In his short story, Who Died and Left You in Charge, Alexi Sayle writes of the transvestite Clive who is on a mission to kill the first cyclist he encounters. Clive becomes Cicely in Transformations, a cross-dressing shop near Euston Station where provincial businessmen can be transformed into nervous women. “Being Cicely out for a …
Category Archives: Reviews
Daniel Sloss
Some standup comedians you can take an instant dislike to, sorry Ricky, while others just click with you right away, laugh at first sight. Daniel Sloss is in the latter category. A 20-year old from Fife in Scotland, I’d heard he was doing the Out to Lunch festival in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter so I checked him …
Drennan’s Restaurant, Belfast
That’s why the three of us – two adults and a fifteen-year-old – were grinning like Cheshire cats when leaving Drennan’s on Belfast’s University Road last night. Sulking beside Villa Italia, it doesn’t have the most enticing of exteriors compared to the brash modern neon exteriors of many a Belfast eaterie, but that shouldn’t put …
Streetdance – never mind the plot
Forget the story, it’s one we’ve seen hundreds of times before – working class kids down on their luck with only their dancing skills to keep them out of borstal. The inevitable happens. The dance crew lose their top choreographer and a place to practice just before the finals of the UK dance championships. Will …
Howard Marks at CQAF
Sometimes we make mistakes. I thought Ardal O’Hanlon would be a better evening’s entertainment than Howard Marks at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival last night and booked my ticket accordingly. However, the way things worked out, I called in to see the first half hour of the self-appointed Mr. Nice, just to see the cut …
Lumiere at CQAF
La Dolce Vita. Life is sweet. Despite their short lifespan, I’ve probably seen Lumiere – Pauline Scanlon and Éilís Kennedy – more often than most other acts. The simple reason is that the duo make you realise that the simplest things are often the best. Two stunning voices joined together in holy matrimony by Apollo, …
West Ocean String Quartet
‘Twas fitting that the West Ocean String Quartet should play at St. George’s Church in Belfast. Between 1817 and 1821, Edward Bunting, the man who recorded the music played at the 1792 Belfast Harp Festival (thereby saving a huge part of the national repertoire for posterity), was organist in this very church. One of the stained glass …
A great few days of music
A great week with two great gigs at the Black Box and Down Arts Centre in Downpatrick, both part of the Moving On Music Festival. Moving on Music is a bit of a hidden gem in the avalanche of festivals that Belfast boasts of. Small but beautifully formed, it gives off different light depending on …
The Absence of Women
Má bhaineann dráma deora asat, caithfidh go ndeachaigh sé i bhfeidhm go mór ort. Bunús an lucht éisteachta a bhí i láthair ag premiere domhanda dráma úir Owen McCafferty, The Absence of Women, ag Halla Elmwood i mBéal Feirste, bhí siad ag cuimilt a súl agus iad ag aithint rud eigin iontu féin a léirigh …