The arts council's director of theatre, Barbara Matthews, told The Stage, "We're sort of saying 'thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond to this, it might be useful occasionally, but we'd really like to have a different conversation'."
On Merseyside - Two concerts will take place in Liverpool to mark 10 years since the death of George Harrison. The youngest of the Beatles, Harrison died of lung cancer on 29 November 2001 at the age of 58. The concerts will be held at St George's Hall and The Cavern Club on the anniversary of his death. Acts he signed to The Beatles' Apple label, Brute Force and The Radha Krishna Temple, will be among those to perform at the events. Others include The Mersey Beatles, Singh Strings, Andre Barreau from The Bootleg Beatles and the Dovedale School Choir. Visitors from the Radha Krishna Temple will be feeding all the performers and audience at both concerts free or charge.
Dream Performance - Susan Boyle is to join the UK tour of I Dreamed A Dream, the musical based on her life story. The Britain's Got Talent finalist will perform in the finale of each show on the 11-week tour, which begins at the Newcastle Theatre Royal in March next year. Produced by Michael Harrison, the musical will also tour to Aberdeen, Bradford, Liverpool, Dublin, Bristol, Southend, Cardiff, Birmingham, Inverness and Manchester.
Olympic Countdown - A new church bell-ringing composition will bring in the new year as part of the Cultural Olympiad. Howard Skempton's Five Rings Triples will premiere at the All Saints Church in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, as part of the New Music 20x12 project. Twenty new works - each 12 minutes in length - have been created which aim to capture the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The works feature a mixture of genres including opera, jazz and beatbox.
(Jim Evans)
