How The Fest Was One

This is the time of year when the brochure for the Belfast Festival at Queen’s takes up residency in the part of your house where old take-away menus, utility bills and through-the-door fliers normally reside. And sure enough, there it is now: looking impressively moody, with some nifty design work and a great shot of Ute Lemper on the cover. It’s difficult to miss, and, as usual, has had little trouble making itself at home.

However, more than any other time in the Festival’s history, in 2007, its arrival should be cause for some celebration. Because over the past twelve months there have been times when it looked likely that the North’s longest running arts event was heading for the dustbin.
Over the years (45 at the latest count), we’ve perhaps taken for granted the city’s main showcase for music, theatre, dance, and visual arts. And likewise, sometimes it has felt that the Festival has grown similarly complacent with its audience. From the mid-Nineties, as Belfast gradually opened up and regained confidence, it visibly struggled to keep pace with developments – watching on as younger and more energetic enterprises outstripped it. More generally, at a time when the festival circuit has become increasingly homogenised (where it could appear that they travelled the globe like circuses, fetching up in different cities with exactly the same acts and displays) the Belfast version seemed to struggle to impose any kind of distinct personality on a sometimes bloated and unfocused product. The Queen’s Festival had always to defend itself against robust charges of elitism and complacent programming (not to mention more sinister jibes from those custodians of ‘culture’ with a vested Orange and Green take on things), but for a time it looked like it was in no shape to argue its case with any conviction.
Last year’s Festival, the first under the stewardship of Graeme Farrow, was motivated by an implicit recognition that things needed to change. A famous bug bear in previous years had been the appearance in the brochure of gigs and shows that would have been taking place in town anyway; with the suspicion they were being used to pad out an otherwise nutrition-free programme. The vintage of ‘06, though significantly leaner than usual, proved to be both delightfully tasty, and much better for your health.
It turned out to be a low-key success – an important restatement of core values at a time when it faced unprecedented scrutiny. In short – they did a Daniel Craig.
Not long after it had drawn to a close, however, it seemed like this reinvention had been in vain. The University, which for years had shouldered the Festival’s main financial burden, announced that it was no longer able to continue funding it without significant help from other sources. A coordinated ‘Save The Festival’ campaign was launched, prompting a one-off cash injection from Belfast City Council and The Arts Council – allowing this year’s shindig to take place. (Shorn of one or two marquee acts that it simply could no longer afford.)
But while this year it’s clear that budgetary restrictions have forced a scaling down in ambition, those involved have responded with great energy and imagination to the new contingencies. Between October 19 and November 4, there is much to look forward to.
A run of Macbeth in the spooky ambience of Crumlin Road Gaol looks unmissible; while this year’s excuse to hang out at Clonard Monastery is provided by a performance of Bach’s B-Minor Mass. The ongoing celebration of Louis MacNeice’s centenary is acknowledged with a reading of the stately Autumn Journal; while new shows from Paul Yates, Gareth Reid and Neil Shawcross make for an impressive visual arts slate. Brian Irvine brings his Opera The Tailor’s Daughter home to The Grand Opera House, while the award-winning Truth In Translation – a play centred around South Africa’s Peace and Reconciliation Commission – should have an added charge in a place where a similar process is unlikely to ever take place. The Blue Nile, Iron and Wire, and Eliza Carthy are all showing up too.
Striding above all these, however, is the event taking place on Sunday October 21 in the Elmwood Hall, where, a few years back, Kylie Minogue joined Nick Cave for an unexpected rendition of ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’. The odd-couple/dream-ticket pairing of this year’s festival is David Lynch and Donovan – in town to talk about transcendental mediation, and the director’s new charity foundation, which is seeking to provide help to teenagers at risk.
Now this is the kind of event that may well take place in Belfast outside of the Festival, but it’s difficult to think of just exactly when.
Here’s hoping the programme keeps dropping on our door mats for many years to come.

See www.belfastfestival.com for full programme and booking information.