Worrying about audience reaction

ArtScape: Choreographer Jérôme Bel said that prior to the performance of his eponymous dance piece in Dublin in 2002 he was "worried" about the reception it would get. The piece caused something of a scandal when an audience member took such exception to it that he subsequently brought legal action against International Dance Festival Ireland (IDFI), writes Christine Madden.

Bel was talking in a public interview this week as part of this year's IDFI, moderated by director and festival board member Alan Gilsenan.

In other parts of Europe - notably in southern Italy - people heckled and "came on to the stage and insulted" him and the dancers, Bel said.

In Scandinavia, he added, there were "no problems", but as Ireland, like Italy, is a Catholic country, he was apprehensive about the reaction here. Nevertheless, he was "surprised someone would sue the festival".

Raymond Whitehead, who was in the audience at the 2002 show, took the festival to court, claiming that it had failed to warn audience members adequately about nudity and urination on stage.

"Journalists all over the world ask me about the trial," Bel said this week, to illustrate how unusual the case was.

Gilsenan noted that, although the court decided in favour of the IDFI, the festival still had to shoulder legal costs of €12,000, "which means one or two dance companies" would have to be dropped from the festival programme.

"This is a serious injustice," Gilsenan said.

Despite the positive legal outcome for the festival, a precedent had been set, he added, and anyone could now take a theatre, gallery or other arts institution to court, where, regardless of the outcome, the institution might end up having to pay costs "which are creatively crippling". Gilsenan urged closer inspection of this potential hazard to artistic freedom of expression.

* Meanwhile, as part of this year's IDFI, the boards of the Abbey stage have been vibrating this week to the rhythms of the Shen Wei, Les Ballets C de la B companies and Montalvo-Hervieu. Next week promises an even more radical departure for the Abbey stage, again involving a visiting production. Aurélia's Oratorio, the magical show that defies definition - theatre, dance, acrobatics, illusion - opens on Wednesday, starring Aurélia Thierrée, granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, and Timothy Harling. The show was created by Aurélia's mother, Victoria Thierrée Chaplin, a pioneer of "new circus", who has also worked with her son, James Thierrée, on The Junebug Symphony, another Galway Arts Festival wow.

Making space for the arts

Navan-reared comic Tommy Tiernan used to have a line in his act a few years back, delivered in a flat Co Meath accent, about growing up in "Naaah-van", and the local attitudes to art: "Shure, what would we need an arts centre for? Don't we have a shopping centre?"

Well, that's about to change, with the opening today of the town's first integrated arts centre, Solstice, on Railway Street, next to the town library. The 320-seat theatre, three visual arts spaces and café-bar was created by Grafton Architects and director Belinda Quirke promises a programme of film, dance, theatre and visual art, starting with a weekend of events for the public today and tomorrow, many of them free.

There's an exhibition of Co Meath-based artists Charlie Tyrell, Lizzie Byrne, Betty Newman-Maguire and Alan Keane at the arts centre, while Belfast Community Circus performs in the town centre. In the foyer of Solstice, there are performances from Tall Tales Theatre Company, Argentinian tango dancers, Comhaltas Young Players and céilí dancers. There's more tango tonight with Fionnuala Hunt and the Tango Orchestra. while tomorrow night there's a concert with Paddy Keenan, Tríona Ní Domhnaill, Michael Ó Domhnaill, Paddy Glackin and Máirtín Ó Connor. For details, see www.solsticeartscentre.ie.

And hot on the heels of Solstice, there's another new arts space opening next week. In the heart of the temple of consumerism that is the Dundrum Town Centre, the Mill Theatre will be opened on Thursday night by the President, Mrs McAleese. The €14 million theatre - a 206-seat venue and a 50-seat smaller performance area called Lounge@Dundrum, as well as a café, bar, two rehearsal rooms and two exhibition spaces - was funded by the developers of the town centre.

The theatre will host a mix of community/amateur and professional touring shows, opening with an in-house production of Thornton Wilder's Our House, involving five local theatrical societies: the Balally Players, the Glencullen Musical and Drama Society, the Rathfarnham Theatre Group, the Taney Players and the Sandyford Players.

Theatre manager Stephen Falloon says his programme will encompass all the arts and "will appeal to people of all ages, not only from within the local community but also within the city". Local drama groups will have use of the theatre for 12 weeks a year and the venue also promises plenty of shows for younger audiences, from panto to Leaving Cert syllabus shows. The theatre will also be for hire for corporate gigs.

Kenevey gets Candid deal

Over the past year, since the launch of singer Cormac Kenevey's first, self-produced CD, This is Living, there has been a growing feeling among those aware of its quality that it was only a matter of time before he made a breakthrough nationally and internationally, writes Ray Comiskey.

Excellent reviews, here and abroad, of his debut album, on which he was backed by local jazz musicians, including

the Phil Ware Trio (with Dave Redmond and Kevin Brady), trumpeter Danny Healy, trombonist Karl Ronan and reedman Robert Geraghty, lent substance to the belief.

Now he has been signed by Alan Bates, chief executive of one of the quality independent labels, Candid, whose past discoveries, such as Jamie Cullum, Stacey Kent and Clare Teal, have all made it internationally.

As a singer, his work suggests Kenevey is a more talented and engaging performer than any of these. International

success for him would be ample confirmation that nice guys don't always finish last, especially as his talents include the ability to come up with original material - words and music - attractive and strong enough to stand on its own right.

Candid plans to launch his debut album on its own label at Whelan's, Dublin, on June 6th, and on June 8th at London's celebrated Pizza Express Jazz Club.

The label is also planning an "extensive" Irish and UK tour for the singer and his band to follow the launches, while a European promotional tour is scheduled to begin later this year.

With a good voice and a gift for putting his own stamp on material, whether written by him or by others, it would be no surprise to see Kenevey rapidly establishing himself on the international scene.

* The Arts Council has tendered for a research consultant to update and expand the 1994 research document, The Public and the Arts, to improve the quality of data on public behaviour and attitudes to the arts in Ireland in 2006. The tender is aimed at professional researchers and research teams with proven expertise, and is not specifically intended for specialised arts consultants.

The research will provide an overview of arts policy and practice since 1994, to set the context for its analysis of public attitudes to the arts and of the extent of change between 1994 and 2006.

The Arts Council hopes to use the key findings (available, it is projected, in autumn 2006) to inform future expenditure, policy-making and create responsive supports for the arts. See www.etenders.gov.ie.

* "Theatre enriches a civilised society," says Brian Merriman, director of the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, pointing out that gay people have worked in theatre for centuries. It's only the third festival, but in a very short time, with minimal official support and huge voluntary activity, this year's lineup - which runs from next Monday until May 14th, looks like animpressive range of theatre: 22 productions or events from the US, UK, Canada, Israel and South Africa as well as Ireland, for what Merriman says is "the most extensive programme of gay-related theatre ever staged".

The organisers are aiming for a programme sufficiently broad enough to include and encourage mainstream audiences. See www.gaytheatre.ie