Anne,
What is a knee jerk reaction?
BT 6
When the doctor hits your knee with a hammer, your lower leg makes an involuntary jerk – a knee jerk. Because he has hit the patellar tendon, a message is sent to the central nervous system and a contraction of the tendon causes the involuntary response, just like people do when they make a spontaneous impassioned reaction to an emotional situation without stopping to think it out. Don’t think you can do much about controlling either case!
Book In With Barney
WHAT have Barney the Bap, milk of magnesia and hot chocolate all got in common? Kabosh Theatre Company.
Like the troubadours of old, Kabosh have taken to the streets to bring their entertainment to the public and certainly under the guidance of artistic director Paula McFetridge, the idea has been a marvellous success.
At a time when theatre is drowning in the swirling funding cuts, companies have to ‘think outside the box’ if they are going to survive and certainly telling the story of Belfast while sampling all that is best in food and drink has proved a winner for this vibrant group of actors.
When I was a little girl we holidayed in Portstewart, the ladies and gentlemen strolling through the town, shops and boarding houses on one side of the road the the sea on the other. Those were the days of swimming in the outdoor pool, making sand castles and sitting on the shallow steps on the promenade to sing songs and listen to Bible stories with the CSSM – the Children’s Special Service Mission – and as I remember this was good fun and something to look forward to.
But then there was something else much more memorable – the Colchester Repertory Company presenting plays in the Town Hall. This was my first introduction to theatre. Three times a week a new play to amaze a young girl and I haven’t got over it since.
Theatre was the thing in those days, play houses were packed. Then it fell away in favour of films and I lost touch with live theatre until the day I called into the Arts Theatre to get some information and was captivated by the Ulster Actor’s Company rehearsing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat and ended up working here for about seven years. But again interest waned, leaving only the main houses, the Lyric and the Opera House – there was very little else to choose from.
Thankfully, today there’s a new young breed of entertainers; creative producers, directors and actors have had to improvise, learn to survive on a shoe string thanks to the savage government cuts and slowly but surely these groups are building up a head of steam, Kabosh, Prime Cut, Replay, Big Telly, Bruiser, Cahoots and Tinderbox among them, all working to a budget to produce top class professional shows and by and large they succeed. But there’s been constant head scratching and searching for new ideas and one of the most original and effective comes from Kabosh.
After 20 years in business they have had their government support cut from £107,454 to £60,000 for the coming year. But, like their colleagues, these people have imaginations and are determined to keep providing culture to the people of Northern Ireland via the medium of the stage, and in this case the stages are the streets of Belfast.
And so we come to Barney the Bap, milk of magnesia and hot chocolate, not the name of a production but part of the script that is Belfast Bred, a dramatic walking tour of the city’s cuisine from past to present. Although it seems a simple idea, it’s a very carefully crafted production with a director, a stage manager and actors.
When I met up with the Belfast Bred walking tours last week, actor Stephen Beggs was at Sawer’s Deli in College Street about to embark on his debut performance resplendent In his chef’s whites, a bell and a telescope and chatting to his first client, Belfastman Edward Callaghan.
Stephen takes on the character of Barney, a chef who worked on the RMS Titanic under the world famous Mr Luigi Gatti manager of the five star Ritz Restaurant situated on B deck. Barney survived the tragedy, came home to his native Belfast and determined to gather all that is best of our produce to recreate a first class banquet in Belfast City Hall.
It’s a lot to ask a lone chef and a talkative one at that. He knows everything about our city and he is a mine of information, lovely stories and local historical facts, even about milk of magnesia and hot chocolate. But he needs help, he needs to gauge peoples likes and dislikes, he needs to check out our shops and hostelries to find the finest ingredients.
And so he calls on the public, locals and visitors and for two and a half hours they walk Belfast assessing what’s on offer and discussing the history of the city. At 10.30am very Friday and Saturday (excluding August1 ), they meet at Sawers where Kieran Sloan and the staff are well prepared, move to the Mourne Seafood, onto John Hewitt and then the Potted Hen.
At the 300 year old McHughs Bar it’s boxty and rock steaks before finishing up at St George’s Market, the place our Barney visited with his mummy when he was a wee boy. At each venue the bon viveurs are welcomed in and invited to sample the fare after which they can buy what they fancy and they do, everyone is a winner in this excellent morning’s entertainment.
£20 includes all the samples on offer and advice is book early and wear comfortable shoes. There’s wheelchair access and plenty of stops for rest and recuperation on the way round.
:: More at visit-belfast.com – go into ‘search’, type in Belfast Bred or phone 028 9024 6609.
