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Archives for May 2011

The time I stared at Dominic West

Marie-Louise Muir | 22:02 UK time, Sunday, 22 May 2011

There was an article in the Sunday Times today devoted to actor Dominic West. In fact, he was the cover of the magazine. Topless and broody. I stared. But not too much. I learned my lesson over twenty years ago. A painful memory of a stare that went on too long in the Coffee Inn, just off Grafton Street, Dublin. It's circa 1988. Way before the Celtic Tiger and the Cappucino Culture, the Coffee Inn did egg and chips and a milky coffee and between it, and nearby Bewleys, was really the only place to get a coffee. I was in there with my friends, fellow Trinity College Dublin undergraduates, when in walks the coolest guy on campus with a gorgeous female companion, Dominic West. Even at 19/20 he had an air of cool and an hauteur which Eton and good looks gave him. Everyone knew him. He was studying English Literature. So was I, but he was a few years behind.

As he took up position in the booth opposite us, I don't know what happened to me. I stared, not a glance and then away, but an unable to peel my eyes away kind of stare, an "OMG, Dominic West is at the other table, is he having egg & chips or maybe the legendary Coffee Inn spaghetti bolognaise"? Well, whatever I was doing, the staring annoyed him, so much so, he got the girl he was with to swap places with him. I only blinked and the next thing she's facing me, As my fried egg congealed on my plate, I stared at the back of his head and died a death inside. I haven't been able to watch "The Wire". Friends tell me it's brilliant. I just remember the Coffee Inn.Ìý

Judy Collins in Belfast

Marie-Louise Muir | 10:18 UK time, Friday, 20 May 2011

Judy Collins is 71 years old and sounds like she isn't stopping for anyone. Promoting her Belfast concert next month (18th June Waterfront Hall), it was arranged that she would do an interview with me from New York. To call her a legend isn't an understatement. From classical piano child prodigy to Grammy Hall of Fame folk singer interpreter, she has packed a lot in to those 71 years. She told me how she first heard "Both Sides Now", the Joni Mitchell song that got Collins inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. "It was three in the morning when my phone rang and Joni Mitchell was put on the line to sing the song to me". It's a song that kills me everytime I listen to it. Joni Mitchell has since recorded it herself and makes it less swingy than Collins, the pain of the song more pronounced. But if it hadn't been for Judy Collins, the young Joni Mitchell might never have got the break she deserved. There are others in the Collins orbit - Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman as well as Mitchell. Up and coming young songwriters whose work was showcased by the voice of Judy Collins. She knew who to pick. "And do they ever call me?" she said to me, with more than a hint of irony.Ìý

For me though the song that defines Judy Collins is "Send in the Clowns", the Stephen Sondheim ballad from his musical "A Little Night Music". I learned it from my mum. In fact, there is tv footage of me singing it on a RTE/´óÏó´«Ã½ NI talent show, "Go for It", in 1992. I had only entered the competition on a whim. Well, l blame Gerry Anderson. He said I should go along to the auditions in St Columb's Hall in Derry. Next thing, I'm in some quarter final, standing in front of a tv studio audience. Newry singer Rose Marie is one of the judges. Afterwards, she said I would make a good Snow White! It was my first, and last, performance of "Send in the Clowns"

Just as a matter of interest,ÌýPeter Corry won that first talent show.Ìý

Carál Ni Chuilín is the New Culture Minister for Northern Ireland

Marie-Louise Muir | 21:41 UK time, Monday, 16 May 2011

All change at Stormont today, with the newly elected Northern Ireland assemblyÌýmeeting for the first time sinceÌýthe elections a fortnight ago. I was listening to the radio asÌýMarkÌýCarruthers on "Good Morning Ulster" pushedÌýSinn Fein's John O'Dowd to seeÌýwouldÌýtheÌýDepartment of Culture, Arts and LeisureÌýminister be Martina Anderson? It made sense. Derry born and bred, with theÌýinaugural UK CityÌýof Culture there in 2013.ÌýBut no. While it is a female minister at DCAL, it is a West Belfast woman,ÌýNew Lodge woman, born and bred. CarálÌýNí Chuilín. Do a Google search and you can see that she'sÌýa former Belfast City Councillor, an MLA since 2007 and a former IRAÌýprisoner. Today, she took the political office of the Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure.Ìý I spoke to her todayÌýjust hours after the announcement and she seemed all too aware of the job ahead, but telling me she was delighted. She told me today sheÌýwon't interfereÌýin the artistic side of any festival programmingÌýor museum exhibitions. This was in answer to howÌýshe would steer away from the controversy surrounding the previous Minister Nelson McCausland and his intervention inÌýthe BelfastÌýFestival at QueensÌýprogramming inÌýwhich heÌýasked the festival toÌýconsider includingÌýpro-Israel points of view and Christian music. This came off the back ofÌýpreviousÌýcomments aboutÌýmuseumsÌýgiving more prominence to Ulster-Scots, the Orange Order and alternative views on the origin of the universe.

SoÌýas she digests her brief tonight, she couldÌýcatch up on a few episodes of the HBO/Belfast made tv mini series"Game of Thrones", familiarise herself with the funding situation and looming cuts, Ìýand then get in touch with her inner Picasso andÌýenter aÌýself portait for a competition for MLAs being run by the Metropolitan Arts Centre, the MAC,Ìýwhich will be judged by ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Ulster'sÌýWendy Austin and NI'sTweet King political journalist Eamon Maillie.

Talking of tweets, the new Minister has been tweeting her musical taste, includingÌýRod Stewart,ÌýLed Zeppelin and Seasick Steve. Now there's a concert line up, if a Culture Minister wanted to influence!

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Fire up the Quattro in Belfast

Marie-Louise Muir | 18:54 UK time, Tuesday, 10 May 2011

I found myself in an industrial estate down by the Belfast docks today.Ìý On a film set. "Undisclosed", billed as aÌýfour part conspiracy thriller is currently being made for the ´óÏó´«Ã½.ÌýIt's been written by Belfast born writer Ronan Bennett and stars David Suchet, (Poirot) Philip Glenister (Ashes to Ashes) and Thekla Reuten (TheÌýAmerican, In Bruges). Ìý

Inside one of the warehouses, behind an area cordoned off with black curtains, was a green screen. This was being set up, I was told, for a driving scene. A Volvo was slowlyÌýdriven up a ramp and into the area.ÌýCameras were beingÌýset up and it all looked very technical and mysterious.ÌýThe green screen looked strangely dull, a bit flat, but everyone from Hollywood blockbusters to the weather people use itÌýto magicallyÌýcreate somewhere else.

PeopleÌýwere flitting around me, Maggie TaggartÌýarrivedÌýfor the tv news and as sheÌýchatted camera set ups to the PR girl, I see Richard Dormer. The brilliant local actor, star of "Hurricane", is in the film too. He introduced me to Philip Glenister. Now, this is where it all gets a bit fuzzy asÌýI am a bit of a DI Gene Hunt fan. I kind of liked the unreconstructed macho man ofÌý "Life on Mars" and "Ashes to Ashes". I feel I am staring. A bit too much. I am not listening to Richard anymore. I hear myself say "I'm so excited to be on an actual film set" and then PhilÌýGlenisterÌýspeaks "It's only a bloody warehouse"! Bubble burst. Pure Gene Hunt. And off he goes to fire up the Volvo.

The new Lyric Theatre Belfast

Marie-Louise Muir | 21:13 UK time, Monday, 9 May 2011

On the front cover of the souvenir programme for the new Lyric Theatre, Belfast is a poem by Seamus Heaney. My first reaction when I clapped eyes on it was to inwardly groan because if ever a man/poet/Nobel Laureate is overly asked for a quote for culture then it's Seamus Heaney. The fax machine in his home spews out requests constantly, asking for endorsements/support/a few words.

While the re-opening of the new Lyric Theatre is a grand occasion, I was glad to see that Heaney hadn't had to pen a new ode. He wrote "Peter Street at Bankside" in 1965 for the founding of the first Lyric Theatre on Ridgeway Street after they outgrew founder Mary O'Malley's front room!Ìý

By the way Peter Street is not in BT7. Rather, Mr Peter Street was the carpenter who built the Globe Theatre in London.

A Capital Project Team built the New Lyric. Ten separate companies are credited in the programme led by the stunningly good architects O'Donnell & Tuomey,Ìýeven if a cold in my nose prevented me from smelling the newness of it all. I had read that you could smell the newness of the wood in the new main auditorium.Ìý

Coming into the building it's a new world. A new look box office greets you, then stairs rise to the right, Ìýthe bare concrete walls hung with huge headshots by Colin Davidson of Ìýactors, writers and musicians, from Brian Friel to Conleth Hill, Duke Special to Paul Brady. I'm drawn to the windows, waiting for a couple to move, light and the Lagan outside, an amphitheatre, a startling, unexpected beauty. And I haven't seen the play yet! It's beautiful, bold, confident.

And just when I don't think I can take anymore, I discover the ladies toilets! Veterans of the old Lyric will remember the previous facilities. Two cubicles and a queue out the door at interval time.Ìý

After the show (The Crucible by Arthur Miller) we sit and soak it up. Now that the crowds have gone, I can see the place better. The actors come off stage and sit chatting and drinking. They've done two shows that day, but still they're together, even though it's now past 11. A convivial space has been created, not just by these actors bunching the tables together to talk, but by the vision of an artistic space, begun by Mary O'Malley and now being taken into the 21st century. If you do anything this week, go in and have a look. And then take a look out through those windows.Ìý

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