting stage pictures. The production was full of ideas?visual and intellectual. But the performance defeated the production all along the line. And what was a good deal worse, it very nearly defeated Stewart Parker.

Spokesong is a very good play indeed?better, in many ways, than some of Parker's later work. Though in it he was experimenting with traditional theatrical forms, he used well-tried theatrical methods to do so. He showed us ideas in terms of action. And he was optimistic. I doubt if he could have written Spokesong were he still alive today?the 'troubles' have been going on for 20 years and there is no reason to

suppose they will end. Yet no wrong note is struck in Spokesong: in it the world is valid

| and complete. But it needs more tension than it had in this production.

Fortnight October 31

This content downloaded from 46.243.173.30 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 07:55:45 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions