The importance of being Barnes

ArtScape 'None of this surprises me at all. Anything I would say in a Canadian interview would find its way back to Irish media and be printed in a context irrelevant to what I said." The foregoing, in an interview with Kamal Al-Solaylee in Montreal's Globe and Mail this week, was Ben Barnes's response to the news that "anonymous letters and sensational clippings" from "the Emerald Isle" ended up on journalist Kamal Al-Solaylee's desk.

He said that if they were taken at face value, they implied Barnes was the devil incarnate. "Beware Barnes, people of Canada, is the collective sentiment of these missives from the Emerald Isle," wrote Al-Solaylee. "Who am I supposed to alert? Artistic directors across the country or immigration officials?"

The interview was to publicise former Abbey artistic director Barnes's The Importance of Being Earnest (presumably not an all-male production) at the city's Leanor and Alvin Segal Theatre, and later in Toronto. But of probably more Irish interest is the mention of the "national witch-hunt" for Barnes when the financial mess at the Abbey was uncovered, after which, "Barnes took the fall". And it's always interesting to see ourselves through others' eyes. "His artistic record was also put into question by some watchers," writes Al-Solaylee, who adds, "His record of 35 new commissioned plays, many of which are destined to be future classics, premieres of American drama and lofty productions of works from the Irish canon was easier to defend than a crippling deficit, exacerbated by a systems error.

"When news of Barnes expanding his nearly eight-year-old associations with a number of Canadian theatres (Montreal's Centaur and Toronto's Soulpepper, among them) reached Irish shores, 'Barnesgate' acquired a fascinatingly condescending tone. His move to Canada was characterised by some as both a forced exile and a move to a cultural wasteland - Ireland's gain and Canada's future loss."

The interviewer asks: "Why does one man elicit such strong emotions and what does that say about Irish attachment to their culture in general and theatre in particular?" and looks at why Barnes is attracted to working in Canada, and how he's "now a free man and a freelance director who's willing to take on projects that appeal to him, not just in Canada but anywhere in the world".

"Barnes is a quiet, gentle man who measures his words carefully," writes Al-Solaylee. "Hard as he tries to sound and look casual, his sharpness of mind, creative record and encyclopedic knowledge of theatre are intimidating."

Visualising Beckett

Dublin's art museums and galleries will feature prominently in next year's events to mark the 100th anniversary of Samuel Beckett's birth in the city, writes Gerry Smyth. Their participation is appropriate given Beckett's own interest in painting. The National Gallery of Ireland was one of his regular haunts during his Dublin days, he made trips abroad to view the Old Masters, and became acquainted with the work of Expressionists such as Nolde and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff on visits to Germany. And of course he formed one of his closest friendships with the poet, art critic and former director of the National Gallery, Thomas MacGreevy, who introduced him to Jack B Yeats whose work he admired.

One of the major coups is an exhibition of work by the American artist Philip Guston, part of the RHA's contribution to Dublin's Beckett festivities. The gallery's "I and I" exhibition will also include three films of the writer's works, Not I, Breath and Act Without Words, as well as three videos by American installation artist Bruce Nauman.

The National Library (Beckett's grandfather was its building contractor) will mark the centenary with a photographic exhibition in the National Photographic Archive featuring John Minihan's portraits of Beckett, together with production photographs and other related images. The exhibition, which is due to open in April, will coincide with the publication of Minihan's new book.

The National Gallery plans an exhibition that will examine the influence of the visual arts on his work and on his personal relationship with the National Gallery. On Sunday April 9th, 2006, the gallery, in collaboration with TCD, will hold a round table discussion on the theme of Beckett and the visual arts.

A series of RTÉ Thomas Davis lectures, edited by Christopher Murray, will include talks by John Banville, Terence Brown, Gerry Dukes, Richard Kearney, Declan Kiberd, Barry McGovern and Beckett biographer Anthony Cronin. The lectures will be published by New Island Press.

Mission to China

Irish Presbyterian missionaries have a long and distinguished history in China, with ministers working there from around the middle of the 19th century until 1951, when they were forced by the victorious Communists to leave, writes Clifford Coonan in Beijing. Now a film crew from Belfast has been travelling through China to record some of the missionaries' stories in a new documentary, called A Pilgrim's Progress.

The programme was inspired by letters Rev Colin Corkey wrote to his parents while working in China from 1936-1941. Rev Corkey was one of 70 Irish Presbyterians who worked in Manchuria establishing churches, schools and hospitals between 1867 and 1951.

"We were allowed to go to all the places we asked to visit and we found people openly critical of the Cultural Revolution, during which the churches were closed," said John Dunlop, who is presenting the series, commissioned by BBC NI.

The series will explore the world of Colin Corkey as he travelled in 1936 across the Atlantic, through Canada and Japan and into China. The film crew sailed on the Queen Mary II to get a feel for the pace of travel in 1936. Dunlop says part of the aim of the programme will be to contrast that world and the place of the Christian church with the world of today and the place of the church in contemporary society.

"I was struck by the hopefulness of Chinese Christians. After the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, which the church survived, the church is now growing and planning for further expansion," he said.

* Trade, a visual arts exhibition and seminar within a rural context, aims to take account of the fluid and evolving arts scene in Leitrim and Roscommon. The Dock in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim invites artists, agencies and collectives to the weekend seminar (November 25th-27th), and the exhibition goes on until December 3rd. More information from 071-96 50828 or www.thedock.ie/trade.htm

* Those who missed the evening of readings from Pinter's plays, poetry and prose at the Gate's Pinter 75 shindig during the Dublin Theatre Festival could hie to London where the Gate presents a range of top Irish and British actors reading this year's Nobel prize winner's play Celebration at the Albery Theatre. The readings, for three nights (December 1st-3rd), feature Sinead Cusack, Janie Dee, Michael Gambon, Jeremy Irons, Stephen Rea, Kenneth Cranham and Penelope Wilton, directed by Alan Stanford. The Gate's partner in this venture is Sonia Friedman Productions.

* Lots of arts moves . . . Following Aideen Howard's move at the end of the year from the Mermaid in Bray to become Abbey literary director, Maureen Kenneally, arts consultant, producer and former Kilkenny Arts Festival director, takes over the helm in Wicklow. And Orla Flanagan, outgoing literary officer at the Abbey, has taken over as general manager of Fishamble.

* The Arts Council continued to lobby this week on the the artists' tax exemption, with a delegation - Olive Braiden, Mary Cloake, John McGahern and Eugene O'Brien - meeting Minister for Finance Brian Cowen to urge him to retain it in full. McGahern said: "The vast majority of artists who benefit under this scheme earn very little from their work. For good reasons or bad, whenever I travel abroad, whenever work of mine is translated or whenever I represent the country, the tax scheme is seen as enlightened. If the scheme is changedin any way, this sense of enlightenment will disappear immediately.

The council argued that abolition of the 36-year-old scheme could lead to a net loss to the Exchequer, as would capping, as these would promote the flight of capital and artists - and would yield less tax than is imagined.