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Day: 14 November 2011

Berlusconi: the end of an error

Written by Andrew Williams on . Posted in Opinion.

As Silvio Berlusconi slipped out through a side door of the presidential palace in Rome on Saturday night – perhaps departing the political arena for the very last time – the extreme self-confidence which had propelled him to the forefront of Italian politics was noticeably absent.

Having lost his majority in the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of Italy’s parliament) following a particularly divisive vote on a proposed package of austerity measures, ‘Il Cavaliere’ had no choice but to accept that his 17 years of political dominance were finally over.

First elected in 1994, Berlusconi is the longest-serving Prime Minister in the history of post-war Italy. From the very beginning, he exuded strength, even invincibility. He represented something original; though his newly-formed Forza Italia party seemed to lack a coherent ideology, Berlusconi offered a larger-than-life personality and a determination to get things done.

Armed with a salesman-like charm and a questionable sense of humour, Berlusconi transformed himself into a brand, creating a political empire to rival his business empire and catapulting Italy into an era of ‘Berlusconismo’. But as the years went on, his premiership descended into farce, taking Italy’s reputation down with him.

In recent years, scandal has become as much a part of the political furniture in Italy as corruption in Italian football. His legal troubles have been so extensive that the Wikipedia article ‘Trials and allegations involving Silvio Berlusconi’ is split into eighteen distinct sub-sections. Mafia collusion, tax fraud, false accounting, corruption and bribery of police officers and judges – Berlusconi was accused of all of them. Until recently, he had always managed to bunga bunga his way out prosecution.

And then there are the infamous sex scandals. Prosititues, burlesque dancers and showgirls across Italy queued up, each one eager to share details of the two-time divorcee’s wild parties and numerous liaisons. Few were surprised when, in 2008, Berlusconi appointed 32-year-old former glamour model Mara Carfagna to his Cabinet; ironically, as minister for equal opportunities.

If it weren’t for Berlusconi’s burgeoning media empire (he is the multi-billionaire owner of Mediaset, by far Italy’s largest broadcasting organisation) the cumulative impact of repeated controversies would sure have put paid to his three separate general elections victories. As it is, he wields an unparalleled level of influence over the country’s media, controlling several television channels and a series of news, sport and entertainment websites. However, with Berlusconi’s reputation finally in tatters amongst the vast majority of Italians, not even a suspiciously favourable press could save him.

Berlusconi’s immediate legacy is an unprecedented economic crisis. Government debt stands at 118 percent of GDP; meanwhile, the Italian economy has grown at an abysmal average annual rate of 0.75 percent over the past 15 years. For the time being, responsibility for cleaning up this mess has been placed firmly in the hands of former European Union commissioner ‘Super’ Mario Monti. The task ahead of him and his team of technocrats is monumental; Monti himself has declared that his mission of healing Italy’s financial crisis and creating a growth in economy is almost impossible. Meanwhile, 75-year-old Berlusconi will live out the rest of his days unaffected by the economic catastrophe for which his years of mismanagement were at least partly responsible.

If recent interviews are anything to go by, it seems the prime ministerial playboy will forever remain in denial. “Do you think your lifestyle was a mistake?” asked Italian broadsheet newspaper Corriere della Sera in the wake of his resignation. His response? “Those are all lies, and the international press believed them. They made it look as if we haven’t done anything in the last three and a half years. That is not the case, especially in foreign policy. They ruined my image with false information.”

Though his popularity endured for considerably longer than it might have done in Britain, for example, Italians eventually tired of the lies and broken promises which scarred his time in power. The French newspaper Le Monde has suggested that Berlusconi left Italy in the same state as he found it. Certainly, his reforms have led to few tangible improvements. Many would argue that Italy is now even worse off than when he came to power.

My Political Hero: Emily Balch

Written by Antonia Jennings on . Posted in Uncategorised.

“We speculate as to what is in store for us. But we not only undergo events, we in part cause them or at least influence their course. We have not only to study them but to act”. Never one for empty words, this restless attitude reflects exactly the manner in which Emily Greene Balch lived her life. Her spirited determination, combined with her unrelenting passion to change the world, is precisely why Miss Balch is my political hero.

Born in 1867 to a well-to-do family in Boston, Massachusetts, Emily Balch had a prosperous childhood. Educated at some of the best private schools in the area, she split her time between Europe and the United States upon graduating from college, eventually completing her degree in Economics and Sociology in Paris. Having long been tempted by a career in academia, Balch joined the faculty of Wellesley College in 1896, quickly securing a professorship in her two fields. She gained a reputation as an outstanding teacher – memorably insisting that students should formulate independent judgments only if they combined on-the-spot investigation with their research in the library.

Though satisfied with her work at Wellesley, her passion was for international peace. Having paid close attention to the peace conferences of 1899 and 1907 at The Hague, the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 convinced Miss Balch that her lifetime’s work lay in furthering humanity’s effort to rid the planet of war. She was shocked to discover that there was no specifically female organisation dedicated to the promotion of international peace, and immediately moved to establish the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). WILPF actively and vociferously campaigned against America’s entry into the conflict, routinely preparing peace proposals for the consideration of the warring countries. Meanwhile, Balch was devoting her spare time to a paper entitled ‘International Colonial Administration’. A mere side project, she was oblivious to the enormous impact that it would have a few years later – in 1919, the very same paper was used as a template for the mandate system of the League of Nations.

As WILPF continued to grow in size and influence, Balch felt that she had no choice but to focus the entirety of her considerable energy on the organisation. In 1918 her application for an extended leave of absence from Wellesley was rejected; instead, her contract was terminated. She resolved to bounce back, taking up a position on the editorial staff of liberal weekly The Nation and becoming secretary of the International Congress of Women.

In the years following the Great War, WILPF ran into severe financial difficulty, so in a display of pure selflessness Balch acted as International Secretary without salary for two years. She was truly committed to her cause and devoted to facilitating the organisation’s many and varied projects by any means necessary.  She had a close relationship with the League of Nations, consulting on issues as critical as disarmament, the internationalisation of aviation, drug control, and the role of the United States in the affairs of the League.

The Second World War was, however, a turning point for Balch. Having always held unshakeable pacifist views, the excesses of Nazism caused her to relinquish her lifelong beliefs, arguing that humanity should in this particular case “defend fundamental human rights, sword in hand”. In the wake of this astonishing turnaround, she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 in recognition of her lifetime of work, donating the prize money to WILPF.  Balch died just after her 94th birthday, demonstrating that she had a physical persistence to match her intellectual doggedness.

Emily Balch fully embodies the qualities of a true political hero – the ability to impress, to influence and to inspire. I can think of no one who realised so many of her lofty aspirations without once comprising her steadfast principles. Throughout her life Balch obeyed the call of the humanitarian in her nature, and it is a testament to this that she is recognised as one of the great humanitarian feminists of the 20th Century.

Horn of Africa in crisis as the world looks elsewhere

Written by Charlotte Cook on . Posted in Opinion.

The undeniably momentous Arab Spring has shifted the focus of the world to North Africa at a time when East Africa is experiencing perhaps its greatest ever crisis. As the crisis reaches its fifth month and media coverage dissipates, it is imperative that we revisit the situation, address the ignorance surrounding it and see what progress, if any, has been made.

Though aid agencies sounded the alarm in April – by which time the region had been in the grip of a devastating drought for months – it was not until two areas of Somalia reached a state of famine that the UN declared an emergency in July 2011. The situation is now asserted as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, currently afflicting the people of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, as well as extending into Djibouti and Uganda. Approximately 12 million people are at risk and tens of thousands are already dead. In July, Dabaab refugee camp, the largest in the world, had to open a fourth settlement to cater for the swelling numbers of refugees – increasing by 3,000 every day, with an astonishing 400,000 already seeking refuge, according to reports.

As the months wear on, there are finally some initial signs of improvement in Ethiopia and Kenya, with increasing amounts of aid getting through to those affected and a welcome bout of rainfall replenishing pastures for livestock. Of course, there is a long way to go and those affected will need both short term and long term aid strategies to see them through the coming months and years, but the recent breakthrough is a silver lining to the storm cloud which still rages over the Horn of Africa.

For a multitude of reasons, Somalia has been the most severely affected by the famine. Labelled a ‘failed state’ in 1991, the country is currently in the midst of its fourteenth attempt at forming a government. If this looked a formidable task initially, it now seems an utterly impossible one, with the interim government’s exasperated hold over the country further weakened by the ensuing conflict with terrorist organisation al-Shabaab. The militant group, supporters of al-Qaeda, has partitioned off the worst affected areas from aid agencies; imposing taxes and tolls on workers and aid packages as well as placing restrictions on the workers themselves. When al-Shabaab banned humanitarian organisations from the country in 2009, numerous aid agencies were forced to suspend their operations.

A far less cited set of sanctions were those laid down by the Obama administration in April 2010. The US government issued an executive order barring American people and NGOs from providing any kind of assistance to terrorist organisations and armed groups inside Somalia, including al-Shabaab. While this was an understandable attempt at a deterrent to prevent profiteering and the interception of goods, the US failed to consider that of the 3.7 million people then threatened by famine in Somalia, 2.8 million of them were in the south of the country – an area controlled by al-Shabaab. Despite calls for international aid amid the current crisis, these sanctions were not lifted until August 2011, when it was suggested that the restrictions may have constrained some humanitarian assistance organisations in their response to the emergency.

Despite nuanced progress, then, the crisis continues to envelope the Horn of Africa. The UN has estimated that around $2.5 billion in aid is needed for the humanitarian response to the ongoing crisis, and despite generous donations of up to $580 million from the United States government, there remains a funding shortfall of over half a billion dollars. However, whilst economic aid looks set to increase, new threats are on the way as the rainy season brews. What might look like a relief from the drought will in fact see a rise in cholera and other diseases perpetuated by temporary, unsanitary living conditions in over-populated areas. As more and more people flock to refugee camps in a bid to find safety, it looks like things are going to get worse before they get better.

The Levant Winter – Syria’s march to freedom

Written by Hisham Omara on . Posted in Opinion.

The cradle of civilization in the Middle East is at an historic crossroads. The sweet scent of the Arab Spring turned into an intense summer heat wave and now, slowly, the leaves are falling on the autumn season of this battle. Tomorrow, the Syrian people will mark the eight month anniversary of the uprising – the start of a collective, nationwide fight for freedom and dignity – and they hope and pray that their perseverance will be rewarded with the change that they so desperately crave. The extraordinary events of the Arab Spring were a testament to people power, but they also posed a pertinent question for Syrians – who can carve the path to our present and future? Who determines how we live?

Anti-regime protests began in January on a relatively small scale. Initially, the unrest was not expected to extend beyond a spontaneous and uncoordinated set of short-lived demonstrations and clashes that occurred in cities such as Hama, Jisr al-Shughour and Daraa, which would become the focal point of the uprising. Here, Syrians marched in opposition to nepotistic President Bashar al-Assad, whilst young men defied the government by drawing anti-regime graffiti. By mid-March, the protests had morphed into a fully-fledged uprising, with scores of savvy grassroots movements springing up all across Syria to execute well-planned, daily demonstrations from Ar-Raqqah and Hasakah in the north-east to Daraa and the capital, Damascus, in the south-west.

To the casual observer, the situation in Syria is nothing more than a never-ending cycle of violence, with no conclusion in sight, and President al-Assad is banking on exploiting this perception by all means possible in a bid to reassert its dominance. As the uprising gathered pace, the regime unleashed its brutal security forces, who have resorted to collective punishment, cutting off water and electricity supplies and besieging entire communities whilst employing tanks, bombs and rockets to shell cities – a horrifically violent reminder of the 1982 Hama massacre which killed as many as 40,000 people. The 2011 uprising has seen at least 3,500 people killed to date, including 217 children. 20,000 more have been detained by the government, and tens of thousands have sought refuge in neighbouring Turkey and Lebanon. The Syrian regime is firm in its stance – determined to crush the revolt as efficiently as possible – but so are the protesters.

As the winter sets in, analysts are trying to articulate an end game. Unfortunately, the international community has no desire to intervene militarily in Syria, instead opting for light rhetorical condemnation. Such international condemnation is barely forthcoming; both Russia and China recently vetoed a UN Security Council Resolution which would have formally condemned the authoritarian regime. The road to salvation for the Syrian people is fraught with many similar obstacles.

Syria lies at the very heart of the ‘fault lines’ of the Middle East, a microcosm of the region and its complexities. Take one look at Syria’s strategic location and observe the countries with which it shares a border (Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel), and you will recognise that this is a salient fact. It is for this very reason that western countries will not intervene in Syria as they did in Libya – here, there is much more at stake since Syria is geographically located at the heart of the Middle East and geopolitically positioned at the centre of the region’s problems. Regime change in Syria would inevitably create new regional and international alliances, thereby changing the current order and balance of power in the Middle East. With the exception of Turkey, no other country has shown any interest in military intervention.

The intention of this article is not, however, to engage in a futile exercise of geopolitical speculation but to draw attention to the real issue – the human suffering that ignited and continues to fuel the struggle of the Syrian people. Every drop of blood spilt is significant and worthy of commemoration as Syria takes the tentative steps towards freedom. This is not about politics; this is about a people who deserve and desire dignity, respect and freedom. This is not an eight month struggle, but a fifty year struggle – a struggle for a people who have been robbed of their souls, a struggle against a system that has psychologically eradicated a nation. It is a struggle which has produced many painful tales, such as the story of Sahar, the cousin of a close friend, who was separated from her severely ill mother during the siege of Hama. The regime cut off the city’s water, electricity and phone lines. Dismayed and running out of means to contact her mother, Sahar turned to Facebook, posting, “Does anyone know where my mum is? Is she alive?” The people of Hama continue to bury their loved ones in their backyards for fear that the snipers stationed on rooftops will take notice. They mourn their dead in silence; weeping and broken but resolutely defiant.

Despite the best efforts of the Assad regime to quell any kind of cohesion, and irrespective of the deafening silence of so-called allies in the Arab world and supposed ‘freedom fighters’ in the international community, Syrian protesters have built meaningful bridges with the vastly different disenfranchised communities across Syria. They continue to protest, weathering the storm, hoping for another Spring.

With all of this, I am reminded of my friend’s young sisters. As they chant ‘yaskot, yaskot, Bashar al-Assad’, waving the Syrian flag with their tiny hands, I can see the beam of hope shining through their eyes. I dream of a Syria that is free and embraces the hopes and desires of its children. As the Syrian poet Naguib Al Res wrote so fittingly, “there is nothing after night but the dawn of rising glory”.

Live: Kids in Glass Houses @ Academy 1

Written by Phoebe Clarke on . Posted in Music.

Kids In Glass Houses
10th October
Academy 1
4 stars

After watching over 2 hours of opening acts, Aled Phillips, lead singer of Cardiff-based pop-rock band Kids in Glass Houses, saunters on stage, with the rest of the band in tow.  The atmosphere seems a little down and frankly, quite sleepy from the long wait.  However, Kids in Glass Houses waste no time in getting started.
Kicking off with the brutal force and booming backing vocals of their title track from their newest album In Gold Blood, they set a high level of energy for the rest of the set. This is quickly matched by the crowd as hordes of teens plastered in KIGH merchandise erupt with high pitched screams.

Unlike the lead singers of supporting acts Save Your Breath and Blitz Kids, who came just before, Aled certainly takes more of a laid back approach. Letting the catchy riffs of the songs ring strong, his lack of customary rock posing and crowd surfing is surprisingly refreshing, and with a mixed set of old and new material, it’s admirable to see how KIGH strike the perfect balance between their new more “mature” songs and their endless supply of familiar sing-a-long hooks which keep old fans satisfied.

You can’t help but notice, however, how Aled’s job is often done for him as he sticks the microphone into the crowd for minutes at a time, leaving half of the well-known favourites, such as ‘Sunshine’ and ‘Artrocker 1’, to be sung for him. However, all in all, it’s easy to see why Kids In Glass Houses have a live reputation envied by many. Although it took a long time for the Welsh 5-piece to start, it was well worth the wait.

Kids in Glass Houses – Sunshine (acoustic live)

Live: Ape Birthday with Nero @ Warehouse Project

Written by Hugo Nicholson on . Posted in Music.

Ape Birthday with Nero
8th October
Warehouse Project
4 stars

On Saturday 8th October, The Warehouse Project presented Ape Birthday, yet again delivering a memorable night on Store Street, in what is the venue’s final season of hosting the events.

Of all the artists on the diverse line-up, hip hop legends Naughty by Nature were certainly one of most anticipated of the night, and they didn’t disappoint. Forty five minutes after they were due to perform, the full complement of Treach, Vin Rock and Dj Kay Gee leapt onto the stage, launching immediately into a masterful rendition of ‘O.P.P.’, delighting the massive crowd in Room 1.

The rest of their material, both old and new (new album, Anthem Inc, is out now), was met with as much enthusiasm, leaving the next performer with a tough act to follow. Luckily, that performer was David Rodigan. The champion selector was on superb form as ever, and, as expected, played a first-rate set. Meanwhile, in Room 2 Oneman was engaging his considerably large audience with what was arguably one of the most enjoyable sets of the night, which featured a number of sublime garage classics (perhaps most memorably Sweet Female Attitude’s ‘Flowers’).

Nero’s set, which followed directly after in Room 1, was effectively two hours of grim predictability, consisting mostly of unrelenting, screechy dubstep. While it might not have been especially varied, it was undeniably received well by the much of the crowd – one attention-seeking dickhead was apparently having such a good time that he felt the need to risk a few lives by swinging above the crowd off one of the lighting rigs. He was swiftly dealt with by security.

While this might not prove to be the most celebrated Warehouse Project of the year, it was a sound night; the ‘end of Store Street’ may be imminent, but the Warehouse Project is still consistent as ever.

Live: Emmy the Great

Written by Joe Goggins on . Posted in Music.

10th October 2011

The Deaf Institute

7/10

There is something undeniably fitting about the fact that the Deaf Institute was the site of an important development in the recent career of Emmy the Great; in addition to a shared interest in ironic names, a venue with such an eccentric style – garish wallpaper and oversized disco ball both present and correct – is the perfect setting for an evening of equally incongruous music.

The bulk of tonight’s set sees Emmy – real name Emma-Lee Moss – showcasing tracks from Virtue, stripped-down versions of which were debuted here a year ago. Thematically inspired by the sudden religious conversion and subsequent desertion of Emmy’s one-time fiancé, it’s as unusual a breakup album as you’re likely to hear this year. Opener ‘Dinosaur Sex’ manages to use prehistoric copulation as the backdrop for a haunting reflection on the ultimately futile nature of life, proving that the more musically expansive nature of the new material hasn’t blunted Moss’ aptitude for sharp, if leftfield, lyrical imagery. ‘Paper Forest’ perhaps best showcases the new reliance on keyboards and minimalist approach to the electric guitar; a dense, evocative epic with atmosphere by the spade, it’s typical of the startlingly mature feel of the new record as compared to her older material, which seems almost juvenile by way of comparison.

Nevertheless, the biggest cheers of the night are reserved for the first-album likes of ‘MIA’ and ‘Edward Is Dedward’; disarmingly forthright odes to car crashes and suicide respectively, they prove that Moss’ primary skill as a songwriter is her quick-witted lyrical style – there’s a brilliant talent to being able to deal with tragedy and heartbreak in such a charming manner, and it’s the cathartic nature of such that, ultimately, ensures the capacity crowd goes home happy.

Emmy the Great – Iris

Le Chic do Warehouse

Written by Jessica Neary on . Posted in Arts.

Do not panic, you are in the Arts section not Music you haven’t lost the plot. We in the Arts section thought Le Chic deserved a spot in our art-hearts too, they’re more than musical genius’s, they are Le Chic. So crank up your ipod, pop on a head band, whip your hair back and forth and enjoy our wee take on when Le Chic did Warehouse.

The end is almost nigh at the Warehouse Project Manchester. The stumbling crowds that ooze out from underneath the crevices of Piccadilly train station in the early hours of each weekend will soon be no longer.

From September to New Year’s Day each year Warehouse Project has been a huge part of many students’ weekends; since 2006 people have travelled from far and wide to witness some of the most talented DJ’s that walk this earth.

This night was no different. Travelling from as far as Fallowfield, a friend and I had one too many beverages and made our way to the underground haven which we had grown to become all too familiar with in our time at university.  The line-up screamed a good night and did not fail to deliver.

Iconic 70’s R&B band Le Chic busted out every cheesy song you’ve heard on television adverts; Good Times, We Are Family and the finale Freak Out made everyone, from the sweaty dancing twenty year olds to the fun forty-somethings at the bar, lose all previous inhabitations.

 The atmosphere they created was like no other I’ve experienced at Warehouse and the night hadn’t even got started yet. The likes of Jeff Mills supplied an above average set and rigorously warmed up the crowd for the highlight of the night.

Simian Mobile Disco blew all other acts out of the water; being finally able to dance to the music I’d waited all night to hear, all my senses were surrendered to the amazing light show, and the two DJ’s continued to win over the crowd with such favourites as Audacity of Huge and Hustler.

The night, like every Warehouse night, was legendary, and  we once again felt the urgency to obtain more tickets for our underground favourite before we bid a final farewell. So reserve your place in a little bit of Manchester’s history, in the place where no two nights are ever the same.

Manchester premiers comedy film festival

Written by danielle middleton on . Posted in Arts.

On 31st October and 1st November 2011, Manchester’s very own Comedy Store hosted the very first Short Film Comedy Festival, Cofilmic. The Mancunion was kindly invited to the events on the Tuesday evening to view a series of short comedy films followed by the award ceremony.

Cofilmic was set up by Janet Harrison after her own first comedy short gained recognition last year. Her own success inspired Janet to set up the festival because quite unbelievably, there is nothing of its kind currently out in the big bad world. The aim of the festival is to allow writers, producers and directors of comedy to learn from those they aspire to while simultaneously gaining recognition in the field with the screening of their own creations.

The two day event consisted of a selection of panellists in the comedy film industry including:

Dave Spikey (remember Phoenix Nights? He was Jerry the Berry)

Charlie Hanson, BAFTA winning producer whose recent credits include Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s TV series Extras, as well as their film Cemetery Junction

Jon Mountague, BBC Comedy North executive producer 

Leslee Udwin, East is East and recently released sequel West is West producer 

Don Ward, founder of The Comedy Store

Lindsay Hughes, Executive Producer and Head of Talent, Baby Cow

Andy Baker, Managing director of global filmmakers community Mofilm

Henry Normal, co-founder of Baby Cow

The panellists answered questions from the audience in free entry Q&A sessions during the day, in the run up to the short films screened in the evening.

The quality of the films was outstanding, in my none-professional opinion, we laughed hysterically therefore it was good.  

If this catches your eye thus far here are your award categories for next year and who won what this year:

Best Sketch- Publishing

Best Sitcom Pilot- Box

Best Comedy Short- We are what we drink

Audience voted- Bronte, Dwaine Chambers, Office Orphan and Buzz Dish. 

The evening was a corker, the Comedy Store is a wonderfully fun venue any day of the week but chuck in free fish and chips in a cone and a comedy after-party and job done. The atmosphere was jolly as expected but even better there was an immense amount of enthusiasm added to the vibe, with everyone we spoke to thrilled to be at such event.

Janet said at the awards: “Thank you to all the sponsors, 2 Entertain and partner companies, particularly The Comedy Store who’ve been amazing.

“We’ve managed to attract people who are genuinely interested in the event.

 “We need to keep the momentum going because we can create something really unique here.”

 

Growing Pains

Written by Rachel Hastings Caplan on . Posted in Theatre.

Three stars out of five

Austrian playwright Ferdinand Brucker’s play Pains of Youth, as its title suggests, is a play that embodies both light and darkness.  Set in 1920s Vienna, the play focuses on the lives of six medical students in 1920s Vienna who share a house and more often that not, each other’s beds.

The play opens with the two female leads: Marie, ambitious and level-headed who is preparing for her graduation party and Desiree or ‘Dizzy’, who seems to naturally acquire everything one would desire: beauty, brains and wit.  This ‘odd-couple’ juxtaposition of best friends appears to be setting the play up to be a fairly standard comedy of errors until Desiree declares her love for Marie, with unmistakeably sexual intent. The sexual tension that is introduced at this point continues to permeate the performance, as it is revealed that Desiree’s lover Freder is entangled with the house’s maid Lucy, whom he able to control and manipulate for his own enjoyment and gain. Furthermore, Marie’s boyfriend Petrell becomes helplessly involved with Irene, a cynical young woman who has puled herself up from her humble roots. Finally, there is the apparently asexual Alt who seems to serve no other purpose than to remain a steady rock-like presence amidst the chaos of his supporting cast. The title of the play before translation – ‘Disease of Youth’ – appears more appropriate when considering the downward spirals of the less affluent characters, as they occur due to proximity to the more privileged members of the household. The boredom, promiscuousness and decadence of these characters appear to be contagious as it affects every character is touches and in most cases leads to their individual downfalls.

The staging in the Capitol Theatre is perfect for this performance. The actors are given a tiny space to work with, which seems to grown ever smaller as the tension between the characters increases, creating by the end an almost claustrophobic atmosphere that was palpable even from the back row. Although the performance takes place entirely within the one room inhabited by Marie and Desiree, outside action is suggested through use of stage doors, encouraging the audience to imagine what may be going on beyond the set. The set is particularly impressive, a sumptuous snapshot of everyone’s mental image of the roaring twenties: flapper dresses, art deco lamps and fur coats. The meticulous attention to detail submerges the audience in the action and makes one feel nostalgic for a very foreign time, when women used cigarette holders and men wore hats.

The light and darkness present in the play is shown through the language which ranges from quick-fire sexually charged banter to furious escalations between the characters. The play contains weighty issues, including suicide, unrequited love and the loss of innocence, yet the cast did a good job to let the comedy within the play shine through occasionally to lift the mood.

Although the play seemed at times like a rather less charming rendition of Brideshead Revisited, my experience of watching Pains of Youth was an enjoyable one, largely due to the cast who managed to bring the complex and at times strongly unlikeable characters to life with passionate and committed performances.

Live: Erasure @ Apollo

Written by Andrew Gott on . Posted in Music.

Erasure
Manchester Apollo
20th October
3 stars

While there were many things uncertain about experiencing an Erasure gig, I was confident that there would be a lack of similarly aged audience members. I was correct. Yet, instead of feeling smugly superior of my weary-eyed, sensibly dressed co-attendees I found myself overcome with envy. They were wild – not an inhibition was to be found in the packed out (and incredibly beautiful) Manchester Apollo.  An unmistakeable attitude of “We’re going to pretend the last two decades didn’t happen and we don’t give a fuck” permeated the air, and as the concert went on I found it impossible to remain immune.

Prior to the gig I was under the impression that Erasure were a diet version of the Pet Shop Boys; purveyors of flamboyant pop with little to no real substance. After the gig, I found myself racing home to hit loop on their music videos on YouTube, in shock at both my reaction and the sheer quality of their output. You can’t really argue with 25 million record sales either. The gig was an outrageous two hour show of non-stop glitter, colour and joy – if you’re rolling your eyes right now on a rainy Magic Bus ride home, get ‘A Little Respect’ on Spotify and you’ll soon cheer up. Front man Andy Bell seemed to capture the hearts of every man and woman he performed in front of, and it was extremely pleasant to see the crowd around me entirely lost in nostalgic euphoria.

Not to say there wasn’t any new material. The band were plugging their latest album, Tomorrow’s World (produced by Frankmusik nevertheless), which blended well with their back catalogue and managed to keep the hit-hungry crowd’s attention. If I came away from the gig learning one thing, it was to never be guilty about a pleasure; thank you Erasure.

Erasure – A Little Respect

Erasure – Always

Adolphe Valette: A Pioneer of Impressionism in Manchester

Written by Rosa Mancebo on . Posted in Arts.

A major exhibition of Adolphe Valette’s life and art opens its doors at The Lowry this season. The exhibit boasts over a hundred works by the little known French Impressionist who spent the best part of his career studying and teaching at the Municipal School of Art of Manchester (now part of Manchester Metropolitan University).

A young Adolphe arrived in England and settled in Manchester in 1905, possibly following in the footsteps of Monet, an artist he greatly admired who also had briefly taken refuge in English shores. Delighted by Valette’s obvious talent, his teachers offered him a teaching position soon after enrolling at the Municipal School of Art. The student became the master, and Valette’s (ex-) fellow students became his pupils, one LS Lowry amongst them.

The influence of Valette upon Lowry during those years and the friendship forged between the two artists came to be decisive in Lowry’s future trajectory. Lowry himself claimed that he could not “over-estimate the effect on me of the coming to this drab city of Adolphe Valette, full of French Impressionists”. Sam Rabin, another one of Valette’s students, declared that the two artists “had a warm regard for each other”. It is fitting that decades later Adolphe Valette’s largely overlooked oeuvre should be exhibited at the museum which bears the name of his former trainee.

Valette brought to Manchester his passion for French Impressionism and his fixation for the urban landscape as a subject. In his large, misty cityscapes, Valette’s penchant for the English fog and its capacity to transform an everyday scene into a magical event found its communion. Indeed, Manchester’s infamous weather combined with the characteristic landscapes and pollution of the Industrial Revolution would in fact be the main inspiration for the talented Impressionist artist from a small French town. The combination of factories, waterways and Victorian houses washed over by rain and smoke produced scenes of unquestionable beauty, capturing the atmosphere of early 20th century Manchester.

A selection of LS Lowry’s scenes of industrial Manchester are also exhibited alongside Valette’s; when comparing these, some striking similarities are revealed. Besides these cityscapes, the exhibition showcases a selection of (even) lesser-known paintings by Valette depicting bright landscapes and domestic scenes produced during his time in France, some of which are being exhibited to the public for the very first time.

He may not have worked in London or Paris, nor sought promotion or wide recognition, but Adolphe Valette’s delicate dexterity with the brush is not to be overlooked. He returned to France later in life, when his health worsened, but his years in Northwest England remain his most prolific period, and he owes that in great part to our beloved city. But it is Valette who is really to be honoured; after 17 years without coherent exhibition or collection, the artist takes his bow.
Sat 15th October 2011 – Sun 29th January 2012