Festival Feast!

Openshaw Community Resource Centre went to the Festival Feast in Albert Square as part of the Manchester International Festival. Find out what they thought. For more blogs and videos from east Manchester see: www.boftheblog.com

A Group from Outlook at Durutti Column

A group from Outlook went to see The Durutti Column at the Pavilion Theatre in Albert Square as part of the Manchester International Festival. This film captures what they thought of the experience and includes a couple of very short clips of the Durutti Column.

Keith Dewsnup for PVM interviewed by BBC re:MIF

Procession by Tricia

This film was put together by Tricia. There’s a  running commentary and interviews from Richard along with Tricia’s photos – brings the whole day to life!

It Felt Like A Kiss – East Manchester Review

A group of residents from east Manchester, including a group from Victoria House in Openshaw, went to experience “It Felt Like A Kiss” at Quay House as part of the Manchester International Festival. This video shows what they were expecting and whether it lived up to their expectations! (Apologies for the juddery quality of some of the shots. We will try and fix this!) Special thanks to Lela and Jo from the New East Manchester Cultural Regeneration Team.

A Review of Prima Donna by Julie

Prima Donna, Sunday 12th 3pm showing

I arrive at the Palace Theatre on a rather drizzly Sunday afternoon to be met by a throng of people surrounding a beardy man in a top hat in the foyer, ooh it’s Rufus Wainwright here to greet his fans, prior to the performance. This is a nice personal touch, and quite unexpected.

For the performance I find myself seated in the circle with a wonderful view of the stage. The auditorium is filled with a dark orchestral jazz as the audience take their seats, setting the atmosphere nicely. Prima Donna is an accessible two act opera in French, LCD screens dotted about the theatre helpfully provide an English translation. The first act opens with Régine’s nightmare, a flashback to her former fame; through the screen of an old poster bearing her face we see her enter through massive doors as flashes indicate paparazzi presence from which she tries to flee. This was her final performance as Alienor D’Aquitaine six years ago, and her subsequent heartbreak, from which she has never recovered. Régine then sings imploringly of her need to fly again with a broken wing. Marie, her maid, vows to help her recover the voice of her youth which signals a change in their relationship, she can now call her Régine. A kitchen set behind a perspex screen with an irate husband smashing plates, allows us a glimpse into Marie’s home life and an understanding of the reasons behind her commitment to Régine’s rejuvenation.

This stylistic device is used to good effect several times within the play allowing us to see scenes within scenes and multiple viewpoints. Enter Phillipe, the evil butler, dressed in white fur coat, lime green suit and porkpie hat looking like a cross between The Joker and a guest at Andy Warhol’s Factory. He’s accompanied by Francios, dressed as a bell

hop. Phillipe sings of Régine’s past glories and how she’s let her standards slip. As they prepare for the arrival of André, the journalist, revealing a leopard skin chaise longue from under a dust sheet and placing a majestic candelabra on the piano, we see Régine getting ready in her boudoir which drifts across the stage. Phillipe sings of his regrets for the mistakes of their past, signalling the potential for those same mistakes to be repeated.

A last minute change of costume for Marie from her informal attire into a comic pink maid’s outfit, and they are ready to receive their guest. André arrives to much bowing and scraping by Phillipe and Francois who then leave to observe proceedings with Marie on the balcony above Régine’s boudoir. Régine enters looking most demure with perfectly coiffed red bouffant, elegant black dress and diamond cuff, earrings and brooch at her hip. She is at once taken aback by the resemblance the journalist bears to the man who broke her heart, her former leading tenor, her Henry. When André reveals how he adored her as a young student, and his wish to sing Henry’s part, romance blossoms and they are soon at the piano singing the iconic love duet from Alienor. Régine’s voice breaks at the climax to the piece, and much embarrassed she realises she’s not yet ready to sing. Phillipe orders Régine to rest and Marie to care for her whilst trying to placate André.

Act II opens again with Régine’s nightmare this time revisiting Phillipe’s clumsy pass. Régine then attempts to solve the puzzle of why her voice failed her in the presence of André when she can sing it all in isolation. Her mind drifts back to her fateful performance allowing this audience to witness it’s magnificence and the betrayal by her Henry, which Phillipe cruelly leads her to discover. Her white dress is stained with blood at her chest suggesting her heart has been ripped out. We, the audience, play a part in this scene by providing applause for her multiple encores. The music which accompanies her musings is very reminiscent of the opening score to Hitchcock’s Vertigo. She concludes that what drove her magical performance was love, and what the audience witnessed was real, her memory of heartbreak prevents her return to form and therefore she refuses to return to the stage. The news is not well received by Phillipe who is brash and abrasive, insulting Régine brutally (which prompts all to cry “call the police!” ), before exiting her life forever. André, the journalist, returns and introduces Régine to Sophie, his fiancée, which she takes in good grace and wishes them well. He requests her autograph on his copy of the recording of her final performance to which she agrees, before announcing the end of her career saying this will be her last autograph. She then decides her last autograph should actually be on her copy of the recording which she gives to Marie. But in fact her last autograph is on Francois’ chest as he rips open his bell hop’s jacket to receive it before everyone leaves Régine in peace to watch the Bastille Day Fireworks.

She comments that the fireworks display was much shorter than she thought it would be, suggesting the same applies to the time of her life when she had love, passion and success, when she had vibrancy. The fireworks are over.

I enjoyed watching Prima Donna, not usually being an opera viewer I’m unsure how true to form this was, but felt that this was a fond homage by Rufus. It kept me engaged, there were many comic moments, the characters were larger than life, the costumes were wonderful and it was highly camp. The set designers made good use of the Palace Theatre’s potential for stage trickery and special effects and I enjoyed the modern elements of jazz and filmic themes in the musical score. Well done Rufus!

Interview with Diane from the MEN Diary Page about MIF

Interview with Oliver Wilson after Durutti Column @ MIF 15/07/09

Interview with Phil from Durutti Column MIF 15/07/09

Same Teens present Mystery Jets by Alex Platt

Last night I was given the opportunity to attend one of the gigs put on for the Manchester International Festival ‘09 at the Pavilion Theatre in Manchester’s Albert Square. The gig, put on by Same Teens and headlined by Mystery Jets, was exclusively for teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19, making for quite an intimate crowd.

The venue, a marquee put up for the Festival in Albert Square, was great. With room for a crowd of 400, a large stage area, DJ stall and fantastic lighting and acoustics, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Academy Two or another specialist gig venue rather than a temporary tent. The only downside of the venue was the sauna-like heat that grew as the evening wore on – more fans or air-vents in the tent would have been welcome. In fairness, free water was offered all night inside the tent in a thoughtful and much-needed effort to counter the heat. However, the sound and lighting in the tent were brilliant, and all things taken into account the venue was a very good one.

The support band for the night was Televised Crimewave, an alternative rock group. The band had charisma, and the lead singer Daniel Wilson did a fantastic job in waking up all the lazy teenagers who initially looked intent on not moving a muscle throughout the night – at one point Wilson jumped off the stage so that he was amongst the crowd and jumped around with them for a while. While the band had good energy, their songs were too repetitive and a little boring. The band relied almost too heavily on their excellent drummer Craig Bowers to give their music any drive. However, the dynamism that the band brought with them resulted in a good start to the night for the Manchester teenagers in the crowd. This was followed by a fairly innocuous DJ set whilst the stage crew prepared for the headlining act of the night, the Mystery Jets.

Having personally never heard of the Mystery Jets before, I was eager to see what they would be like. The tent had busied up by the time they came on stage, and the atmosphere was noticeably more excited than earlier in the night. Immediately I became a fan of the Mystery Jets. Their music was interesting, their songs all had a sense of direction and, perhaps most importantly, the band looked like they believed in and enjoyed the music they were performing. Their set was relaxed, they were willing to talk to the crowd, and their music was really cool. Fans of Orson or The Kooks would like their music, but in truth it would be hard to find someone who didn’t think their songs were catchy. The versatility of the band, with band members singing, playing electric guitars, acoustic guitars and synthesizers when needed in different songs, added to their impressiveness. The crowd loved their set.

All in all, yesterday’s gig proved to be a very enjoyable evening out. Mystery Jets stole the show, but the intimate atmosphere and impressive sound in the marquee suggests that any of the gigs that will be hosted in the Pavilion Theatre in this year’s Manchester International Festival will be worth checking out. Below is a list of the scheduled gigs:

Same Teens – Mystery Jets

Tonight (Sat 4th), 7pm, 15 – 19 year olds only, £5 tickets

Amadou & Mariam and the Beating Wing Orchestra

Tue 7th & Wed 8th, 8pm

The Durutti Column – A Paean to Wilson

Wed 15th, Thu 16th & Fri 17th, 8pm, £16.50 tickets (£9 concessions)

Manchester Jazz Festival

Sat 18th, 1pm, £5 tickets

There are also free DJ sets every night in the Theatre from now until the 18th of July, 9.30pm ’til late. Have fun!