indigo 22.11.11
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Tuesday 22nd November 2011 | INDIGO
indigo
contents
editor’s letter
always thought that by my third year at Durham I’d have it all figured out. I’d get all my work done far enough in advance to avoid that last minute panic that happened before every tutorial - maybe even early enough to fit in some wider reading. Then I’d be able to say something original and faintly intelligent, maybe even referring to the text because I would actually remember it. But it hasn’t quite worked out like that. Instead everything takes much longer. The one discernible skill I’ve developed is doing everything at the last possible minute. In other words, procrastinating. A glimpse at my bookmarks gives you an insight into how I’ve wasted hours of my precious youth: Style.com, ASOS, The Guardian, Tumblr, and then lots of blogs that I only read when I have exhausted every other website ever. And then, of course, there’s the holy trinity: ITV Player, iPlayer, and 4OD. Thanks to these three life-ruining creations I’ve watched programmes I still can’t quite believe exist (I’m looking at you, Channel 4) and discovered programmes I like so much I feel like I’ve invented them (usually quiz shows. It’s like Sporcle in televisual form!) That’s not even counting the many, many American shows I absolutely have to keep up with. Plotlines are universally awful, as the teens (played by actors pushing 30) stumble into a million-dollar modelling contract or engagement to Monacan royalty. It’s all so ridiculous I’m not sure it even classifies as escapism, but it distracts me from Renaissance revenge drama. I haven’t even started on YouTube. Many a joyous hour has been spent watching Ryan Gosling interviews, clips from period dramas and laughing and/or dancing babies. But I think you get the picture. HS
Page 4: Charity Case: a guide to the best of Durham’s many charity shops, plus streetstyle
Pages 5-7: The Great Durham Takeaway Review: we bring you a comprehensive review of (almost) all of Durham’s takeaways
Pages 8-11: Durham lights up: the highlights from the beautiful Lumiere festival
Page 13: The Adventures of Tintin: Alex Leadbeater reviews Spielberg’s animated take on the classic comic
Page 14: Choral Concert: Seun Onabolu on the Polish Radio Choir’s performance at Durham Cathedral
Page 15: The play’s the thing: we review DST’s recent production of Shakespeare’s most famous play
sudoku
online
music
music
food
Jess Denham experiences Ben Howard’s unpretentious acoustic sounds at the Riverside in Newcastle. Listen to “The Wolves’, ‘Black Flies’, ‘Keep Your Head Up’ and ‘The Fear’.
Larry Bartleet brings us another brand new act in the form of Lucy Rose, sometime Bombay Bicycle Club collaborator and full-time laid-back songstress, her songs are “effortless, yet unexpectedly intricate”.
Food Editor Molly Fowler reviews Claypath Delicatessen: “my eye was soon caught by the extensive list of food and drink on offer. I can assure you that this is a cafe with a difference”.
INDIGO | Tuesday 22nd November 2011
Indigo Editors: Hannah Shaddock & Rachel Aroesti indigo@palatinate.org.uk
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the indigo diary
T
he Vane Tempest Sessions continue to go from strength to strength with
the winner of Q Magazine’s Emerging Talent Competition Ellen & The Es-
capades on November 26th. TheBub-
bleBurning is a YouTube channel showcasing film and music by students., if
you weren’t lucky enough to get an invitation to the launch party, let our music editor Jess Denham enlighten you: “The first session in early November saw
like-minded music lovers gather in a Gilesgate living room cosily decked
out with fairy lights and oriental wall hangings. Lucy Walling, Jonny Mid-
dleton and Lo and BeHold showcased their talent in the intimate company
of supportive fellow students, compiling a brilliant evening that will hopefully be repeated over the course of the year.” Strum! makes a welcome re-
turn to Fabio’s on November 26th after making the move down South
Clockwise from bottom right: Christmas Lights Switch-on, 27th November; The Durham Revue; The Bacchae; TheBubbleBurning sessions and Strum! at Cellar Door
last year – it now hosts nights at Notting Hill Arts Club, Barts and
Proud. Theatre-wise, look out for Party at the Assembly Rooms, a play about five idealists who decide to set up their own political party - from December 1st-3rd. On the 13th and 14th of December, The Durham
Revue return for their Christmas Feast. Euripides’ The Bacchae is at
Castle’s Great Hall from the 22nd to 25th of November. At the Cathedral the Carols of Light concert hosts a stellar line-up - Sir Tim Rice, The Futureheads, Rick Wakeman and our very own Sir Thomas Allen.
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Tuesday 22ndNovember 2011 | INDIGO
fashion
Fashion Editors: Tom Weller & Rachel Bailin fashion@palatinate.org.uk
Charity cases Visiting charity shops should never be a chore: indigo brings you a guide to Durham’s most underrated stores
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alking into a stinking shop full of stained old blouses (most of them originally from Marks & Spencer), then having to rifle through dead people’s clothes with the fantasy that you might find a Chanel suit for pennies seeming more and more ludicrous as the seconds tick by doesn’t sound particularly rewarding. Yet I am a charity shop nut. The thrill of finding a gem amongst all the crap means charity shopping is exciting. It doesn’t really have to be a designer piece, but the ability to take something a bit weird out of context and make it look good is, I think, what they call style. Yet there are a few pieces of advice I would give to the charity-shopping novice. 1) Never buy something damaged or stained, even if you think you get will get round to fixing it. 2) If, like me, your main charity shop gripe is the uncleanliness of such clothes, buy things you can put in the washing ma-
chine – a couple of washes later and you can eradicate every last fibre of the dirty person who owned it before. 3) It is a charity shop, therefore pay charity shop prices. I don’t think I would want to spend above £7, except if it was a real find. Below is a guide to the best charity shops Durham has to offer: I wish you luck. The Salvation Army 58 North Road
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Oxfam Boutique 18 Elvet Bridge
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Many charity shops have cottoned on to the worth of their stock and altered their prices accordingly: Oxfam Boutique is a prime example. Install a couple of pieces of antique furniture and suddenly you can charge £7.99 for a pair of second-hand Primark shoes (yes, really). Best find: A cream mohair coat for £60. Not exactly a bargain.
St Cuthbert’s Hospice 93 Claypath
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Slightly out of the way (a whole two minutes from the centre of town), St Cuthbert’s Hospice is a cute shop where you might just be able to find a vintage gem. Best find: A blazer-esque cardigan with metal buttons for £4.95 Oxfam Books and Music 12 Elvet Bridge
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It’s pretty much impossible to buy affordable records anywhere other than char-
streetstyle
The Salvation Army is a charity-shopper’s dream. Much more competitively priced than its North Road neighbours, there is a huge amount of floorspace and stock. It houses a lot of vintage-esque clothes, but without the vintage price tags. You won’t find any last year’s Topshop here. Best find: Too many to choose from – a red cardigan with a red fake fur collar for £3.49, a proper Sheepskin coat for £20 and an oversized black corduroy shirt for £3.99.
The Salvation Army puts all other charity shops in the shade Illustration: Bella Franks
Streetstyle photography has become increasingly popular in the last few years with the rise of blogging culture. Rather than being forced to wait for a biyearly glut of fashion during show weeks, people can instantly view what’s new in their area, or across the globe, as fast as it can be uploaded to the internet. Many of the fastest growing blogs are based on fashion and streetstyle. Check out sites like The Sartorialist (www.thesar-
ity shops and car boot sales - this Oxfam has a good and very well-priced selection. While second-hand academic books will be familiar to every student, there is a particularly good art section, as well as plenty of more expensive collectable books. Best find: A book of Vogue fashion illustrations for £10. If that’s a bit too expensive for you, there was a 50 page book consisting of nothing more than the same David Hockney painting of a dog on every page. A bargain at £4.99. Rachel Aroesti torialist.com) and Stockholm Streetstyle (www. carolinesmode.com/stockholmstreetstyle) for some real-life fashion inspiration. Whilst traditional fashion epicentres, like London and Paris, remain the goto areas to people watch, Durham itself throws out some great examples of personal style (once people can be bothered to get out of their hoodies). Here are three of our favourites from the last week. Words and photography: Tom Weller
giant takeaway review Y
ou can hardly walk down any street in Durham without noticing the copious amount of takeaways luring you through their doors with what promises to be a gloriously greasy, quick and calorific meal. The only problem seems to be the sheer number of them; with so many takeaways vying for your dosh it can be difficult to choose an establishment to visit – especially if your judgement is somewhat addled after a quaddy too many purchased at Klute. Thankfully, one seemingly nondescript Thursday evening at the DSU, fourteen philanthropic students decided to put an end to your takeaway related confusion by answering once and for all which are the best takeaways Durham has to offer. Judged on taste, appearance and value, we bring you the best pizzas, Indians, Chinese, and everything in between. So next time you find yourself craving a takeaway fix, you can rest safe in the knowledge that you’re making a highly informed decision. No need to thank us, we can assure you the task wasn’t entirely without personal gain… Coordinated by: Molly Fowler, Hugh AndersonElliott, James Targett
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Tuesday 22nd November 2011 | INDIGO
food & drink
Gloriously greasy: a comprehensive guide to Durham’s takeaways our winners... Spice Lounge
Pizza Uno
Peking House
Stantons
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ndian Spice Lounge
0191 383 0927 After being warned of a brotherly rivalry between the owners of Spice Lounge and Capital, a family feud so close to the bone that the owner felt the need to provide us with the most expensive, labour intensive, and elaborate curry on the menu, we are proud, although slightly afraid of possible familial repercussions, to reveal that Spice Lounge stole the title for the Indian category. Its rich and succulent king prawn masala was flavourful and filling, and caused a feud of our own over who was granted the last mouthful. Although our particular dish was slightly on the pricey side, the average main at Spice Lounge weighs in at a reasonable £8. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
Balti Spice
0191 375 7070 A close second, Balti Spice provided us with their Balti Spice ‘Exclusive Dish’. It definitely deserved its VIP status, as this was by far the most exotic curry, consisting of lamb, chicken, king prawns, egg, coriander, a bay leaf and, to the surprise of the judges, an entire cinnamon stick. Definitely a good curry to order in and try to pass off as your own, and we can only imagine it would fuel much discussion if ordered whilst slightly inebriated. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
Alishaan
07876 359 898
We felt privileged to tuck into a delicious Lamb Sagwala, which was not only tasty but also attractively green and fresh looking due to a healthy amount of spinach. Unfortunately its vegetarian offering let it down because it was slightly bland. Although the mains are a bit on the pricey side, Alishaan offers a generous 20% discount to students, which definitely, if you will excuse the pun, curried favour with us. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
Rajpooth
0191 386 1496 Regrettably Rajpooth’s dishes were felt to be slightly less fabulous, as their curries were very oily and contained slightly lower grade meat, as well as fewer vegetables, meaning that the judges were inclined to stop eating after a few mouthfuls. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
Taj Mahal
0191 378 0043 Although we were sold on the accompaniments (being provided with mango chutney, poppadoms and copious amounts of rice), we were slightly less impressed by the fact that the meal took over an hour to arrive – not ideal if you’re looking for a quick dinner or a curry to line your stomach before a night out. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
The Capital
0191 386 8803 Unfortunately our judges were less than impressed with this offering. The meat
was so fatty one of the judges considered spitting it out instead of continuing to try and chew it, and it was sadly lacking appearance-wise too, with someone referring to it as ‘oil with a side of curry’. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
P
izza
Pizza Uno
0191 384 4444 Flavour town! The pizza we were given was very cheesy and full of toppings, with a layer of meat under the cheese proving to be a particular favourite. The only downside was that it was unfortunately a bit too intense, and was so rich and dense that we could only manage a couple of slices. Taste:««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
Urban Oven
01913849649 A hot new pizza place, the judges were very excited about trying Urban Oven’s pizza offerings, although its daring and unusual flavours succeeded in dividing the group. After sampling their chicken tikka and sweet chilli pizzas, some were sold on the unique taste, whilst others found themselves craving a more traditional margherita or pepperoni. A major bonus was that they definitely looked attractive and inviting. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
Dominos
0191 384 4777 As we sunk our teeth into the pizza Dominos had deemed their finest – the
This mouthwatering selection of Meateor – we had to concede to its deliciousness, despite it being seen by some as a shoe-in to win. The base was delicious with a nice crispy crust, and the toppings were scrumptious with lots of different tastes exploding in our mouths. The only downside is how expensive one of their pizzas is to buy – never mind TGIF, thank goodness for Two For Tuesday! Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
Patrick’s Pizza
0191 3741 555 Although known for being the most fabulous place, like, ever, to frequent after a night out, unfortunately Patrick’s Pizza proved uncomfortably average in the cold light of day. A sub par margherita and a BBQ chicken pizza that tasted of nothing but onions and a greasy and dull appearance left us sorely unsatis-
INDIGO | Tuesday 22nd November 2011
Food & Drink Editor: Molly Fowler food@palatinate.org.uk
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that this sterling reputation continues. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
Bells
0191 386 0302 The deluxe option for those of you who love your fish and chips. We also agreed on the fact that their chips are heavenly. Since it is situated in the centre of town, there is no excuse for you not to give it a try. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
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The deluxe option for those of you who love your fish and chips
Falafel Alhana
takeaways left the judges with ample food for thought Photograph: Tom Weller fied. Taste:««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
C
hinese
Peking House
0191 384 2768 After a disappointingly soggy prawn cracker, we were thankful for a sweet and sour chicken so tasty that it more than made up for our initial scepticism. Yes, we know that ordering a sweet and sour at a Chinese takeaway is slightly akin to flogging a dead horse, but it was an enjoyable meal. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
Century Chinese
0191 384 5601 Greeted with another tasty sweet and sour chicken dish with pieces of high quality chicken (somewhat hard to come by in the takeaway world), we were slightly
deterred by the appearance of the dish – we know that orange is the new black, but this sweet and sour was so bright that it definitely succeeded in deterring our appetites. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
China Diner
0191 514 3816 Our deep fried duck and chicken in gravy didn’t quite make the grade, despite being the chef’s special, with the gravy leaving an oddly unpleasant aftertaste, the chicken proving rubbery in texture, and the appearance of the dish described by one judge as looking ‘diseased’. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
Mr Choi
0191 386 9933 Oh Mr Choi… The judges
made quick work of this meal, declaring the spring rolls too oily, the flavour of the chicken chow mein to be bland and unappetising, and the appearance as boringly beige. It is true that at £7.50 for the entire meal this is the cheapest Chinese in Durham but, overall, a bland and forgettable entry. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
China Express
0191 384 6888 The only good thing that can be said about China Express is that it sparked heated discussion, although unfortunately all that was being discussed was how awful the food was. The main succeeded in achieving a somewhat revolutionary taste of washing up liquid according to one of the judges – at least they get marks for innovation in flavour. Appearance-wise
this one succeeded in turning both heads and stomachs, as it was oily and the meat was drowning in a radioactive looking sauce. Someone even went as far as to say it looked like someone had already eaten it. Ouch. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
O
ther
Stantons
0191 565 8139 Already a firm favourite amongst students, our mouths were watering as we began munching our good ol’ fish and chips. The cod was beautifully encased in a crisp and crunchy golden batter, and the chips were a mass of soggy salty goodness, perfect for soaking up alcohol after a night out at Studio. We all know fish and chips are considered as something of a staple food in Britain, and Stantons definitely ensures
0191 383 0607 As well as having a prime location for post-Loveshack snacks, Falafel Alhana retains its success amongst students for having a great range of food - they even provide food for vegetarians! They are also pretty cheap, so if you’re looking for a bargain buy with a bit of variety, then this is the place for you. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
Subway
Although long queues are seen forming outside Subway from around 2am most nights, it seems the drunken banter is more worthy of recognition than the subs. Both our Meatball Marinara and our Italian BMT were soggy, messy, and flavourless. We know that bread is supposed to miraculously cure a hangover so we can recommend it as an antidote for a heavy night out, but nothing more. Taste: ««««« Appearance: ««««« Value: «««««
Lumiere: ‘Crown of Light’
Tuesday 22nd November 2011 | INDIGO
INDIGO | Tuesday 22nd November 2011
For all the photos, visit www.palatinate.org.uk
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cover story
A
huge equestrian snowdome in the Market Place, a waterfall cascading from Kingsgate bridge, and a fire garden in and around the Cathedral were just a few of the spectacular offerings of this year’s Lumiere light festival. From the 17th – 20th November, Durham was transformed into a city of light with 35 installations illuminating its bridges, streets, landmarks and river. As a volunteer, as well as offering amusing puns on the back of my bright blue vest (Can I Enlighten You?), I handed out festival guides, gave directions to installations, introduced visitors to Lumiere’s smart phone app, and chatted to people about the artworks. I also got the chance to speak to Artichoke (Lumiere organisers) Co-Director Nicky Webb about her views on the festival. Why have you chosen to stage the Lumiere festival in Durham for the second time running? Well we were invited, that’s half the battle I suppose! It’s also a perfect location because it’s very dark and that’s great for a light project. It’s got lovely hills which means that you get a sense of perspective. How did the idea for Lumiere come about? Durham had produced a small light festival in 2008 and that was a very popular event. So in the first year, 2009, we were invited to come and produce something on a bigger scale
and then it’s just grown. We had been simultaneously working on a light festival concept - there are many light festivals in Europe and hardly any here. We had been to the biggest one which was in Lyon and thought that Durham had the potential to become a place that is known for its light festival and that’s what really we would like to do, to turn it into something that people associate with Durham. Is Lumiere intended as pure entertainment, or do these light installations have a message? For example, Claire Fontaine’s work, Capitalism Kills (Love). Someone wrote on our website “I think this is really inappropriate” but actually artists have always provoked strong opinions - that’s their job. So sometimes you can appreciate them just aesthetically, but there’s often a message in art, all great art anyway, that can be interpreted in a number of different ways. How is a large-scale event like Lumiere organised? We start from the point of view of the art, from the imagination. We come to Durham and we do a lot of dreaming about which buildings and nooks and crannies we think are interesting and then we bring the artists. And then simultaneously you try to raise money - there are probably as many as 200 people working on this project at the moment. We don’t, funnily enough, just ship into town and turn the lights on! Madeleine Donaldson
Tuesday 22nd November 2011 | INDIGO
Pimp Street
INDIGO | Tuesday 22nd November 2011
Pallets, Saddler t
Front cover: I Love Durham, Market Place. Previous page: Crown of Light, Palace Green. This page, clockwise from top: Spirit, Durham Cathedral; Hartman Grid, Crown Court Lawns; Splash, Kingsgate Bridge; Rainbow, Prebends Bridge. Opposite page clockwise from top: Tracey Emin’s Be Faithful to Your Dreams, St Nicholas’ Chapel; Spirit, Durham Cathedral; Plenum, St Oswald’s Church; Pimp Pallets, Saddler Street; Spirit, Durham Cathedral. Photographs:Tamsin White, Katie Merchant, Mat Ladley, Sam Lipman, Tom Whitworth, Matt Denny
Photography Editor: Tamsin White photography@palatinate.org.uk
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Tuesday 22nd November 2011 | INDIGO
film & tv
Christian Seiersen heralds the cinematic arrival of the Merry Pranksters
One Flew Over America
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ost-WWII America experienced a savage battle between the conservatives and liberals, each tugging desperately until the whole damn thing shattered like a piñata, showering the sixties in free love and whatever other excuses they had to take drugs back then. Winding and hollering their way through like uncaged beasts, carried by a wave of unbridled love, hatred and LSD-spiked orange juice were the Merry Pranksters. Not old enough to be hippies and too old to
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The whole damn thing shattered like a piñata, showering the 60’s in free love
be beatnicks. Led by the esteemed author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey, and with Jack Kerouac’s travelling companion, Neal Cassady behind the wheel these angel-headed hipsters em-
barked on a road trip across America. Their carriage was a 1939 International Harvester school bus called ‘Further’, coated to the decks with violent and unimaginable patterns of day-glo paint. Their goal was to shove a firework of truth so far up Conservative America’s arse crack, Congress would be singing stars. Before now, the remnants of this trip survived in Tom Wolfe’s novel, The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, and over 100 hours of 16mm reels and audio cassettes, recorded on the trip and passed through the projectors of a select few. That was until Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney (Taxi To The Dark Side) teamed up with Alison Ellwood (Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson) to bring the 40-year-old footage to the silver screen: enter Magic Trip. The film documents the Prankster’s voyage across America from the West Coast to see New York World’s Fair, ‘The World of Tomorrow’ and a glimpse into the dystopian future many had predicted. This was also the first time the drug LSD was cast into the public eye. The hallucinogen had
Not your usual school run Photograph: Magnolia Pictures originally been tested by the CIA to use in interrogations but the Pranksters saw it as a creative potion to warp their mental boundaries. The result, captured so intimately in the film, is a band of teaheads with names like Gretchen Fetchen and Mountain Girl, bombed out of their gourds, babbling their way across America. One pastime, ‘tootling the multitudes’. was to take acid
and sit on top of the bus with a flute, capturing onlookers’ reactions with the notes they played. America didn’t know what hit them, one policeman let them go over after he mistook their outfit for a college prank. After six years of piecing together the footage captured so brilliantly and haphazardly by the Pranksters, this film promises to be the most immersive view of a group that
bum, provides some light humour to combat the more hard-hitting parts of the documentary. Despite the humour of these encounters, Theroux’s ability to calmly and unashamedly coax shocking remarks out of people contributes to the addictive nature of his work, and the stars of the show are arguably the humans. Take zookeeper Joe Exotic’s profound take on the life of his tigers born in captivity: ‘If you’re born in a wheelchair,
are you sure you’re gonna be happier walking than riding?’ Yes Joe. I’m pretty sure. It’s a shame that he only lingers on the unexpected relationship Joe shares with two other resident zookeepers. Meanwhile Tim, an overly-confident zookeeper in Indiana, is one of the most memorable subjects of the show. As he swaggers around his park, he tells Louis that he refuses to ‘trust or respect any human being on this planet’, including his
pioneered America’s cultural charge into the sixties. Director Alison Ellwood commented after first watching the footage, “I felt like I was a kind of ghost passenger sitting on that crazed painted bus. I could smell the fumes, feel the heat of the desert and sense my heart pounding as I barreled across the roads, my life in the hands of a genius/madman behind the wheel”.
Good Tiger... Louis Theroux meets America’s Most Dangerous Pets Having been in the company of Neo-Nazis and convicted paedophiles, Louis Theroux has now turned his attention to the American pet culture. The US now has more tigers in captivity than all of Asia’s wilds and Louis’ documentary gives insight into the bizarre and often incredibly sad lives of these pets. The most moving visit is to Connie Casey, breeder and dealer of chimpanzees. Amongst them is the infamous Travis, a chimpanzee
in captivity who tragically mauled his victim’s face in 2009. We struggle to hear Louis and Connie talk over the screams coming from the prison-like enclosure, and the violence of the chimps is both terrifying and heartbreaking. At least we can rely on Louis’ entertaining interludes. The sight of his eyes bulging behind his geek glasses as he is embraced by a young baboon, paired with voiced worries over touching it’s
wife, who stands silently behind, mournfully stroking a poodle. Exploring human psychology is Louis’ strength, and the language barrier holding him back from asking the main subjects of this documentary the right questions, somewhat limits him. However, the eccentricity of America’s most dangerous pet owners stops the documentary from wearing thin and keeps us watching. Gabie Meade
INDIGO | Tuesday 22nd November2011
Film & TV Editor: Christian Seiersen film@palatinate.org.uk
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Captain Haddock narrowly avoids sleeping with the fishes Photograph: Paramount
“A return to form for Spielberg” Tintin Stephen Spielberg
««««« Alex Leadbeater When he buys a seemingly innocent model ship, boy reporter Tintin (Jamie Bell) and his faithful dog Snowy become embroiled in a centuries-old treasure hunt against the sinister Mr Sakharine (Daniel Craig). Along the way, they meet the alcoholic Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) and bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost). After three long years, Steven Spielberg returns to the director’s chair with, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, a direct adaption combining three of the creator, Hergé’s, much-loved comics. Many have compared it to his earlier
classic Raiders of the Lost Ark, and while it shares elements (a Macguffin driven plot, exotic locations and ‘30s setting), this is an entirely different experience. Motion capture (a process that translates an actor’s movement and facial expressions into a CG world) has been around a while now. But whereas previous attempts to use it (Beowulf, A Christmas Carol etc) went for as realistic as the technology would go
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Tintin diehards will find great fault in the simple fact this is a mainstream movie
and failed miserably, Spielberg goes for a warped realism – and it works fantastically. We are presented with a completely realised world populated by living and breathing (yet still cartoony) humans. It’s a seamless translation of Hergé’s simplistic drawings. The entire cast sparkle just as bright as the computerised sheen, special mention going to the two leads. Jamie Bell, who may soon be known as something other than ‘the boy from Billy Elliot’, makes Tintin a believable action hero, while keeping the young journalist instantly relatable. Serkis, the unofficial king of motion capture (having played Gollum, King Kong and others), brings humanity to the drunkenly comedic Scot Haddock, a part that easily could have fallen into poor humour and bad taste. The script, a direct adaption of three original Tintin comics, has been in development for
four years and it shows. There’s such a great balance between the humour that runs through the film’s backbone and sense of adventure (one sea-set action set piece rivals what even the biggest blockbuster can offer). It is some elements of the screenplay, however, that also hold the film back. There are numerous moments that seem unrealistic even in the film’s exaggerated reality that pull you out of the world. Extreme Tintin diehards omitted, who will find great
fault in the simple fact this is a mainstream movie, most will forgive these peculiar moments thanks to the animated style’s inescapable charm. This is all part of the film’s lovable eccentricity and surely bodes well for the inevitable sequel. Beautiful to look at, wittily scripted and absolutely hilarious, Tintin is a true delight despite its flaws and a return to form for its director. Diehard fans may not love it, but everyone else will have big grins on their faces throughout.
online
Christian Kriticos revisits Claude Lanzmann’s 1985 ground-breaking Holocaust documentary, Shoah. With the screening of Derren Brown’s The Experiments, Nick Tidmarsh argues the magician is a genius because he is a fraud. Ten years after the Afghanistan war began, how is the country faring? Helena Baker investigates through the lens of Vice News’ five-part documentary.
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Tuesday 22nd November 2011 | INDIGO
books
A new kind of journal
Recently indigo had the pleasure of speaking to Michael Kalisch, editor of the newly established Oxford-based journal Literary Papers. The journal aims to publish material bi-annually, giving students at the country’s top universities the opportunity to publish their poetry and prose alongside reviews and articles. Kalisch explains his reasons for creating the journal coming from his own experiences as someone who writes. “From my own experience of getting stuff published - and more regularly rejected - I felt there wasn’t a publication that allowed me to step from being published in small journals to a big one. The idea also came about from a belief that student writing is of a very high standard, and deserves a national audience.” Kalisch emphasises that Literary Papers will be predominantly student material from universities across the country, providing the opportunity for essay writers and critics in addition to poets. Academic rigour is central the character of this journal, moving decidedly away from “confessional or angsty prose and poetry” as Kalisch puts it, favouring “concision and left-field thinking”. The overall aim is to “get the journal firmly established as a leading student journal”. The idea has been financially supported by the HSBC Bursary Competition, as one of their winning entries last year. It also has the encouragement of Oxford senior academics as well as a board of academic advisers from across the country, making the scope of Literary Papers far more professional than other existing student-based creative writing publications. Patricia Robles
Books Editor: Izzie Bengoechea books@palatinate.org.uk
Sara Noor reviews Dubravka Ugrešić’s latest set of essays, Karaoke Culture
“Incisive and thought-provoking”
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ultural critic Dubravka Ugrešić’s latest book, Karaoke Culture, is a collection of incisive and thoughtprovoking essays addressing issues of identity, homeland, migrancy, globalisation and technology. What strikes one is the uniqueness of her experiences: being born into former Yugoslavia, handed a Croatian passport after its collapse, then exiled from this new home after writing a controversial news article. This brings to her work not only an interesting insight into her motherland’s politics, but also a truly international, migrant perspective of one whose homelands span from America to Eastern Europe to her new address in Amsterdam. The ten chapter essay ‘Karaoke Culture’ (which gives the book its title) is not, as we might expect, about the “deaf collective caterwaul” the word is usually associated with. Rather, Ugrešić interestingly uses the metaphor of karaoke to give form to an
overly democratised culture obsessed with creating their own versions of popular television, art and literature. One might ask what differentiates this culture from the subversion and parody of a post-modern moustache on the Mona Lisa. Ugrešić’s answer is anonymity through technology. These aren’t revolutionaries, but ordinary people wanting to escape the self
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What strikes one is the uniqueness of her experiences
through existing cultural models, to be “someone else, somewhere else”. Her argument details examples of phenomena, such as karaoke writing (fanfiction) and karaoke people (lookalikes), which navigate across the globe so effortlessly that one is instantly situated comfortably within the many cultures encountered in the
book. Ugrešić understands the power of the unexpected, especially when tackling weighty issues such as homeland, migrancy and identity. ‘The Hairdresser with the Poodle’ muses on how one feels at home in a foreign country, questioning how far identity is dependent on our presence in the homeland. ‘No Country for Old Women’ wonders of the peculiar nature of patriotism: what separates it from paraphilia, the love for a non-human object? Beginning with a general discussion the essay goes on to bring theory to life through carefully selected personal experiences. Ugrešić’s strength lies in her ability to write of these experiences without oversentimentality. The tricky thing about personal experiences, however, is that they can sometimes make essay veer into memoir. ‘A Question of Perspective’ details Ugrešić’s exile from Croatia because of anti-nationalist sentiments in her writing. Turned into
a villain overnight, we can understand a cultural critic’s interest to explore the situation, but perhaps the critic shouldn’t have been Ugrešić. ‘The Fly’, perhaps one of my favourite essays in Karaoke Culture, restores the original tone of the book. A fly, from unintentionally meandering inside the plastic of a sandwich in Budapest, interrupts Ugrešić months later in Warsaw to arouse an ambiguous sense of familiarity and relief. When Ugrešić travels to literary festivals all over Europe, her thoughts, and ours, are continually drawn back to the fly. The fly almost ties together all the peculiarities of the continent. Almost, because Ugrešić likes to keep loose ends untied. What Ugrešić sets down in her writing are those anecdotes that elicit an intangible wave of hilarity, irony, familiarity and thoughtfulness within the reader. It is the best kind of elicitation, as it is the ideas that we ourselves experience that we remember most strongly.
INDIGO | Tuesday 22nd November 2011
Stage Editor: Kathy Lazlo stage@palatinate.org.uk
A man in question
stage
a grave – a pit of sadness – with Ophelia in his arms. The subsequent effect of this opening montage of NADSAT’s production of Hamlet was twofold. The slightly nauseating passion of the King and Queen went some way to providing an object correlative for Hamlet’s disgust at the world. The other effect of this beginning; a beautiful outward representation of
internal torment, was that the rest of the performance was in its shadow. The Fortinbras subplot had been wisely cut, which left the play without much of a context, but the use of film provided an early 20th century Chaplin-esque quality. Sometimes the films were whole scenes, sometimes they were used as a visual aid into
Hamlet’s mental state. The first proper scene was projected in black and white and the badly edited sound (roaring wind one second/silence the next) only added to the offbeat spookiness of the men’s sighting of the Ghost. But onto the man in question. The comic scenes, at least, were played brilliantly, Thomas McNulty’s pretending-to-be-mad
Hamlet was masterful, as was Mike Clarke’s camp Polonius and Alex Wingfield’s very, very (inexplicably) camp Osric. In fact, the whole production turned out to be rather camp, from the melodrama of the beginning to Hamlet’s overemotional outbursts. The former worked much better as something outside of the action and in Hamlet’s mind, whereas the tears and wailing got slightly boring in the real world of the play on the stage. Because McNulty’s actuallymad Hamlet was … very mad. He might be unreasonable, delusional, dangerous and selfreverential, but the audience needs to be slightly entranced by the eponymous hero for the play to have maximum effect. When the pinnacle of hysterical emotion is hit time and time again on stage, the audience stops caring about the Prince and the finer workings of his mind. Overall, the production was impressive - the music and lighting was deeply unsettling and transformed the aesthetic quality of the words from the page onto the stage. But no matter how well lit a stage might be, the real crux of a Shakespeare play is the lines and how they are delivered. I have always thought (excluding the most masterful of actors) that Shakespeare was better on the page, and I can’t say this production changed my mind.
the set and costumes are all slowly coming together which is very exciting. Could you tell us what drew you to the show? Julia: I’ve always been a big Gilbert and Sullivan fan, but Pirates of Penzance is definitely one of my favourites. It’s a somewhat complicated plot, and that fact that it’s a fairly old work that you have to make appealing and enjoyable for a modern day audience make it rather a challenging show to direct, but it’s also brilliant fun. Seth: I had never tackled an operetta, so I saw this as a challenge. The way it’s written also gives a musical director a lot of scope for musical inter-
pretation, which is wonderfully exciting, and something that is sometimes more difficult to do in some modern musical theatre. Emma: I’ve just finished working on the play Stockholm, which was rather more serious, so it’s a nice change to be working on something more light-hearted. Could you sum up the plot for us in one sentence? Julie: Boy meets girl, girl gets captured by singing pirates, girl’s father saves her, everyone sings a song about the square of the hypotenuse, there’s a stand-off at gun point, some police turn up, there are many revelations, lots of dramatic
tension… and then finally boy gets girl, and everyone is happy. Why should indigo readers come and see the show? Emily: The script is hilarious, the plot is ridiculous, there’s lots of lovely singing and dancing – it’s the perfect antidote to those mid-term blues! Also, as DULOG has always done, we’ve assembled a cast of some of the most talented performers and musicians Durham has to offer, so the whole thing is just going to look and sound incredible. Finally, could you sum up The Pirates of Penzance in one word? Julie: Swash-buckling!
Photograph: Tamsin White
Duelling to the death: Hamlet and Laertes battle as the King stands over Gertrude’s body Photograph: Tamsin White Hamlet The Assembly Rooms
««««« Rachel Aroesti The King and Queen kiss passionately. Hamlet groans and falls down below the stage, into
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In rehearsal with...DULOG’s Pirates of Penzance
From the 23th-26th November DULOG will be bringing Gilbert and Sullivan’s rollicking comedy operetta The Pirates of Penzance to the Assembly Rooms stage. Sarah Johnson popped into a rehearsal for a chat with Director Julia Loveless, Musical Director Seth Miall, Choreographer Emma Cave and Producer Emily Cohen. So, 3 weeks to go, how ARRR rehearsals going so far? (excuse the pirate pun…) Julia: Really well thanks. The cast have all learnt all the music, which is pretty complicated. Having done so very, very quickly we’ve now moved onto blocking all the movement, and
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Tuesday 22nd November 2011 | INDIGO
music
Music Editor: Jess Denham Multimedia Music Editor: Briony Chappell music@palatinate.org.uk
Classical virtuosity from one of Poland’s leading choirs Photograph: Nowa Huta
Rifles Newcastle Academy 2
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Nick Toseland
Polish choir at the cathedral Górecki: Polish Spirituals
Polish Radio Choir
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s part of a concert series celebrating the city’s 25th year as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saturday 5th November saw the Polish Radio Choir perform a concert of unaccompanied choral works by the unforgettable Polish composer, Henryk Górecki. Staged under the towering arches of the Cathedral, the thirty singers looked intimidatingly professional in their long black dresses and tails. Hearing the choir intone their first notes was ecstatic. Conducted by Artur Sedzielarz,
the forceful and dissonant opening heralded an incredible stillness which was to remain throughout the whole performance. Within moments of the motet, Totus Tuus, the choir demonstrated great dynamic control, expressing the most tremendous forte down to softly whispered pianissimos. From here we had Five Kurpian Songs, a collection of
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the programme complemented the religious, political and historical importance of Durham
Polish folk songs which Górecki rearranged in 1999. Again, the predominantly homophonic texture along with the resonant acoustic produced a reverent poignancy. After this came the sombre Song of the Katyn Families, a patriotic work remembering the victims of the 1940 Katyn massacre. The concert closed with two more sacred vocal works. Firstly, Come Holy Spirit, to which the Polish basses reached the great depths of bottom E flats as part of a lusciously expressive texture. The final piece, Amen, is an early work of Górecki, with long meandering phrases painted over the single word ‘Amen’, once again distinctly simplistic in style and celebrating both his Polish origin and Catholic faith.
The concert was part of Durham University’s professional concert series Musicon, which helps fund performances by high-quality soloists, groups and orchestras in the student and local community. The programme complemented the religious, politial and historical importance of Durham with a selection of sacred, nationalist and folkloreinspired pieces from Górecki’s opus. A highly charged performance from one of Poland’s leading choirs and a fitting tribute to one of the late twentieth century’s great composers a year after his death last November.
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Mod bands rarely enjoy a mass audience, but the Rifles are seeking to change that. Their Freedom Run album tour recently, and unsurprisingly, sold-out the Academy 2. The introduction of Dean Mumford on keys makes new songs like Dreamer and Little Boy Blue stand out from their back-catalogue, whilst Sweetest Thing mixes a dynamic twostep verse with a chorus that Death Cab would kill for. For a band that prides itself on its rough-around-theedges appeal, they seemed reluctant to take many risks. This made their fifth gear moments all the more impressive, proving that they’re perfectly capable of firing from all cylinders when they want to. The Rifles hit the mark with a vociferous crowd but whether they’ll hit that elusive big-time remains to be seen.
Marcus Foster Newcastle Cluny 2
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Few artists possess the ability to truly mesmerise a crowd; Marcus Foster is one of them. Alone on stage bar three guitars and a vocal synthesiser (used during the bluesy Rushes and Reeds), Foster played a stripped-down set that allowed for an intensity often diffused by heavier instrumental support. His spontaneous yelps and howls confirmed that there is no great genius without some touch of madness. Read online for a full interview with Marcus.