4th May (Issue 1211) - The Courier

32 Tuesday 4 May 2010 THE COURIER
Culture
Arts
arts
The best of the best: top Arts events 2009/10
The Courier’s Arts writers have looked back on a fantastic year of culture and have brought together their favourite events
Opera North:
La Boheme
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Opera North’s astonishing revival
of Puccini’s heartbreaking
classic, ���������, was undoubtedly
the most eye-opening theatre
experience of the year for me.
I had expected garish costumes
and unintelligible Italian voices,
but instead I was impressed by
the stylish set and overwhelmed
by the emotion evident in each
word that was sung.
From opening scene to tragic
climax, the energy radiating from
each character was irresistible
and the sheer talent of the actors
undeniable.
I am sure not one audience
member was left unmoved by the
display of love and loss played
out on that elegant stage.
Rosie Tallant
Baltic Sea
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Located down a narrow cobbled
street close to the Quayside, the
Side Gallery is a tiny attic-like
exhibition space for some very
good photography.
I stumbled across it one day
early this year when a show was
on with black and white shots of
communities around the �������
��� – stark yet personal; the
subtle skill of the photos was
undeniable.
Since then I have ventured back
whenever there has been a new
show on, with intrigue as to what
the interesting subject will be this
time.
Quality instead of quantity is
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and the adjoining cinema is
equally independent in the shows
it chooses to screen.
Polly Randall
A Woman In Black
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���������������� is a creepy yet
brilliant play, which demonstrated
both the power of acting
and how, by setting a certain
ambiance, a cast of two people
can reduce an audience to a bag
of nerves.
This eerie tale, set in the Victorian
period, surrounds a young
solicitor, Arthur Kipps, and his
experiences in the desolate Eel
Marsh House.
However, the fantastic and surprising
twists that occur due to
the appearance of a woman leave
the audience convinced that they
are now themselves haunted.
The performance was fabulously
scary and something I would
highly recommend.
Sally Priddle
Opera North’s take of La Boheme at the Theatre Royal was one of The Courier writers’ favourite arts events of the year
Beatles to Bowie: the
Sixties Exposed
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As a big fan of bands such as The
Who and The Kinks, when I heard
about ����������������������������� ��-
������ I had to pay the Laing a visit.
The gallery is an exciting celebra-
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Tate Britain
I’ve always felt that Tate Britain
remains quietly underestimated.
Also on the banks of the Thames,
also with that famous four-letter
name, it provides as many innovative
and fascinating exhibitions
as its little sister but rarely gets as
much attention.
VVVVVV
Forget Modern Warfare 2 or any
other of those identikit "realistic"
shooters: the best game released
in the last eight months was
VVVVVV, an independent game
developed by Terry Cavanagh.
VVVVVV is a minimalistic plat-
tion of the 50th anniversary of
the beginning of the era, which
provides a chronological depiction
of the development of “Swinging
London” using previously unseen
photographs.
If you're interested in fashion,
what you might like about the gallery
is that the images feature some
of the fantastic styles prevalent in
the Sixties when Carnaby Street
This year, again, it won my Annual
Favourite Tate prize. The clincher
was the ���������� retrospective.
After rising to fame in the mid-
90s for winning the Turner Prize
with, as ���������� would have you
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has become one of Britain’s most
��������������������������������������
decades.
From his provocative insights into
black Nineties culture to his latest
form game with a single button that
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the ceiling.
Somehow, from this simple
mechanic, Cavanagh carves out a
mind-boggling range of scenarios,
each cleverer than the last, like a
puzzle game melded with Mario
Bros.
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was the “fashion capital of the
world”.
The exhibition does not just boast
incredible photographs – there
are also displays of magazines
and record sleeves from the time
serving to further depict the Sixties
culture.
Gemma Farina
mysterious Trinidadian pieces,
this exhibition was thoroughly
beautiful, engaging and thoughtprovoking.
The highlight? Seeing the adapted
Union Jack, green, black and white,
wave gently against a grey London
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on which it was mounted.
Alice Vincent
brilliant gameplay is a charming,
retro presentation, including
(surprisingly good) gameboy-style
chiptunes.
The paper-thin plot is irrelevant:
VVVVVV is gaming in its purest,
most unadulterated form.
Elliot Bentley
Wunderbar Festival
If you did not take part, you
missed out.
The festival aimed to combine
contemporary performances,
visual art and extraordinary happenings.
Personal highlights included a
chance to get your hair cut by children
(this I opted out of), a chance
to break apart scrap metal, and
the opportunity to tour people’s
houses where the owners shared
their interest, be it bathing or tea
parties.
The sheer amount of weird and
wonderful happenings made this
the most exciting arts event last
year. Hopefully there will be a
repeat this year and you had better
go.
Olivia Mason
Northern Lights
Film Festival
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This annual festival brings the
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and media right to our doorstep
up here in the North East.
It is an extravaganza of special
events, one-off screenings, new
media and conferences with the
best in the business.
����������������������������ested
in careers in TV or media,
this week of shows was not to be
missed.
It was a true celebration of how
Newcastle is a major player in the
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us students too.
It was the perfect opportunity
to get involved, with many of the
hundreds of volunteers spawning
from our very campus.
It’ll hopefully be around next
year so make sure you don’t miss
it.
Ciara Littler
Jenny Holzer
BALTIC
The BALTIC’s brought some of
modern art’s biggest names to
the shores of Gateshead in recent
times, but their Jenny Holzer exhibition
has surely been one of their
more remarkable imports.
Consisting of both a retrospective
section and a display of
her recent work based around
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records of American renditions,
her trademark LED displays lit up
the gallery space, and made for an
unforgettable glimpse into a side
of global politics and American
dominance usually hidden.
It was a real coup for the Baltic,
and best of all, it’s still going until
May 16, if you need an arts top-up
during your revision.
Mark Corcoran-Lettice