The 40th Belfast Festival was full of controversy and wonders, writes Jane Coyle
The candles have been blown out on the Belfast Festival's 40th birthday cake, leaving behind the remnants of a hangover and an abundance of fond memories. The first week had been punctuated by the announcement of Belfast's failure to be shortlisted for the 2008 European Capital of Culture, news which was greeted with a combination of disappointment among the organisers and relief among some members of the arts community, who had expressed grave misgivings about the bid.
The second week saw protests and heated public exchanges surrounding the one-night appearance of an Israeli dance company. In a letter to the press, 12 arts practitioners - some of them participants in the festival - expressed strong concern that " . . . acceptance of official support from the Israeli government may be construed as endorsement of that government's policy". It concluded, " . . . identification of such a government with our festival . . . could damage our future 'international cultural profile'". So, was this the party that festival director Stella Hall had envisaged?
"The 40th festival was meant to be a celebration for everybody," she says. "There was a major commitment to Northern Ireland artists and a strong representation of international visitors as well. One of the central themes of the Capital of Culture bid was 'Made in Belfast', and I was keen to reflect that in this year's programme.
"I have to admit that it is very difficult to stand proudly in Belfast and say that we are a major international festival in a major international city, if that city is not able to achieve a UK short list. But the new germs of ideas which were started will continue to form, and the festival will continue to take risks in celebrating our own and other cultures."
She concedes that the second week was " . . . slightly overshadowed by protests about one event", but in a statement she upheld the festival's aim of promoting " . . . an open dialogue with artists from all over the world. Artists, who are frequently the first to protest and voice the suffering of their people, from whichever side of the cultural divide they hail, are a voice of sanity in a fractured world".
Week two's scheduled programme provided plenty of talking points. The Lyric Theatre's production of Billy Roche's The Cavalcaders had suffered at the box office from lukewarm critical reviews and the fact that, to Northern audiences, Roche is an unfamiliar and untested name.
Sunday night, however, witnessed the welcome sight of a packed house at the Lyric for Ríleanna Rithime: Reels of Rhythm, a celebration of Irish music and poetry, presented in partnership with the excellent Open House Traditional Arts Festival. Its success had been foreshadowed on the previous evening by the second performance of Ciaran Carson's extraordinary book Last Night's Fun, at which Carson himself appeared, to play alongside actor Lalor Roddy and poet Gearóid Mac Lochlainn, in what Roddy declared to have been " . . . one of the best nights I can remember". Open House director Kieran Gilmore describes his low-profile festival as " . . . coming from the heart", but hints that next year's association with the Belfast Festival will be significantly increased.
Monday saw the arrival from England of Hannah and Hanna, John Retallack's warm, funny play about the unlikely friendship between two 16-year-old girls - one from Kosovo, the other a loud-mouthed ladette from the Kent seaside town where the refugees have been housed. It did not flinch from underlining the racist attitudes and narrow-mindedness of the local community, nor from applauding the balm of human kindness, bestowed from unexpected quarters. Two young actresses carried the whole show with great assurance and, with its pop-music karaoke soundtrack and authentic teenage dialogue, its appeal ricocheted right across the generations.
The same could be said for Replay's excellent Almost Human, essentially a theatre-in-education piece, but refusing to go down the road of preachy didacticism in its powerful examination of animal and human rights and environmental issues. Young people were also the target audience of Maria Connolly's first play Massive for Tinderbox which, though flawed, succeeded in bringing in a welcome mix of audiences during its two-week run at the Errigle Bar, on the south side of the city.
Belfast Community Circus, too, worked its magic on young imaginations, clocking up sell-out performances with its aptly-named Circus of Wonders. Its home-grown cast, aged between eight and 18, worked alongside professional circus artists in a spectacular show, inspired by acrobatic, aerial and clowning techniques from China and Australia.
But major disappointment flowed from the event which everyone had been waiting for - the lavish, large-scale The Belfast Carmen, presented by Martin Lynch's Green Shoot company in partnership with the Ulster Orchestra, Belfast Community Theatre Association, Belfast choral societies and the Belfast Festival, and with "generous funding" from Arts and Business New Partners, Belfast City Council, Bank of Ireland and the Arts Council Lottery Fund. With serious money on board, Lynch as writer, Mark Dougherty as musical director, Sam McCready directing, Elena Zlotescu designing and Conleth White lighting, what more could one ask for? On opening night, however, the division of opinion was plain to see - a standing ovation from some areas of the auditorium, particularly those housing supporters of the large community cast, and stoney faces in others. One suspects that the debate is only beginning.
IN contrast, there was widespread admiration and praise for Prime Cut, which celebrated its 10th birthday in tremendous style, with its ambitious stage adaptation by artistic director Jackie Doyle of Peter Carey's challenging short story 'The Chance'. It is a pity that relatively few people turned out for this landmark piece of locally crafted theatre, which cries out for a return run at a time when attention can be more closely focused on it.
And finally, a mention for a handful of small but beautiful events that might otherwise pass unnoticed - the well-attended recital by Mark Padmore and Julius Drake in the Elmwood Hall on Saturday morning; readings and chat with novelists Deirdre Madden and Janice Galloway in the Great Hall at Queen's; David Craig's intriguing and eerie motorised artwork at the Old Museum Arts Centre; and the Stewart Parker Trust's tribute evening to Philip Hobsbaum, in the company of Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Bernard McLaverty and Joan Newmann, an event which could have filled a larger venue than the Lyric, but where the ever-present spirit of Parker found its rightful place.
