If you’re feeling those New Year blues, then the annual Out To Lunch festival in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter may be just the tonic you need.
Running from 4 January (today) right through to 29 January, there’s music, spoken word, drama, comedy, film and nearly all the events are based in the Black Box in Hill Street.
While there’s a big increase in the number of evening events (maybe next year’s festival will be Out to All-Day Brunch?), tickets for the weekday 1pm lunchtime shows are mostly priced at £6 including your lunch.
What could you look forward to over the next few weeks?
SOLD OUT Fri 6 Jan at 1pm & 8pm – Roy Walker.
Sat 7 Jan at 2pm – Will Kaufman “highlights the blending of music and radical politics that marks Woody Guthrie’s most powerful work”.
Sun 8 Jan at 3pm – Jazz veteran, Derry alto saxophonist and clarinettist Gay McIntyre and the Linley Hamilton Quartet.
Tue 10 Jan at 1pm & 8pm – Minute after Midday is a play written by Ross Duggan that tells the interwoven story of three people standing in Lower Market Street on Saturday 15 August just after noon in the town centre of Omagh, seconds before the explosion. (reviewed)
Wed 11 Jan at 1pm & 8pm – Performing Piaf is Christine Bovill’s “heartfelt and loving homage to the legendary singer” through stories and song.
Thu 12 Jan at 1pm – Biddy O’Loughlin’s debut show The Girl Who Thought She Was Irish telling and singing “the story of a girl who grew up in the middle of the Australian desert thinking she was Irish and then set out to discover Ireland for herself”. (reviewed)
Fri 13 Jan at 1pm – Guy Pratt’s Wake Up Call recounts his life as a touring musician waking up in strange rooms at strange hours.
SOLD OUT Sun 15 Jan at 3pm – Luka Bloom, songwriter, singer, guitarist.
SOLD OUT Sun 15 Jan at 8pm – An Evening with Jon Ronson, documentary film maker and writer, whose book Them: Adventures with Extremists
Wed 18 Jan at 1pm & 8pm – Sarah Savoy and the Francadians are “a group of hard-working and hard-living Cajun musicians based in Paris”. Raised in Louisiana, Sara “sings in celebration of the modern woman” strong, independent, and fun-loving, rather than only lamenting the traditional position of the abandoned woman”.
Thu 19 Jan at 1pm – Classical and steel sting acoustic guitar player David Browne Murray along with Charlie Reilly on oboe. (reviewed)
SOLD OUT Fri 20 Jan at 1pm – Swingabella are a close-harmony vocal trio “bringing back the sassy sound of the 30s and 40s” with their intimate and intricate harmonies.
Sun 22 Jan at 2pm – Cheap Date is a afternoon showcasing the best new local music the festival organisers have come across in the last six months: Morgan McIntyre, Best Boy Grip and Rainy Boy Sleep.
Tue 24 Jan at 1pm – Opera for Lunch with NI Opera’s Young Artists’ Programme performing classic arias from Mozart to Rossini, Verdi to Puccini. Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro … (reviewed)
Wed 25 Jan at 1pm – Bernadette Morris with her blend of “sultry folk/Irish sound with bluesy undertones” – recommended for fans of Kate Busby, Karine Polwart and Cara Dillon. (reviewed)
Thu 26 Jan at 1pm – Maeve Higgins studied photography and worked in a clothes shop before discovering her vocation as a stand-up comedian. (reviewed)
Sat 28 Jan at 3pm – Ruth Moody, Juno Award winning songwriter and founding member of The Wailin’ Jennys trio, “ethereal songwriter” and player of guitar, banjo, accordion, piano and bodhrán.
Sun 29 Jan at 2pm – For a mere £3, watch the film Sound It Out, “a documentary portrait of the very last surviving vinyl record shop in Teeside”.
If you had an endless supply of six pound notes – and had booked on time – every lunchtime in January could be a delightful one!
1 comment:
Sarah Savoy and the Francadians were brilliant today, I'm very glad I went.
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