Statement from Queen's University Belfast on the future of Belfast Festival at Queen's

Statement from Queen's University Belfast on the future of Belfast Festival at Queen's

"It is no secret that Belfast Festival at Queen's is facing significant financial problems due to underinvestment from the public sector compounded by a reduction of a third of its public sector income over the past three years.

"The University has invested £2.5 million in Culture and Arts over the past three years. Without support from other partners who benefit from the delivery of Northern Ireland's only international Festival, the University cannot continue to fund deficits.

"The University hopes that Festival 2006 will not be the last but it will be unless additional funding ensures its sustainability. It is currently working with other funders to secure Festival's future.

"With proper investment Belast Festival at Queen's can enhance economic, social and cultural regeneration. Festival contributes £6.5 million a year to the Northern Ireland economy, and this year it has reached 100,000 people, breaking all box office records.

"Government must recognise the enormous contribution the Arts makes across many of its priority areas and work with arts organisations and the private sector to ensure they are sustainable and deliver society's culture, social and economic objectives.

"Northern Ireland needs an international Festival. The University has played its part, it now needs its partners to step up to the mark too."

For further information contact Kevin Mulhern, 028 9097 5323 / 07813 015431

Dutch Elm Conservatoire in: PRISON

Phil McIntyre Entertainment by arrangement with PFD & AHA Presents
2005 Perrier Award Nominees Dutch Elm Conservatoire in: PRISON.

Following last year's runaway success, when they scooped a Perrier Award nomination, and played sell-out shows in Edinburgh, the West End and a subsequent UK Tour, acclaimed comedy group Dutch Elm Conservatoire return with a brand new show . PRISON.

This time, the five-strong team of writer-performers faces life behind bars, in the latest of their trademark theatrical but chaotic play-cum-sketch shows, directed by Ed Curtis. But this is no ordinary prison. This is Detention Facility 41 or .The Island. - a mysterious, idiosyncratic
prison containing a wide range of the bad, the ugly and the misunderstood. Key inmates include: Henry Beauregard, The Island's longest serving inmate, master forger and owner of a pet butterfly called Mr Wendel; Morris Chessman, a bent lawyer with the voice of Sammy Davis Jr and the hair of Brian May; gun-toting Furious P, a rap-loving gangland boss who isn't quite straight outta of Compton.; convicted smuggler Ramone Salazar, who.s got a fire in his heart, smack in his belly and pirate DVDs in his lower intestine; and new boy Brian Dipper Dyer, a former rollercoaster designer who.s heading straight for The Chair.

These inmates lead a quiet and strangely pleasant existence under the benign dictatorship of Dieter, their apathetic Governor;. However, following a visit from Prison Inspector Rossovich, a selfloathing former US drill instructor with a mouth like a sewer and a nice line in metaphors, their lives could soon be turned upside down. So can this motley group of societal rejects somehow contrive to convince Rossovich that their high-security hotel really is the hellhouse he.d like it to be? The kind that enjoys riots, warden beatings and widespread corruption? . They have just one week...

Combining sketch comedy, high drama, live music and a fair dollop of suspect choreography, Dutch Elm Conservatoire in PRISON is both tightly scripted theatre and free-flowing farce. from a live sketch group that is considered to be "a good head above the rest" (Sunday Times).

PRESS CONTACT:
David Burns
Phone: 07789 754 089
Email: david@burningissuespr.com
ABOUT THE GROUP:

.HILARIOUS . NOT A MOMENT IS WASTED. !!!!! The Scotsman

.FAULTLESS. SHARP WRITING, PERFECT PERFORMANCES. The Sunday Times

.A CUT ABOVE THE USUAL SKETCH SHOW. The Guardian

Dutch Elm Conservatoire are Stephen Evans, Jim Field Smith, Rufus Jones, Jordan Long, Renton Skinner. They have been performing together since early 2003, starting out on the London circuit and quickly building to a sell-out run at the Soho Theatre in January 2004. This is their third visit in as many years to the Edinburgh Fringe: their debut self-titled Fringe show in 2004 received widespread critical acclaim; their second visit in 2005 saw them turn a corner into a more narrative format with .CONSPIRACY., earning them a Perrier Award nomination. They have recently completed a hugely successful UK tour, and have been commissioned to develop that show for television with a major independent production company. They have a vast range of individual writing and performing credits across TV and radio . and between them have infiltrated seemingly every recent comedy series, including HYPERDRIVE (BBC), MIKE BASSETT (ITV), SNUFF BOX (BBC), SECRET SMILE (ITV), PEEP SHOW (C4), DEEP TROUBLE (BBC R4), ARMANDO IANNUCCI.S CHARM OFFENSIVE (BBC R4) to name but a handful.

For more information on the show and the group, please visit www.dutchelm.co.uk

Queen’s poets take flight in major new anthology

Queen’s poets take flight in major new anthology

Queen’s University’s and Northern Ireland’s tradition of poetic excellence – exemplified by world-famous names like Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney and Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Muldoon – is to be celebrated in a major new anthology.

‘The Blackbird’s Nest’, which will be launched at the University later today, reflects the richness and diversity of poetry at Queen’s since the early 20th century. Among the poets featured are Helen Waddell, John Hewitt, Philip Larkin, Michael Longley and Medbh McGuckian, as well as many others who have made a vital contribution to the development of poetry at the University and in Northern Ireland.

Queen’s was at the heart of the remarkable flowering of poetry in Northern Ireland in the 1960s, a flowering that saw poets such as Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon take Irish poetry to an international audience, and the University continues to be a rich seedbed for poetic talent.

Queen’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Gregson said: “Queen’s has many assets, but our reputation as a centre for poetry is one that we particularly prize. Few other universities in Britain and Ireland can point to such a wealth of talent, and such a single contribution to modern poetry.

“‘The Blackbird’s Nest’ is a fitting showcase of the work of Queen’s poets over the generations and celebrates our contribution to literature in Northern Ireland and further afield.”

Published by Blackstaff Press under the auspices of the University’s Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, ‘The Blackbird’s Nest’ is edited by the critically acclaimed poet and anthologist Frank Ormsby, who said: “The commissioning of ‘The Blackbird's Nest’ is a significant event in the cultural history of Queen's. It represents the University acknowledging and celebrating the international repute of its sons and daughters in the field of poetry."

The book takes its title from the logo of the Seamus Heaney Centre – the blackbird. It is generally accepted that the earliest reference to the Belfast area in Irish poetry is a doodle by a ninth-century scribe, possibly a monk, in the margin of the text he was transcribing. His spirits are lifted by the singing of a blackbird across the nearby lough and he records the moment in a short, joyful flourish. The Blackbird of Belfast Lough, as it is often known, has become an iconic presence in poetry from this part of the world.

Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre Professor Ciaran Carson said: “The Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry was established in 2003 to build on and consolidate the international reputation that Queen's has gained since the 1960s. This anthology, with its strong representation of young poets, is tangible proof that poetry in Queen's is alive and well."

The launch of ‘The Blackbird’s Nest’ will also be marked by a gala evening taking place as the closing event of this year’s Belfast Festival at Queen’s.

Possibly the most important poetry reading ever in Northern Ireland, the event on Saturday 4 November will bring together a wide range of Queen’s poets, including Michael Longley, Frank Ormsby, Ciaran Carson, Medbh McGuckian, Jean Bleakney, Sinead Morrissey, Gearóid Mac Lochlainn, Alan Gillis and Leontia Flynn.

The evening also sees the launch the of the second issue of ‘The Yellow Nib’, the annual journal of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, also published by Blackstaff Press.

‘The Blackbird’s Nest’, priced at £14.99 (hardback) £9.99 (paperback), is now available from all good bookshops.

For further information contact:

Anne Langford, Tel 028 9097 5310

Notes for editors:

The official launch of ‘The Blackbird’s Nest’ will take place at 6 pm on Thursday 2 November in the Great Hall, Queen’s University. Media facilities will be available.

The Fallent Angels Cabaret - Wed 1 Nov, Spiegeltent

The Arts: Spiegeltent Performance in The Belfast Festival at Queens

The Fallen Angels Cabaret

Comic Sketches, Urban Anthems, Gorgeous Girls, and You!

Following their successful premiere run at the Edinburgh Fringe in the Summer, and hailed in the press as ‘A Triumph’ and ‘Flying the flag for the true spirit of Cabaret,’ the gate-crashing, storm-trooping Fallen Angels are back in Belfast with a Festival Feast of Honest Roguery!

After winning the prestigious award for Best Show at the Dublin Fringe Spiegeltent two years ago, the Fallen Angels began touring nationwide. They made Belfast their first stop and played to a full and delighted house at The Old Museum Arts Centre. They are thrilled about coming back, and this time by invitation to the Festival at Queen’s. They will be performing in the Spiegeltent, a much-loved venue of theirs.

‘If you’re essentially a cabaret animal, you do really feel that the Spiegeltent suits you. I mean, Marlene Dietrich sang there!’ says Anne Lillis, artistic director and the show’s MC, Rose Lawless: a deliciously flagrant, torch-singing, rich-girl-gone-wrong.

In the show, Rose hosts a line-up of bizarre and hilarious characters: Neamhrach the bitter 80s feminist; Fluffy the all-rapping, pregnant school-girl; Daphne Ni Volavont, the sardonic daytime television presenter, and Kevin the in-flight air-host with perhaps a few frills but nothing else to declare – to name but a few. Combine the comic sketches, live music and audience participation with enigmatic performances and an earthy, sensual style, and this ensemble cast of six offers everything an audience requires for a great night out.

But people are sometimes confused: ‘We are occasionally asked whether it is a comedy sketch show, or a cabaret. Not everyone is aware that when Cabaret began in Paris in the late 1800s, it typically combined these elements,’ says producer Anna Fox. ‘We love performing Cabaret in its traditional form, while the material we write is very contemporary and is essentially a reflection of our Times.’

The Fallen Angels Cabaret is on Wednesday 1st November at The Spiegeltent (Custom House Square, behind Albert Clock) Doors are at 10pm and the show ends at midnight. Tickets are £10 & £8. For bookings contact the Festival office on 028 9097 1197 or on-line at www.BelfastFestival.com. Further info available at www.fallenangelscabaret.com or contact Anna Fox on +353 87 2235124

End of Press Release

SWÅP the Du Da tour - Sun 29 Oct, Spiegeltent

SWÅP the Du Da tour
Karen Tweed, Ian Carr, Ola Bäckström, Carina Normansson

BBC R2 FOLK AWARDS Best Group nomination
SONGLINES Top Of The World award
fROOTS THE CRITICS’ AWARD ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2005, =12
BBC R3 KERSHAW SESSION

Swåp present chilling, thrilling musical adventures in Anglo-Scandinavian roots’n’reel and song, where Swedish polskas & schottis shake hands with jigs & waltzes from all over the British Isles & Ireland. Rave energy and string quartet subtlety by turn! Bring the kids! www.swapmusic.info

Following international festival appearances at Celtic Connections, Minneapolis Nordic Roots, Tokyo, The Purcell Room, Cambridge Folk Festival and broadcast spots on BBC R3’s Late Junction, Andy Kershaw & BBC4, Swåp tour the UK again this autumn.

Oct’06 - Karen’s last outing with the band!
29 BELFAST International Festival at Queens www.belfastfestival.com 028 9097 1197

‘I don´t like fusions but that one works!’ Joe Boyd on The Mike Harding Show BBC R2, Feb’06
‘Anglo & Swedish musics jump into bed with each other and shag furiously’ Andy Kershaw BBC R3, Feb’06

Featuring all-Ireland champion and internationally acclaimed piano accordionist, Karen Tweed, on her last tour with Swåp! Karen is a long-time member of The Poozies with Mary McMaster, Patsy Seddon & Eilidh Shaw. Previously, the Kathryn Tickell Band, The Two Duos Quartet, May Monday with Timo Alakotila,

Guitarist Ian Carr, wizard of rhythm & wit, co-founder of The Old Rope String Band and currently a regular with Eddi Reader, Kate Rusby Band and John McCusker. Previously the Kathryn Tickell Band with Karen. He’s recently learned Swedish and now has a baby daughter called Matilda.

Ola Bäckström, viola d'amore & fiddle, is one of the most respected fiddlers & composers in Scandinavia today. His playing on Den Fule’s Skalv, Hedningarna’s Hippjokk, Triptyk, Boot and solo album have influenced a generation of musicians.

Carina Normansson, fiddle & voice, has roots in Vastmanland and is devoted to researching music and song of the region. She is a member of Traton with Ola. Carina leads new "big-bunch" orchestra West Manna Folk with her dog Frida. She sings of naked men in the snow. /cntd.over

UK Touring press Jim Howden +44 (0)1568 620515 jim@uktouring.org.uk
UK Touring agency Adrian Mealing tel/fax +44 (0)1684 540366 adrian@uktouring.org.uk
The Croft, Old Church Road, COLWALL, Worcs WR13 6EZ www.uktouring.org.uk

‘Anglo-Swedes with a lust for life, incapable of putting a foot - or finger - wrong. Great musicians, great entertainers and full of passion, inspiration, inventiveness and intimacy too. There’s no other band like them and there’s no CD like Du Da. Go get it!’ Fiona Talkington SONGLINES Nov/Dec’05

‘The whole zany, playful, energetic, instrumentally brilliant and, vocally, ever so slightly otherworldy adventure should be sampled at full length and full strength’ Rob Adams THE HERALD 27.8.05

‘infectious … try to catch them if you can’ Dave Beeby THE LIVING TRADITION Sept/Oct’05

'In Du Da, four musicians contribute equally and with intuitive communication in the exquisite balance that makes a band special and after the UK release of its recommended predecessor Mosquito Hunter, it shows signs of being the turning point at which this band's true stature is generally realised.' Andrew Cronshaw fROOTS Nov’05

New cd Du Da NorthSide NSD 6085 www.cuberoots.com

UK Touring press Jim Howden +44 (0)1568 620515 jim@uktouring.org.uk
UK Touring agency Adrian Mealing tel/fax +44 (0)1684 540366 adrian@uktouring.org.uk
The Croft, Old Church Road, COLWALL, Worcs WR13 6EZ www.uktouring.org.uk

Festival Classical Music Programme

MEDIA RELEASE - 44th Belfast Festival at Queens – Classical Music Programme

The breathtaking voice of one of the world’s leading tenors, the funky sounds of an unusual pairing and a 50th birthday celebration of one of Northern Ireland’s highly respected composers are just some of the highlights of the Classical Music programme at Ireland’s biggest international arts festival, the Belfast Festival at Queen’s, which runs from 19th October to 4th November.

Topping the bill at this year’s festival is The Ulster Bank Opening Concert on Friday 20th October at the Waterfront Hall, featuring world-renown Argentine tenor José Cura, with the Ulster Orchestra. Maestro Cura, who has been hailed in the media as the successor to the Pavarotti-Domingo-Carreras triumvirate and baptised as "the fourth tenor", was the first artist to sing and conduct simultaneously both in concert and on recordings.

He is a compelling actor, charismatic stage performer, and has starred in performances at major opera houses around the world. For his performance at the Belfast Festival at Queen’s - his only UK and Ireland appearance in 2006 - Cura will once again sing and conduct arias and overtures from some of the world’s greatest operas. Following his Belfast Festival at Queen’s appearance, Cura will head to New York where he will play Cavaradossi in Franco Zefferelli’s production of Tosca at The Met.

This year’s Closing Concert features one of the world’s most highly regarded pianists, Dmitri Alexeev, who will join the Ulster Orchestra on Friday 3rd November to celebrate the Shostakovich anniversary year with a performance of the Russian master’s Piano Concerto No 1 in C minor, Op 35, featuring Paul Young on trumpet and Finnish conductor Tuomas Ollila.

Described by The Daily Telegraph as of one of “the most remarkable pianists of the day”, Alexeev has enjoyed a top-level international career and has appeared as a recitalist and as a soloist with the major orchestras throughout Europe, Japan, Australasia, the Far East and the United States.

Also joining the Ulster Orchestra on stage will be English soprano Janice Watson, a former winner of the Kathleen Ferrier memorial award, who will perform the Northern Ireland premiere of one of the most popular pieces of modern classical music, Symphony No 3 Op. 36 ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’, written by the acclaimed Polish composer Henryk Gorecki. The evening will open with the orchestra performing Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten, Arvo Part’s tribute to what he saw as the unusual purity of Britten’s music.

Distant Light (Clonard Monastery, Friday 27th October) is a concert of two wonderful halves, one for strings and one for wind, as the Ulster Orchestra marks its own 40th birthday with a celebration of two composers’ birthdays – Pēteris Vasks and Mozart.

The music of 60 year old Latvian Vasks is infused with a strongly spiritual sense and a real concern for the beauty of life and the ecological and moral issues which threaten that beauty. Cantabile from 1979 is “an expression of joy”; Distant Light, a violin concerto from 1997, is “nostalgia with a touch of tragedy.

Mozart at 250 is marked with a performance of his Serenade, the Gran Partita, for 13 wind instruments. It’s a mix of robust dances, easy-going charm, and a poignant, very personal slow movement.

The highly popular Coffee Concerts (presented in association with BBC Radio Ulster) return with Derry-born saxophonist Gerard McChrystal and Australian guitarist Craig Ogden, who have spent the past year developing an original repertoire combining the natural jazz roots of the saxophone with folk and Celtic influences to produce some funky new works. This year sees the release of their new album pluckblow, which features new music from Ireland, Australia, UK and Germany. They will perform at the Great Hall at Queen’s University on Saturday 28th October.

The Callino Quartet, which was described by the Irish Times as “the most polished young string Quartet that Ireland has recently produced”, make their Belfast Festival at Queen’s debut on Saturday 4th November. Now in its sixth year, the Quartet regularly appears in festivals and concerts throughout Europe and has collaborated with such established and diverse artists as the Vanbrugh and Vogler String Quartets and the Paris-Bastille Wind Octet.

Soprano Anna Devin and mezzo Nora King, mezzo - two of Ireland’s finest young singers - will perform a programme to include songs by Mozart, Schumann, Rossini and Philip Martin on Saturday 21st October at the Great Hall, Queen’s University.

This year’s BBC Invitation Concert will feature the world premiere of a major new work by Belfast-born composer Deirdre Gribbin. Gribbin wrote Goliath for percussion and orchestra but has used the distinctive drumming patterns of the Lambeg Drum complement the symphony orchestra. This performance at the Ulster Hall on Sunday 22nd October will also feature virtuoso solo percussionist Colin Currie.

Some of Ireland’s top singers will dazzle audiences at the Great Hall at Queen’s University on Wednesday 1st November as part of the National Chamber Choir, an independent, full time professional ensemble. The choir’s repertoire spans the period from 11th century chant to the music of the 21st century.

This year sees one of Northern Ireland’s most accomplished chamber choirs, The Priory Singers, celebrate its 20th anniversary and to mark the occasion the group will perform the Missa Papae Marcelli by Palestrina from the gallery of the Black & White Hall on Saturday 4th November.

Fresh from the success of her Wigmore Hall debut, Irish pianist Maria McGarry makes her way to the festival to perform one of two events which celebrates the legacy of the former Chancellor of Queen’s, Sir Tyrone Guthrie.

McGarry, recipient of the coveted Artist Diploma in Performance from the Juilliard School in 2003, has been performing regularly in major venues across Europe, North America and Asia. She has received consistent praise from critics for her intuitive musicianship, depth of interpretation and uniquely personal style and will delight audiences at the Sonic Arts Research Centre on Saturday 21st October as part of the 25th Anniversary Celebrations of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig. This recital is sponsored by The Belfast Telegraph.

Composer Piers Hellawell will celebrate his 50th birthday this year and to mark the occasion the festival will hold two events in his honour. The Schubert Ensemble, one of Britain’s leading exponents of chamber music for piano and strings will perform two of Hellawell’s works at the Great Hall on Wednesday 25th October, while Scandinavia’s leading brass players, the Stockholm Chamber Brass, will perform the UK premiere of Hellawell’s most recent works on Thursday, 26th October at the Sonic Arts Research Centre.

Tickets for these events are currently on sale from the Festival Box Office on telephone 028 90971197 or online from www.belfastfestival.com, where full programme details are also available.

ENDS.

For further information, please contact Sarah Hughes, Communications Officer, Belfast Festival at Queen’s on telephone 028 90971398 or email s.hughes@qub.ac.uk





Classical Music Programme – Belfast Festival at Queen’s – Event Listings

The Ulster Bank Opening Concert 2006 - José Cura and the Ulster Orchestra
With the Ulster Orchestra
DATE: Friday 20 October
TIME: 8 PM
VENUE: Belfast Waterfront Hall
TICKETS: £15, £32.50, £40, £49.50, £57.50

Coffee Concert – Anna Devin and Nora King
DATE: Saturday 21 October
TIME: 11am
TICKETS: Admission Free

BBC Invitation Concert
Date: Sunday 22 October
Time: 8pm
Venue: Ulster Hall
Tickets: Admission Free

Coffee Concert - The Callino Quartet
DATE: Saturday 4 November
TIME: 11am
VENUE: The Great Hall, QUB
TICKETS: Free

Coffee Concert - Gerard McChrystal and Craig Ogden
Date: Saturday 28 October
Time: 11.00am
Venue: Great Hall, QUB
Tickets: fREE

National Chamber Choir
Date: Wednesday 1 November
Time: 7.45 pm
Venue: Great Hall, QUB
Tickets: £8

The Priory Singers
Date: Saturday 4 November
Time: 10.00 pm
Venue: Black & White Hall
Tickets: Free

Maria McGarry
DATE: Saturday 21 October
time: 8pm
VENUE: Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC)
Tickets: £6

Stockholm Chamber Brass
Date: Thursday 26 October
Time: 8pm
Venue: SARC
Tickets: £15 / £10

Schubert Ensemble
Date: Wednesday 25 October
Time: 8pm
Venue: Great Hall
Tickets: £15 / £10

Distant Light – The Ulster Orchestra 40th birthday celebration – (programme includes Vasks and Mozart)

DATE: Friday 27 October
TIME: 8pm
VENUE: Clonard Monastery
TICKETS: £13.50 / £10

Tickets for these events will be on sale from Thursday 7th September from the Festival Box Office on telephone 028 90971197 or online from www.belfastfestival.com, where full programme details will also be available.

Andrew O'Hagan - 'Be Near Me' - Spiegeltent, Wed 1 Nov, 6pm

Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan

‘As if it is not enough that Andrew O’Hagan can write like an angel, one has to
add that he does it in the rare style of an intelligent angel. What a fine novel Be Near Me is.’ Norman Mailer

When an English priest takes over a small Scottish parish, not everyone is ready to accept him. He makes friends with two local youths, Mark and Lisa, and clashes with a world he can barely understand. The town seems to grow darker each night. Fate comes calling and before the summer is out his quiet life is the focus of public hysteria.Father David looks back to find a Lancashire childhood. He remembers a lost father and a grand school for Catholic boys. He finds 1960s Oxford in the heat of student revolt and recalls a choice he once made in the orange groves of Rome.Be Near Me is a story of art and politics, love and change, and a book about the way we live now. Trapped in class hatreds, threatened by personal flaws, Father David begins to discover what happened to the ideals of his generation. Meanwhile a religious war is unfolding on his doorstep ...

Andrew O’Hagan was born in Glasgow in 1968. His first book, The Missing, was published in 1995 and shortlisted for the Esquire/Waterstone’s/Apple Non-Fiction Award. Our Fathers, his debut novel, was shortlisted for the 1999 Booker Prize. His second novel, Personality, was published in 2003 and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. In January of that year Granta named him one of the Best of Young British Novelists and in April he received the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. He lives in London.
Andrew O’Hagan is available for interview and to write pieces. For any further information, contact Publicity Manager, Bomi Odufunade on 020 7465 7542 or email: bomi.odufunade@faber.co.uk

Praise for Be Near Me

‘What a powerful writer Andrew O’Hagan has become, in four remarkably varied, yet singularly riveting and lyrical books. Be Near Me is an elegy, a love story, a document of an era, beautifully imagined and composed.’ Joyce Carol Oates

‘Be Near Me is a work of art. I was just bowled over by it. I was shuddered into emotion by Father David, as I was calmed by the aesthetics of what was happening in the book. Be Near Me does Scotland and contemporary literature a dignity it doesn’t deserve. I am not at all in doubt now, I know someone who has written high art. This book bedazzles with its utter and profound beauty.’ Alan Warner

‘It’s marvellous, really marvellous. Full of humour and tragedy and easily (I think) the best thing Andrew O’Hagan has done. It straddles two completely different worlds and sensibilities with an authority no other British novelist could manage at the moment.’ Jonathan Coe

‘Be Near Me is such an excellent book. It is a wonderful book. Awfully moving, and riveting, and here and there just unbelievably original.’ Patrick McGrath

‘There is no page on which there is not something surprising or quotable or pleasurable or thought-provoking. The Tennyson does its job – I keep saying it to myself now – and coupled with the first paragraph is one of the best beginnings I can think of – so sure in tone and so unlike anyone else’s writing. It is a book with a real hinterland, a sense of the cultures that inform it – there is so much in it that is sharp and so much that is sad.’ Hilary Mantel

‘Be Near Me is marvellously good. It’s just beautifully realised – very sad, funny and haunting.’ Richard Eyre

Cahoots NI presents Dan Gordon’s new show for children - Only Beelieve

Cahoots NI presents Dan Gordon’s new show for children - Only Beelieve

Cahoots NI presents an enchanting tale of adventure, friendship and very busy bees in a magical new show for children written and performed by Dan Gordon. Using black light illusion, live music and magic Only Beelieve tells the story of a very special insect….

A furry little bee wiggles out of her cocoon into the strange new world of Honeycomb Hive. Just one little bee among thousands of others but she’s a Queen in the making – her name is Princess Clara. Born blinking into the busy bee world of nectar and yummy honey, Princess Clara soon discovers her hectic home is not quite as safe as everyone thinks. For over the mound and down in the marsh the cruellest of Wood Wasps are gathering. They have heard of Honeycomb Hive with its fine fat Larvae and thick runny honey and they want to take it for their own.

Only the very cleverest, busiest and best of Bees can stop the Wood Wasps – but a Bee needs to fly and Clara can’t even hover because she doesn’t believe in herself. Clara might stop them if she could Only Beelieve – do you?

Actor and writer Dan Gordon said:
“You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but when it comes to children – you had better be telling the truth. Cahoots NI have given me a glorious opportunity to make children laugh and cheer. I know what children want – heck I went to school with a load of them!”

Children will follow Clara’s story with amazement and meet along the way a friendly fly and not such a friendly spider, an earthworm that becomes twins, and a Caterpillar called Trevor.

Only Beelieve is supported by Belfast City Council as part of Celebrate Belfast 2006. Cllr. Bernie Kelly, Chair of the Culture and Arts sub-committee said;
“Given Cahoots’ track record for fabulous children’s theatre, and that they’re teaming up with the talented Dan Gordon, this production is sure to be an unmissable event for kids – and I bet parents and older friends will enjoy it too! Good theatre is such a magical and memorable experience – we’re very proud that Belfast is home to such high standards of creativity”.

Only Beelieve is the first show for Cahoots NI to be presented at Belfast Festival at Queen’s and will be at Tower Street Theatre, Belfast Institute of Further & Higher Education who are also celebrating their 100-year centenary.

Cahoots NI and Only Believe are kindly supported by Awards for All, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council - Celebrate Belfast, the Foyle Foundation, Millennium Commission and Mi Wadi

Dates: Thursday 19 October, 9.45am & 11am
Friday 20 October, 11am & 7pm
Saturday 21 October, 11.30am & 2.30pm

Running Time: 45 minutes

Ticket price: £5 (£18 Family Ticket for four, £4 Schools & Groups)

Box Office: (028) 9097 1097

Age range: Suitable for a family audience 4-11 years


ENDS

For further information and images please contact
Paul McEneaney or Louise O’Neil at Cahoots NI.

T: 028 9043 4349
E: info@cahootsni.com
W : www.cahootsni.com



Notes to Editors

1. Cahoots NI is a professional touring children’s theatre company based in Belfast since 2001 whose productions have met with considerable critical acclaim both nationally and internationally. The company aims to inspire young imaginations through theatre; to generate new, young audiences; to enthuse children from across the social sphere about the arts and to nurture the creative potential of children.

2. Cahoots NI celebrates its fifth birthday in November 2006 in what has been a busy year with Only Beelieve the fourth major piece of work. This follows the Bedside Theatre’s return to hospitals across Northern Ireland in September following a hugely successful appearance at La Strada international street festival in Bremen, Germany in August. May and June saw the production of The Weather Watchers tour Ireland including Belfast Children’s Festival and Dundalk Arts Festival for Children.

3. Belfast City Hall and Belfast Institute of Further & Higher Education are celebrating their 100-year centenary. This is Cahoots NI’s second production as part of Celebrate Belfast following the sell-out Hall of Fun, a large-scale site-specific piece performed at Belfast City in February 2006.

4. For more information please visit www.cahootsni.com

Think No Evil of Us: My Life With Kenneth Williams

James Seabright presents

DAVID BENSON

in the tenth anniversary UK tour of his award-winning solo show

Think No Evil of Us: My Life With Kenneth Williams

“I thought it WAS Kenneth!” Dame Maggie Smith

David Benson’s legendary solo show is back for a tenth anniversary tour, celebrating the incredible ongoing popularity of this hilarious, endearing and uncanny drama.

Since Think No Evil of Us first stunned Edinburgh audiences in 1996 – picking up a Fringe First Award along the way – Benson and Williams toured the length and breadth of the British Isles from Shetland to Cornwall, ending up triumphantly in the West End of London. Now Benson returns to his masterpiece, bringing the show to new audiences and giving die-hard fans another opportunity to savour the wit and sheer dramatic flair of this unforgettable performance.

Think No Evil of Us is Benson’s attempt to break the mold of the ‘biographical’ show, eschewing dates, facts and over-familiar anecdotes. “I want to portray Williams as a character rather than as an historical figure,” he says. Benson builds a portrait of a highly complex man: vulnerable, insecure and capable of breathtaking cruelty. What fascinates him above all is Williams’ ability “continually to redeem himself by turning his private torment into blistering comedy.”

In a hilarious yet moving autobiographical section of the show, Benson’s explains his own ‘link’ with Williams: at the age of thirteen he wrote a story for the Jackanory Writing Competition – and won. He dreamed of having is story read on air by his hero, Spike Milligan. But to his dismay, it was read by the campest man in Britain: Kenneth Williams himself. As Benson explains, for a boy attending a Birmingham comprehensive school – and struggling with his own sexuality, not to mention a mad mother – the Williams connection was to prove something of a burden!

Hailed by friends and colleagues of Kenneth’s (including Barbara Windsor, Nicholas Parsons, Sheila Hancock, Barry Took and Dame Maggie Smith) as the most accurate portrayal of Kenneth Williams ever seen, Think No Evil of Us remains a testament to a much-missed entertainer and a masterpiece of modern theatre. The show appeals to audiences from a wide age range, including those not familiar with Williams’ work. The show has been in particular demand recently following the broadcast of Benson’s BBC Radio 4 series, The Private World of Kenneth Williams, which is based on the entertainer’s infamous diaries.
'Unforgettable and inspirational theatre' - INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
'Brilliant... a truly remarkable event' - Michael Coveney, MAIL ON SUNDAY

'A masterpiece of comic timing' - EVENING STANDARD

David Benson’s
Think No Evil Of Us: My Life With Kenneth Williams


For further information and interview requests please contact
Kat Portman on 020 7439 1173 or 0777 575 8098 or kat@seabright.info

Further details on David Benson are available from
www.davidbenson.info

Tunng with Jill Barber - Spiegeltent, Fri 3 Nov

‘Twisted Folk’ Tour
October 2006

TUNNG
JILL BARBER


Date: Town: Venue / Box Office / Contact Details:

Fri 3rd Nov Belfast Spiegeltent, Custom House Square – tel. 028 90971197, www.belfastfestival.com

Heralding the coming of Autumn, the TWISTED FOLK TOUR boasts three bands from three countries, all testament to the boom of folk-influenced music on both sides of the Atlantic, and our insatiable appetite for music that eschews the shiny and the formulaic in favour of something altogether darker, stranger, lovelier. Headlining the nationwide tour will be London-based folktronica wizards TUNNG, a band that has rapidly become an essential part of the musical landscape in 2006. While each gig is more magical than the last, their inspired second album ‘Comments Of The Inner Chorus’ on Full Time Hobby is set to ride high on all best of year lists.

“this is a hyper strange record that’d really blow Nick Drake and
solo Syd Barrett’s more intrepid fans brains out”
MOJO

Like the best of the loose-knit alt.folk scene, Tunng have helped forge a new sound, a new genre even – much in the same way that the West Country trip hop acts Portishead and Massive Attack did in the 1990s. And, while American cousins Will Oldham and Sufjan Stevens turn out new sounds from old traditions, Tunng have taken real and imagined folk music of these Isles and fed them through a tangle of modern sensibilities and instrumentation to produce a new twist on English pastoral folk. If Devendra Banhart is the shamanic leader of the American nu-folk tribe, Tunng surely lead a merry dance through a re-imagined English folk landscape, with their strangely alluring songs of human to animal metamorphosis and life-affirming live performances. The combination of Sam Genders’ beguiling songwriting, understated vocals that float across a tapestry of acoustic sounds – all intermeshing guitars and jingling percussion - and a theatrical mix of electronic chaffage and stuttering period film samples never fails to leave audiences spellbound.

“Visceral, trippy, and gorgeous."
Filter

"A new genre: freak-funk...The mellow mysticism never comes
at the expense of a frisky groove."
Blender


Award-winning, Ontario-born, JILL BARBER draws on influences from old-time jazz standards, bluegrassy folk and hook-laden pop. Her intelligent, folk pop tunes display a hint of cabaret, bringing to mind her kooky compatriots Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Her debut recording ‘Oh Heart’ won her several awards, the title track riding high in the Canadian charts throughout 2005. Though it is perhaps her voice that makes her stand out – her dead-on phrasing, impressive range and knack for squeezing emotion out of every alto purr makes it difficult to believe that Jill Barber has yet to record a full length album.


For Twisted Folk Press Info/Photos/Interviews:
Contact: Miles Evans twistedfolkpr@aol.com/ 07812 985 9993

The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb - Magners Comedy

Phil McIntyre Entertainment Limited presents

The stars of C4’s PEEP SHOW in a BRAND NEW LIVE SHOW

THE TWO FACES OF MITCHELL AND WEBB

“Brilliant!”
HEAT

“A comedy dream: ambitious and economical, erudite and silly.”
THE SCOTSMAN

David Mitchell and Robert Webb, the stars of C4’s Peep Show, kick off a 43 date live tour of the UK in Brighton on 19 October 2006. The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb will be the first ever live tour for the BAFTA nominated duo.
David Mitchell and Robert Webb, two medium-sized figures of the small screen return to the medium in which they were once tiny: the theatre. Join them for an evening of wondering where the camera is and forgetting to speak up, as they weave together character, suspense and comedy just by titting around in front of some painted wood. David and Robert conjure a world inhabited by gritty urban anti-heroes, pantomime space villains and alcoholic snooker commentators (all of whom look a bit like Mark and Jeremy from Peep Show but definitely aren't) and then they make them talk to each other like they're in some crazy play with nowhere near enough actors. Like TV but more exclusive, and infinitely more hassle.

DAVID MITCHELL and ROBERT WEBB

David Mitchell and Robert Webb are perhaps best known for their roles as flat mates Mark and Jeremy in C4’s multi award winning, “consistently brilliant” (The Guardian) comedy show, Peep Show. Now in its third series Peep Show has earned a huge cult following, winning Best Comedy at both the 2004 Golden Rose and 2005 South Bank Show Awards. In addition, the show was more recently nominated for Best Situation Comedy at both the BAFTA and RTS Awards.

David (32) and Robert (33) met at Cambridge University where they were both writers and performers with the celebrated Cambridge Footlights. From there, they went on to perform together at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival between 1996 and 2001, building themselves a solid live reputation and kick starting their television career.

Their first TV venture together was Bruiser (2000), a BBC sketch show in which they starred and co-wrote with additional writing input from Ricky Gervais. This was followed by their self-titled sketch show The Mitchell and Webb Situation for UK Play (2001) before getting together with writers Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain to make Peep Show.

“The sublime meets the ridiculous having picked up the intelligent on the way.”
THE LIST

Their credits as comedy writers include, among others, Armstrong and Miller, Big Train and an episode of Twisted Tales (in which they also appeared).

Aside from television, the duo also enjoyed success on the airwaves with two series of their Sony Award winning Radio 4 comedy sketch show, That Mitchell and Webb Sound (2003 and 2005).

Robert Webb’s additional television credits include two series of the BBC sitcom, The Smoking Room, the Ben Elton scripted Blessed, The Comic Side of Seven Days, The Gist, Meaningful Sex, Comedy Nation and Urban Gothic. He has also appeared on Best of the Worst, Annually Retentive and Have I Got News For You. His film credits include Comic Act and the recently released comedy ensemble Confetti starring Martin Freeman, Julia Davis, Stephen Mangan and Olivia Colman. Robert also appeared in the Radio 4 sketch show, Concrete Cow.

David Mitchell was a recent host on C4’s topical comedy show, FAQ U, and More4’s late-night talk show The Last Word. In addition, he was a captain on C4’s Best of the Worst and has appeared on a number of other topical panel shows including, Have I Got News For You, TV Heaven Telly Hell, Mock the Week, Armando Iannucci’s Charm Offensive, QI, Annually Retentive and C4’s The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. His additional television credits include All About George, Taming of the Shrew, Doctors and Nurses and the radio sitcom Think the Unthinkable. He’s also written for series five of Dead Ringers and narrated the ‘social experiment’, Beauty and the Geek. David’s film credits include the recently filmed, I Could Never Be Your Woman (working title) starring Michele Pfeiffer, which is due for release in the UK later this year.

The duo recently filmed That Mitchell and Webb Look, a brand new BBC2 sketch show due to air in the autumn. Starring alongside them in the series will be fellow Peep Show actress and regular collaborator, Olivia Colman. They are currently filming starring roles in Magicians, a feature film written specifically for them by Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, writers of Peep Show.

THE TWO FACES OF MITCHELL and Webb on tour from 19 October – 10 December 2006
Tickets available at www.ticketzone.co.uk or by calling 08700 11 26 26
www.mitchellandwebblive.com


The TWO FACES OF MITCHELL AND WEBB released on Universal DVD on 27 November 2006
Recommended Retail Price: £19.99


For further press information please contact:
ar:pr
Anna Raynsford
023 8084 3763 / 07903 630 645 / annaraynsford@aol.com
Tour LISTINGS INFORMATION

Date City Venue Show Time Box Office
Thursday 19-Oct-06 Brighton Dome 7.30pm 01273 709 709
Friday 20-Oct-06 Southampton Guildhall 7.30pm 023 8063 2601
Saturday 21-Oct-06 Basingstoke Anvil 8.00pm 01256 844 244
Sunday 22-Oct-06 Salford Lowry 7.30pm 0870 787 5780
Tuesday 24-Oct-06 Peterborough Broadway Theatre 7.30pm 01733 316 100
Wednesday 25-Oct-06 Cambridge Corn Exchange 7.30pm 01223 357 851
Thursday 26-Oct-06 Nottingham Concert Hall 7.30pm 0115 989 5555
Friday 27-Oct-06 York Grand Opera 8.00pm 0870 606 3595
Saturday 28-Oct-06 Sheffield City Hall 8.00pm 01142 789 789
Sunday 29-Oct-06 Salford Lowry 7.30pm 0870 787 5780
Tuesday 31-Oct-06 Belfast Whitla Hall 7.30pm 02890 971197

Wednesday 1-Nov-06 Stoke Victoria Hall 8.00pm 0870 060 6649
Thursday 2-Nov-06 Derby Assembly Rooms 8.00pm 01332 255 800
Friday 3-Nov-06 Coventry Warwick Arts Centre 7.45pm 024 7652 4524
Saturday 4-Nov-06 Coventry Warwick Arts Centre 7.45pm 024 7652 4524
Sunday 5-Nov-06 Birmingham Hippodrome 7.30pm 0870 730 1234
Tuesday 7-Nov-06 Bournemouth Pavilion 8.00pm 0870 111 3000
Wednesday 8-Nov-06 Plymouth Pavilion 8.00pm 01752 229 922
Thursday 9-Nov-06 High Wycombe Swan 7.45pm 01494 512 000
Friday 10-Nov-06 Reading Hexagon 8.00pm 01189 606060
Saturday 11-Nov-06 Portsmouth Guildhall 8.00pm 023 9282 4355
Sunday 12-Nov-06 Bristol Colston Hall 7.30pm 0117 922 3686
Tuesday 14-Nov-06 Oxford New Theatre 8.00pm 0870 606 3500
Wednesday 15-Nov-06 Southport Theatre 8.00pm 0870 6077 560
Thursday 16-Nov-06 Hull City Hall 7.30pm 01482 226655
Friday 17-Nov-06 Grimsby Auditorium 8.00pm 0870 060 2331
Saturday 18-Nov-06 Preston Guildhall 8.00pm 01772 258 858
Sunday 19-Nov-06 Glasgow Kings 7.30pm 0141 240 1111
Tuesday 21-Nov-06 Leicester De Montfort Hall 8.00pm 0116 2333 111
Wednesday 22-Nov-06 Liverpool Royal Court 7.30pm 0870 787 1866
Thursday 23-Nov-06 Canterbury Marlowe 7.30pm 01227 787 787
Friday 24-Nov-06 Cambridge Corn Exchange 7.30pm 01223 357 851
Saturday 25-Nov-06 Dartford Orchard 7.30pm 01322 220 000
Monday 27-Nov-06 Southend Cliffs Pavillion 7.30pm 01702 351 135
Tuesday 28-Nov-06 Northampton Derngate 7.30pm 01604 624 811
Wednesday 29-Nov-06 Ipswich Regent Theatre 8.00pm 01473 433 100
Thursday 30-Nov-06 Croydon Fairfield Halls 8.00pm 0208 688 9291

Friday 1-Dec-06 Newcastle City Hall 7.30pm 0191 261 2606
Sunday 3-Dec-06 St Albans Alban Arena 7.30pm 01727 844 488
Tuesday 5-Dec-06 Cardiff Wales Millenium Centre 7.30pm 08700 40 2000
Wednesday 6-Dec-06 Llandudno North Wales Theatre 8.00pm 01492 872 000
Thursday 7-Dec-06 Wolverhampton Civic 7.30pm 01902 552 121
Sunday 10-Dec-06 Tunbridge Wells Assembly Hall 7.30pm 01892 530 613


All tickets are £19.50

N.B There is no support act on this tour

Full details are also available at http://www.mitchellandwebblive.comWhat the press has said about MITCHELL AND webb:


”As unremitting in its experimentalism as it is sharply clever.”
The Independent
“An endlessly inventive comic duo.”
Big Issue
“««««« British comedy as it should be.”
The List ”They bring inspired material to lunatic life… They will be stars!”
Metro”The laughs come at warp speed… Amazing!”
The List”Completely off the wall and highly original stuff… Faultless timing… A perfect script.”
The Stage
”The energy of an Olympic relay team and the timing of Accurist.”
The Scotsman
”Real comic talent.”
Time Out


What the press has said about peep show:


“Finally, a Friday night comedy worth staying in for.”
Sunday Telegraph

“One of the most innovative shows of the last five years.”
Sunday Mirror

“The consistently brilliant sitcom returns.”
The Guardian

“Like Spaced and Smack The Pony, this cult comedy has been a word-of-mouth sleeper success.”
Daily Star

“This splendid, grubby sitcom goes from strength to strength.”
Mail on Sunday

“This inventively structured sitcom has slowly built up a head of cult steam.”
Sunday Times

“Funny, original and genuinely subversive without going in for attention seeking.”
Sunday Telegraph

Gordon Burn - Best and Edwards - Fri 20 Oct

BEST AND EDWARDS
Football, Fame and Oblivion
Gordon Burn
5 October 2006, £16.99 hardback

‘Every manager goes through life looking for one great player praying he’ll find one. Just one. I was more lucky than most. I found two – Big Duncan and George. I suppose in their own ways, they both died, didn’t they?’ Sir Matt Busby

By the mid-fifties Manchester United had caught the imagination of the country. Duncan Edwards played his first game for the club in 1953, aged fifteen. Two years later he won his first England cap and became the most prized of the ‘Busby Babes’. Then in February 1958 came Munich.Half a decade later George Best represented the reborn United. ‘Georgie’ of the boutiques and dolly birds; ‘El Beatle’ of the European Cup and European Player of the Year in 1968; in the opinion of Pelé, the most naturally talented footballer that ever lived. But by the age of twenty-seven he was retired from the game and reduced to the role of Chelsea barfly and tabloid perennial.

Much more than a portrait of two of football’s greatest legends, Best and Edwards is a brilliant and highly readable exploration into the culture of celebrity and how that shaped the careers of two very different personalities.

Duncan Edwards would have been 70 on 1 October 2006 and November will mark the first anniversary of George Best’s death. Bobby Charlton, who also features in the book, will be 69 on 6 October.

Gordon is available for interview and to write pieces. For any further information, please contact Anna Pallai on 020 7465 7556 (anna.pallai@faber.co.uk) or Kate Burton on 020 7465 7554 (kate.burton@faber.co.uk)

Gordon Burn is the author of three acclaimed novels, Alma Cogan (winner of the Whitbread First Novel Prize), Fullalove and The North of England Home Service. He is also the author of the non-fiction titles Somebody’s Husband, Somebody's Son, Pocket Money, Happy Like Murderers and On The Way to Work. He lives in London.

Somebody’s Husband, Somebody’s Son (1984)
‘A book which will, with some justice, be compared to In Cold Blood and The Executioner's Song. It’s as if Thomas Hardy were also present at the writing of this account of the Yorkshire Ripper.’ Norman Mailer

Pocket Money (1984)
‘(A) seminal book about the baize.’ Scotsman

Alma Cogan (1991)
‘a work of extraordinary daring … Burn’s amazing feat of appropriation strikes home in an era engaged in whole hearted celebrity worship.’ The Times

‘Burn’s novel, vividly and economically written, is a sombre reflection on fame and its cost; it is also a bitterly disenchanted view of how Britain has developed over the past 40 years.’ Sunday Times

Fullalove (1995)
‘Fullalove is a thoroughgoing horror story. Yet paradoxically, it is in the midst of all these horrors that Burn touches most authentically on life.’ Guardian

‘Gordon Burn’s book is like a fabulous extension, a physical creation, from our increasing sense of unease about modern, media-saturated, especially urban life.’ Scotsman

Happy Like Murderers (1998)
‘One of the finest pieces of writing by a living English writer, the cold blank prose and the use of repetition (again) eventually numbing the reader into a peculiar state of understanding.’ Rod Liddle, The Times

‘Gordon Burn’s Happy Like Murderers is, on the other hand, a highly sophisticated literary construct ... It will be seen at once that this is powerful writing. Burn’s approach has given him some real intuition into the world the Wests inhabited, physically, socially and psychologically.’ David Sexton, Evening Standard

The North of England Home Service (2003)
‘The history he presents, using a mixture of actual and the imagined, and at times wielding an Orwellian eloquence, is worth the price of the book itself ... The real impetus is retrospective, which leaves the here and now belated and beside the point.’ Sean O'Brien, Independent

SPIEGELTENT TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT 44TH BELFAST FESTIVAL AT QUEEN’S

NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 7TH SEPTEMBER 2006
SPIEGELTENT TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT 44TH BELFAST FESTIVAL AT QUEEN’S

One of the world’s most decadent travelling cabaret and music salons, The Spiegeltent, is set to become one of the star attractions at the 44th Belfast Festival at Queen’s, which runs from 19th October to 4th November.

Built in 1920 by master craftsmen from wood, canvas, leaded glass and mirrors, this hand-hewn art nouveau pavilion will take centre stage at Custom House Square, with support from the Laganside Corporation, for the duration of Ireland’s biggest international arts festival. Also known as the Salon Perdu, the Spiegeltent will play host to everything from World Music and Cabaret to Magners Comedy, BT Talks and more.

Amongst the other highlights from this year’s festival programme, details of which were announced earlier today, are the breathtaking voice of one of the world’s leading tenors, the hot and spicy sounds of Cuba, an innovative new version of a Shakespearean classic and the one and only ‘human sparkler’!

Over 18 packed festival days and nights, artists and events from over 15 countries - including Argentina, Russia, Sweden, Israel, Spain, Australia, France, Cuba, Somalia, Canada, United States and Norway – will entertain audiences in venues throughout the city.

Speaking at the festival’s programme launch, Graeme Farrow, Festival Director, said:

“This year’s festival presents a fascinating, balanced mix of events, ranging from large-scale spectacles and familiar names on the big stage to smaller, intriguing and more irreverent shows all over the city. It brings culture from around the world to our doorstep and showcases the very best work of our local artists. The introduction of the magnificent Spiegeltent venue is the icing on the festival cake - at least one night out here is essential!”

Opening Events

Topping the bill at this year’s festival is The Ulster Bank Opening Concert at the Waterfront Hall on Friday 20th October, featuring world-renowned Argentine tenor José Cura with the Ulster Orchestra. Maestro Cura, who has been hailed in the media as the successor to the Pavarotti-Domingo-Carreras triumvirate and baptised as "the fourth tenor", will sing and conduct arias and overtures from some of the world’s greatest operas at this, his only UK and Irish date of 2006.

Following the sensational success of Sticky in 2003, The World Famous return to the festival to present Crackers?, a free outdoor extravaganza combining fireworks, projection, performance and music. The event is presented in association with the NI Fire and Rescue Service and Bank of Ireland and will open the festival on Thursday 19th October at Botanic Gardens Playing Fields. The audience of adults and brave children is surrounded by fire and smoke, spinning wheels and fireworks and the ‘human sparkler’…

Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said:

“For several decades, through the Troubles and beyond, Belfast Festival at Queen’s has become a key annual highlight in Northern Ireland’s cultural and artistic calendar. As its longest-running supporter, the Arts Council is delighted this year to be able to help the festival to continue to offer its eclectic mix of events and carry on its tradition of bringing over headline international arts to Belfast.”

The Right Honourable, The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Pat McCarthy said:

“Belfast City Council is immensely proud of the Belfast Festival at Queen’s. This year’s programme has so many treats in store, demonstrating once again a real commitment to showcasing the best of international performance alongside local talent. As well as providing really memorable and inspirational events for local people, this flagship festival is doing a great deal to project a very positive image of Belfast and attract visitors to our city.”

The Blackbird’s Nest – Gala Poetry Evening

Queen's University, in association with the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry and Blackstaff Press, is proud to launch a major new poetry anthology at the Whitla Hall on Saturday 4th November, as part of the Belfast Festival at Queen’s.

An unprecedented line-up of some of Ireland’s finest poetry voices – including Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Frank Ormsby, Ciaran Carson, Medbh McGuckian, Jean Bleakney, Sinead Morrissey, Gearoid Mac Lochlainn, Alan Gillis and Leontia Flynn – will gather together to read from their works which have been included in the anthology, entitled The Blackbird’s Nest. The anthology features the work of three generations of celebrated poets who have all worked at, attended, been artist in residence at or had another direct connection with Queen’s University.

World Theatre

Blazing a trail of awards glory from London to New York, we are thrilled to welcome The National Theatre, in a festival partnership with the Grand Opera House, to Belfast for the only Irish performances of Alan Bennett’s The History Boys (Tuesday 31st October to Saturday 4th November.)

Cardboard Citizens – the only professional theatre company working with homeless and ex-homeless people as creators, participants and audience – renew their relationship with the Royal Shakespeare Company with Timon of Athens (Tuesday 31st October to Friday 3rd November, Waterfront Studio).

Shakespeare's rarely performed tale is the story of one man's journey from philanthropy to misanthropy and this unusual adaptation, set within the context of a motivational management training event, comes direct to the Belfast Festival at Queen’s from performances at the Complete Works Festival in Stratford. The Belfast performances are presented in association with P&O Irish Sea.

In the hilarious and innovative All Wear Bowlers (Old Museum arts centre, Saturday 21st to Monday 23rd October), two silent film clowns take a wrong turn and find themselves trapped in a haunted theatre, where hard-boiled eggs play tricks on them and gravity refuses to behave.

Windmill Baby (Wednesday 1st to Saturday 4th November, Drama and Film Centre at Queen’s) is a one-woman redemption piece about an old Aboriginal woman who returns to the deserted Kimberley cattle station in the West Australian outback that was her home 50 years ago. Told by indigenous voices and delivered with the poetry of a campfire storyteller, the play embraces universal themes of love, life and loss.

Based on the true experiences of his grandfather during WW1, one of Northern Ireland’s leading playwrights, Martin Lynch, brings Holding Hands at Paschendale to the Lyric Theatre from Friday 13th October to Saturday 4 November, while Belfast playwright Marie Jones has collaborated with Liverpudlian playwright Maurice Bressman to bring to the stage The Liverpool Boat, a highly entertaining, musical production about the mass emigration of Northern Irish people to Liverpool.

Prime Cut Productions returns to Old Museum arts centre with the Irish Premiere of Naomi Wallace’s beautiful and haunting play, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, a suspense-filled, coming of age tale about the beauty of the human spirit, while the terror, fear, guilt and desperation felt by two parents who learn that their child has simply disappeared is reflected in The Early Bird, an extraordinary new play by Leo Butler, presented by Ransom Productions.

Dance

Belfast Festival at Queen’s is delighted to welcome two of the world’s great contemporary choreographers, Stephen Petronio and Russell Maliphant, to Northern Ireland.

The evocative signature movement of Stephen Petronio combines with the poetic surge of singer and songwriter Rufus Wainwright and the voices of the Ulster Youth Choir to create Bud Suite and BLOOM, for which Wainwright has written original material which will be performed by the Ulster Youth Choir. In association with the Ulster Tatler and the American Consulate, Stephen Petronio Company will present these works at Stranmillis College Theatre on Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th October.

Described as “one of the most fertile choreographic minds working in Britain today” (The Guardian), the dances of award winning choreographer Russell Maliphant are captivating to watch. Presented in association with Ballygowan mineral water, Transmission (Saturday 21st October, Waterfront Studio), is a piece created for an ensemble of five female dancers.

Spiegeltent – Salon Perdu

Since they were first created in the 1920’s, the magic mirrors of the Spiegeltent have reflected thousands of images of artists, audiences and exotic gatherings and played host to the world’s greatest cabaret artists, musicians and circus burlesque performers. Now the Salon Perdu will transport Belfast audiences into another era with the seductive sounds and smouldering passion of Maria Tecce (Thursday 2nd November), an eclectic mix of urban anthems, sketches, gorgeous girls and earthy sensuality in The Fallen Angels Cabaret (Wednesday 1st November) and Pigeon & Plum's MACAB-ARET (Tuesday 31st October), a Victorian Music Hall Extravaganza featuring the undead vaudeville talents of yester year.

Classical Music

This year’s Closing Concert (Friday 3rd November, Waterfront Hall), presented in association with Robertson Patterson Partnership and RTE Lyric FM, features the Northern Ireland premiere of one of the most popular pieces of modern classical music: Symphony No 3 Op. 36 ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’, written by the acclaimed Polish composer Henryk Górecki. This haunting work will be performed by English soprano Janice Watson with the Ulster Orchestra conducted by Tuomas Ollila.

One of “the most remarkable pianists of the day” (Daily Telegraph), Dmitri Alexeev, will celebrate the Shostakovich anniversary year at the same concert, with a performance of the Russian master’s Piano Concerto No 1 in C minor, Op 35, featuring Paul Young on trumpet.

Distant Light at Clonard Monastery is a musical celebration of three important birthdays - the Ulster Orchestra, which turns 40 this year, 60 year old Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks and Mozart, whose 250th anniversary is being marked in 2006.

The celebrations continue with composer Piers Hellawell, whose 50th birthday is being marked by two festival events. The Schubert Ensemble, one of Britain’s leading exponents of chamber music for piano and strings will perform two of Hellawell’s works at the Great Hall on Wednesday 25th October, while Scandinavia’s leading brass players, the Stockholm Chamber Brass, will perform the World Premiere of of a new Hellawell commission on Thursday 26th October at the Sonic Arts Research Centre.

A special festival BBC Invitation Concert will feature the world premiere of a major new work by Belfast-born composer Deirdre Gribbin. Gribbin wrote Goliath for percussion and orchestra but has used the distinctive drumming patterns of the Lambeg Drum to complement the symphony orchestra. This performance at the Ulster Hall on Sunday 22nd October will also feature virtuoso solo percussionist Colin Currie.

Music

Featuring the hot and spicy sounds of Cuba, the ice cool sounds of Norway, world music hip-hop from the streets of Somalia and a celebration of one Miles Davis’ classic albums, this section has something for everyone.

In BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB ™ presents Cachaito López, ‘Guajiro’ Mirabal, Manuel Galbán, ‘Aguaje’ Ramos, an extraordinary line-up of Buena Vista Social Club™ master musicians together with an 11-piece band direct from Havana, are set to bring audiences to their feet with some of the finest Cuban music ever made, in an event sponsored by J20 at the Whitla Hall on Sunday 22nd October.

Nearly two decades after the release of their international hit single Bamboleo, The Gipsy Kings (Tuesday 31st October, Waterfront Hall) are back in partnership with the Waterfront Hall to seduce the world with their new album, Pasajero, which features raw flamenco, jazzy guitar, Latin rhythms, Cuban pop and even traces of reggae and Arabic music.

American Irish female ensemble Cherish the Ladies (Elmwood Hall, Thursday 26 October) has climbed into the elite band of world folk groups and bring their exquisite voices to the festival for a schools and an evening concerts, with special guests at the evening event including Eddi Reader and fiddler Liz Kane.

Described by the New York Times as “one of the greatest musicians in jazz history”, Joe Lovano leads the Grammy Award-winning Joe Lovano Nonet (Saturday 28th October, Elmwood Hall) through an exploration of the music of Miles Davis’ Birth of the Cool and its influences on jazz past, present and future. Equally legendary is composer and pianist Andrew Hill (Elmwood Hall, Friday 3 November) whose albums were true highlights of Blue Note Records’ 1960’s output.

Nashville’s finest alt-country collective Lambchop (Friday 27th October, Mandela Hall) make a long awaited return to Belfast to showcase songs from their rapturously received new album in Damaged – an evening with Lambchop.

The distinguished career of pianist Stan Tracey (Saturday 21st October, Elmwood Hall) has spanned six decades of consistently flourishing creativity. He has been a highly influential and stimulating musical voice, not only to his peers but to each successive generation of musicians with whom he has worked. The music of Norway’s Tord Gustavsen Trio (Wednesday 1st November, Elmwood Hall) is influenced by sources as diverse as early blues, gospels, hymns and Scandinavian folk music. The band is one of the true stars of the celerated ECM label.

A concert by the 13-piece Brian Irvine Ensemble (Friday 20th and Saturday 21st October, Spiegeltent, Custom House Square) is a virtuoso circus of music, the perfect opening gigs for the Spiegeltent. Other musical ingredients of the Spiegeltent musical cocktail include Irish Trad greats Kila (Sat 21st October), the highlight of this year’s WOMAD - Somalian rapper K’Naan (24th October), Yasmin Levy’s electrifying interpretation of Judeo-Spanish song (25th October), Twisted Folk weirdos Tunng (3rd November), Celtic fusion extraordinaires, SWAP (29th October), the latest Irish singer-songwriter sensation, Declan O’Rourke (30th October), Neil Martin’s beautiful West Ocean String Quartet (2 November), and a double bill featuring ‘the Nashville Bjork’, Cortney Tidwell and Bangor’s Ivor Novello award-winning songwriter Iain Archer (4th November).

Visual Arts

Internationally acclaimed photographer Paul Seawright’s photographic investigation into some of the fastest growing cities in urban Africa will be on show at the Naughton Gallery at Queen’s from Thursday 19th October to Saturday 16th December. Invisible Cities features new images of Lagos, Johannesburg, Lusaka and Addis Ababa, and offers a glimpse into the unplanned and often chaotic settlements which flourish on the periphery of these very cities.

Fourteen visual arts venues across Belfast have collaborated to create the Festival Gallery Map - a map featuring details of all the city’s visual arts venues and how to find them - and the Art Card – a sort of loyalty card on which visitors can collect a series of “stamps” at 10 venues, encouraging them to see all the shows across the city and offering the chance to win a series of art-themed prizes. There will also be an Art Treasure Trail for families which will have child-friendly prizes. 15,000 maps and cards will be distributed through the participating galleries. A series of co-ordinated openings – known as Arty Parties – has also devised during the festival to encourage people to make a night of it and visit several galleries together.


BT Talks

As ever, the BT Talks section of the festival programme is bursting at the seams with some of the world’s greatest writers, thinkers and speakers, who will be discussing topics from Manchester United to Guantanamo Bay. The line-up includes Rt Hon Lord Neil Kinnock, broadcaster Clive James, explorer Benedict Allen, author Patrick McCabe, poet Paul Muldoon, Man Booker Prize winning novelist John Banville, Woman’s Hour presenter Sue MacGregor and one of the UK’s great biographers, Claire Tomalin, who will discuss her new book on the life and work of Thomas Hardy.

Magners Comedy

The Belfast Festival at Queen’s is delighted to announce a new 3-year sponsor for its Comedy programme and the hottest line-up of comedic talent seen in any city for a very long time.

Headlining the festival’s first Magners Comedy programme, “the most brilliant stand-up of his generation” (Sunday Telegraph) Ross Noble returns to Belfast to unleash Fizzy Logic, his all-new stand-up show for 2006.

In The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb, Channel 4’s Peep Show stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb conjure a world inhabited by gritty urban anti-heroes, pantomime space villains and alcoholic snooker commentators, while 2005 Perrier Comedy Award nominees Dutch Elm Conservatoire bring another inventive sketch show, this time set in Prison, to brand new venue The Baby Grand Theatre, Grand Opera House, from Thursday 2nd to Saturday 4th November.
Other unmissable highlights include an ex-communist, ex-wrestler with a shocking pink Mohican starring in Good Wil Hodgson, and Jo Caulfield, “the sort of female stand-up who makes you feel better about female stand-up” (The Times).

Amnesty International presents Stand Up For Justice returns for a fourth year headlined by Jason Byrne (Whitla Hall, Wednesday 1st November), the excellent Andrew Maxwell brings down the house at the Elmwood Hall on Thursday 2nd November, David Benson’s masterful Think No Evil of Us: My Life With Kenneth Williams (Saturday 28th October, Waterfront Hall Studio) returns for its 10th anniversary tour and Robin Ince’s Book Club, an amazing cult hit in London and Edinburgh, consists of impassioned readings from bizarre and terrible publications, accordion covers of everything from Goldfrapp to Hall & Oates, the best in stand up comedy, peculiar animations and some rather odd character comedy!

Family

This year’s Family programme includes the first Belfast performance, following a very successful international tour, of Big Telly Theatre Company’s remarkable production of The Little Mermaid at the Grove Leisure Complex from 31 October to 4 November. Cahoots NI presents an enchanting tale of adventure, friendship and very busy bees in a new black light magic show for children, in Dan Gordon’s Only Beelieve at BIHFE from 19-21 October and Shelter will see the Old Museum Arts Centre utterly transformed into a public air raid shelter during World War II (26-28 October). Harry Hill also entertains audiences young and old at the Elmwood Hall on 26 October with the adventures of Tim the Tiny Horse, the pint-sized hero of his first children’s book.

Film – Queen’s Film Theatre

As part of a retrospective celebrating the work of master film composer Bernard Herrmann, the Queen’s Film Theatre will show a selection of his classics, including Martin Scorsese’s Palme d’Or-winning study of urban paranoia, Taxi Driver (revived here for its 30th anniversary); Francois Truffaut’s adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s classic Dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451; and four Sir Alfred Hitchcock classics - North by Northwest, Vertigo, a new print of Rebecca and, just in time for Hallowe’en, Psycho.

Education and Outreach

The festival’s Education and Outreach programme is designed to enable community groups to engage with visiting artists, to enhance their artistic appreciation, unlock creativity and make festival events more generally accessible.

From visual arts, to dance, theatre and animation techniques, a huge range of workshops, post-show discussions, events and activities for schools, youth groups and community groups have been organised to tie in with festival shows including Timon of Athens, Windmill Baby, and the Stephen Petronio Dance Co.

In a brand new initiative for the festival, we are delighted to offer a special Community Group Rate of £5 tickets to selected theatre, music, BT Talks and Magners Comedy events, including comedian Ross Noble, award-winning play Windmill Baby and journalist, author and broadcaster, Clive James.

With support from Translink and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Lottery Fund, Belfast Festival at Queen’s is offering FREE return buses to and from Crackers? for community groups across Northern Ireland. For further information on this and all education and outreach activities, please contact Kresanna Aigner, Audience Development Assistant, on telephone 028 90971358 or email k.aigner@qub.ac.uk

Disability Access Initiatives

The Belfast Festival at Queen’s has led the way in Disability Access initiatives over recent years, and this year is no different! Thanks to Visual Access Northern Ireland, the festival brochure will again be available in Braille and audio formats (CD and tape). There will be a disabled access and viewing area set up at the Crackers? event, full venue disability access information will be available from the festival website and British Sign Language interpretation will be available at selected BT Talks events. Disabled people requiring a personal assistant will be entitled to the concession rate for their chosen event (if applicable) and a special complimentary ticket for their assistant.

For blind and partially sighted people, there will be Audio Described performances of Windmill Baby and The History Boys and there will also be a signed performance of The History Boys on Thursday 2nd November.

For further information on venue access and facilities for disabled patrons, please contact Kresanna Aigner, Audience Development Assistant, on telephone 028 901358 or email k.aigner@qub.ac.uk or visit www.belfastfestival.com

www.belfastfestival.com – Design By Front

With thanks to our partners at Design By Front, the 2006 festival website offers unprecedented levels of interactivity. As well as online booking, full programme, travel, accommodation and hospitality information, the latest festival news, competitions, ticket promotions, this year’s festival site will have its own weblog section, where festival staff, artists and audiences can log on to post their comments and photographs of the latest festival events.

Festival Thanks

Belfast Festival at Queen’s would like to acknowledge the continued support of Queen’s University and the support of its other major funders - Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Arts Council of Northern Ireland National Lottery Fund, Belfast City Council, Celebrate Belfast, Arts and Business, the National Lottery Millennium Commission.

We are grateful for the continued support of our Media Partner the Belfast Telegraph and Official Broadcast Partner BBC Northern Ireland. Continuing their sponsorship of the festival are BT, Ulster Bank, Laganside, Allianz, National Car Rental, Translink and Design By Front. Festival supporters include the Community Relations Council, Lloyds TSB Foundation, PRS Foundation and the American Consulate.

We are delighted to welcome a host of new sponsors including Magners, RTE Lyric FM, Robinson Patterson Partnership, Bank of Ireland, NI Fire and Rescue Service, P&O Irish Sea, Ulster Tatler, Ballygowan mineral water and J20.

Festival partners include the Ulster Orchestra, Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau, Belfast Waterfront Hall, Grand Opera House, Old Museum Arts Centre, Lyric Theatre, Moving on Music and the Ulster Youth Choir.

Booking Information

The programme for the 44th Belfast Festival at Queen’s is available free with today’s copy of the festival’s media partner, the Belfast Telegraph. The brochure will also be available soon from outlets throughout Northern Ireland and full details of all events are also online at www.belfastfestival.com

Tickets for Belfast Festival at Queen’s events are on sale from today from the following outlets:

· Telephone the Festival Box office on 028 90971197 – open Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5.30pm.
· Call in to the new festival box office at QFT, 20 University Square – open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm and Saturday 10am to 2pm.
· Book online at www.belfastfestival.com
· Belfast Welcome Centre, 47 Donegall Place – open Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm.
· Text Phone 028 90971324.

ENDS.

For further information, artist images and interview requests for all festival events, please contact:

· Sarah Hughes, Communications Officer, on telephone 028 90971398, email s.hughes@qub.ac.uk or mobile 07905 276399.
· Ciaran McKenna, Press Officer, on telephone 028 90971397 or mobile 07791598456

Festival Halloween serves up ghoulish delights

A trip to the dark side is promised this Halloween with the Belfast Festival at Queens which runs from 19^th October to 4^th November. Unveiled is a macabre line up of attractions featuring undead Victorian vaudeville, haunting spirits of circus, Hitchcock at his shocking best and music to move to in the decadent surrounds of the mirrored Spiegeltent.

Out of the Victorian fog appears Pigeon & Plum’s MACAB-ARET in which the ghosts of long dead vaudeville performers emerge once more bringing with them the music and laughter of a forgotten age. The vintage atmosphere of the Spiegeltent should coax a full blooded performance from the spirits on Halloween Night. Doors open 10pm.

A Halloween Haunting for all the family this way comes as The Spirits of Circus descend with petrifying puppets, mischievous imps, magically headless bodies and bodiless heads! The Belfast Community Circus presents a family show of 30 performers to haunt you for years to come. Wear a wicked costume to receive a discount on entry (Belfast Circus School, Sat 28 October- Mon 30 October, show times 5pm and 7pm).

The isolated Bates Motel opens its doors at the QFT in the classic Hitchcock shocker ‘Psycho’, with twisted themes of voyeurism and sadistic humour throughout and featuring career-defining performances by Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh it is sure to satisfy and appal both original fans and unsuspecting newcomers. (31^st October, Queens Film Theatre)

For energetic, infectious, punchy and exciting sounds proceed directly to the atmospheric Spiegeltent to hear local talents Red Sirus, Rivals and Fast Emperors create a big sonic impact for those who want to party. The Rivals have been labelled ‘bloody fantastic’ by Rocksound, Red Sirus can claim a host of famous fans including Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol and Andy Cairns of Therapy? while Fast Emperors’ big music contains a very Irish kind of soul. (31^st October, Spiegeltent, Doors 7pm)