Carols By Candlelight

Si's Sights And Sounds revives some old memories and makes some new ones at a Christ Church charity service

Remember when, as a child, you looked forward to both watching and performing in Christmas concerts along with and in front of the rest of your family? Carols By Candlelight is a great excuse for this writer to feel young again by joining in congregational hymns, and to be enlightened by a series of very talented performers, some more familiar than others. It's an intriguing mix of earnestness, joviality, professionalism and all round musicality, ideal for warming the cockles on a chilly weekday night.

Children of all ages from the Hickey School Of Music offer a punchy, gutsy and varied selection of Christmas carols, with their brief but bouncy "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" impressing most of all. No jazzing up here, just an exceptionally determined "what you see is what you get" performance from everyone involved – and the Christ Church audience truly appreciate this. Even more appreciated is the presence of Derry tunesmith Eoin O'Callaghan, aka Best Boy Grip, and a rendition of "Monster And Me".

Alas, the acoustics of the church aren't really suited to his strong piano ballads, but the congregation don’t mind. It’s clear that even if O’Callaghan hasn't quite got a grip on this venue, he's still one of Derry's best boys in the eyes of us all – and in the season of goodwill, little else matters.

More novel and interesting is Anne Marie Hickey & Caroline Millar's duet, "Silver Bells". Hickey's understated tone dovetails nicely with the strident, controlled operatics of Millar.

If the Foyle U3A singers, conducted by Jim Goodman, aren't quite as vibrant as Hickey's "children", they succeed in their own professional manner. To Derry eyes, it's a case of playing "spot the voice", with the past and present (and future?) of the Londonderry Musical Society – including Denise O'Boyle, Rionach McGlinchey, Caroline Millar, Colin Clarke, Richard & Elizabeth Charlesson and Donald Hill – lending a helping hand, with Hill's booming, reassuringly recognisable voice leading the way on at least two of their three songs.

Eireann Hickey's harp solo, "A Christmas Lullaby", is beautiful enough that the music speaks for itself – gorgeous in its deceptive simplicity. It's followed by Meabh McGinley's strikingly soulful performance of "The Night Before Christmas", a song that is definitely worth listening out for. McGinley, who shot to fame during the successful City Of Culture campaign of 2010, is clearly back in the limelight with a bang. If only she had picked a better song than Robbie Williams' "Angels" to play next – years of overplaying have turned what once seemed like a classic pop tune into something extremely irritating. To McGinley's credit, though, she warbles with a regretful, world-weary feeling (a sign that she's as weary of hearing the song as I am, perhaps?), ensuring that one sort of warms to it as it goes along. Her jazzy vocals and passionate piano playing elevate the rendition.

A gentler tone is required after McGinley's energetic musical displays, and we get it thanks to both another pitch perfect Rionach McGlinchey solo (this time, it's "In The Bleak Midwinter"), and a soothing collective performance from St Eugene’s Cathedral Choir, featuring the talents of event organiser Denise O'Boyle. Her solo vocals for "O Holy Night" pack quite a punch.

After a final congregational carol, it's home time for all. It's been a calming, ceremonial, charitable affair, and everyone's spirits have been raised for the holiday season. Read more...

Legenderry Warehouse No. 1

The latest Legenderry development is open for business. Si's Sights And Sounds went to check out the City Of Culture's newest "coffee corner"

Free of the commercialism of a Starbucks, a Costa or even a Caffe Nero, Christmas music gently plays in the background as we are blind to the hustle and bustle of even the popular Continental Market. The barista and waitresses wear stylized T-shirts advertising "Great Coffee In The Heart Of The City". Having now tasted one of their cappuccinos (not to mention their delicious spiced organic carrot soup), I can safely argue that this claim is justified.

It's been a bit of a wait, but Derry-Londonderry might finally have a coffee house truly worthy of its cultural title. Situated at 1 Guildhall Street, the Legenderry Warehouse No. 1, converted from... well, a warehouse, has attracted customers by the bucket load on its opening day with its retro décor, comforting ambience, and, of course, their menu.  And with full backing from the Culture Company, not to mention a perfectionist approach to service, who's to say it won't get even better?

The idea for Legenderry Warehouse No. 1 evolved from talking to other local business people who wanted to do something for the City Of Culture year. Co-founder Karen Duncan, owner of Bang On The Door, says: "The ideas spread from simply selling merchandise to opening somewhere that would sell both good local food and inform everyone of what's going on in the City Of Culture year. We also wanted somewhere that would make people aware of what’s available in the arts and crafts that maybe people don’t know about."

Indeed, the feeling persists that there are lots of things happening in Derry-Londonderry that people still aren't aware of, and Duncan believes that this opens a terrific opportunity for a friendly promotional initiative like the coffee house.

"We're aiming to create a really friendly vibe. Something a little different, with excellent coffee and food, and where the customer will always feel welcome and comfortable."

The designers have retained more than a little bit of the "warehouse" aspect of the building, making it look similar to Belfast's Clements' coffee houses before their noughties makeover. In other words, "part warehouse, part coffee house" – a unique look that Duncan hopes will sell to both tourists and citizens.

"We want people to come in and get a feel for the locality of Derry and what it's truly about. And this is only the beginning. We'll be opening a retail space next door, for City Of Culture merchandise, a lot of local craft, local art, local photography and all sorts of things. More than that, we are aiming to have a presence at the big events going on throughout the year, so that people can buy Legenderry coffee there too."

A Legenderry Coffee House, a Legenderry Mall and Legenderry Gallery... basically a case of using the identity of Legenderry to create something even more "Legenderry" than Derry itself! And you can't say fairer than that.

"The reaction's been really, really good," adds Caroline Gilliland of Bang On The Door. "And even if there's something that people don't like, we're looking to find out about it. That way, we can look to make the experience perfect."

Mayor Of Derry Kevin Campbell says, "When you walk in, you feel like you're in London. It's going to have a massive footfall, too, because of how close it is to both the shops, Ebrington Square and the Peace Bridge. The location really couldn’t be any better."

For more on Legenderry Warehouse No. 1, visit their official site, or check out Legenderry Warehouse No. 1 on Facebook. Read more...

THEATRE REVIEW: Farewell/Half A Glass Of Water

Stephen Rea brings his considerable screen skills to the Derry stage in a pair of dialogue-driven, character-based thrillers

The cast and crew of "Farewell" and "Half A Glass Of Water". Also included are Culture Company CEO Shona McCarthy and David Alderdice, Director, British Council Northern Ireland. Photo: www.cityofculture2013.com. 

Much has been made of Field Day Theatre Company's "historic" return to the Derry Playhouse this week, and with very good reason. Their most recent productions, Farewell and Half A Glass Of Water, are an exceptionally edgy pair of plays, sometimes humorous but never flippant and always focused. They primarily seek to examine the underestimated effects of denial, and how one attempts comes to terms with his or her mistakes in an increasingly demanding and troublesome social landscape. They're plays both for our time and the ages, featuring men who find themselves prisoners both in a cell (sometimes, literally so) and out of it.

The central characters in each play, John in Clare Dwyer Hogg's Farewell and Eli in David Ireland's Half A Glass Of Water, strongly resonate thanks to the efforts of Belfast's own Stephen Rea, who also directs Farewell. An astonishingly subtle and forceful actor, capable of dissolving into any role, Rea is the sort of performer we are fascinated by no matter how many riddles his characters talk in or how reprehensible they seem.

And we immediately sense that there's plenty of the latter in Farewell, when he enters to something even more haunting than the sound of silence; the ghosts of Paddy (a creepily understated Charlie Bonner) and Mark (Eugene O'Hare, coming across like a less in-your-face Red Hand Luke). We realise that he has murdered both men, and is facing having to deal with the prospect of telling his wife Ann (a dynamic Brid Brennan) the whole truth about his violent past, all while contemplating its negative impact on his fatherhood. There's far more to this than your run of the mill "daddy issues" – when John expresses regret, you genuinely feel it. It's a tribute to Rea and his cast that John's constant wallowing in self-pity is interesting, rather than tiresome.

The performances and direction give Farewell an extremely intense feel – in particular, I applaud the decision to have John turned away from the audience while Paddy is lecturing him about the ghosts of his past, as we can tell it’s almost too much for John to bear – but I must also credit Dwyer Hogg’s strong scripting. The dialogue and characterisation consistently keep you guessing: who is the "farewell" of the title really intended for, John's victims, John's son, John's wife, or John himself? And she's done it without offering any one of her characters the pat closure they are clearly looking for.

Similar things can be said of Half A Glass Of Water (hereafter Half A Glass), but if Dwyer Hogg has successfully grounded her play in a contemporary, local, familial reality, David Ireland has gone for a seemingly more minimalist, but no less rich, approach.

As with Farewell, one's perception of the two-person Half A Glass consistently changes as it moves along. We initially side with Rea's Eli as he is forced to deal with twenty-year-old Whitney (the excellent Conor MacNeill) and his inconsistent, naive, wrong-headed ramblings. Eli's not only trying to teach Whitney about the inappropriateness of the words he uses – the young man talks in a blackly funny manner that's even quite disturbing at times – but also about his actions. It is thus a relief to hear Eli's wise, world-weary words of wisdom: "What you say and how you say it says a great deal about you as a person", but he has a shocking revelation in store for us that almost entirely turns the tables. What we have here is an exceptionally clever "opposite sides of the same coin" dynamic where we never know if the metaphorical glass of water is half full or half empty for our characters. Like Farewell's John, Eli and Whitney have created a criminal past laden with demons that they may never be able to put to rest.

Both Farewell and Half A Glass are clever illustrations of how one man's selfishness (John claims he is out for the good of his family, Eli puts it down to frustration) can have more of an impact on the society around him than he may have bargained for. The misconceptions of Ann and the naïveté of Whitney are no less compelling and fascinating than the shame of both John and Eli.

The final performances of Farewell and Half A Glass Of Water will take place tomorrow night in Derry-Londonderry's Playhouse Theatre at 8 pm. For more information, click here. Read more...