Pop legend Zsuzsa Koncz is making her main appearance of the year on the back of an as-yet-untitled new album. Born in 1946, Koncz shot to national fame by winning the biggest TV talent contest, ‘Ki Mit Tud’, in 1962. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, she sang with the most famous names of the day, warbling mild protest songs in a flapping white skirt and bare feet. Since her switch to the Hungaroton-Gong label and the re-release of her entire back catalogue in the mid-1990s, her career has taken off once more, and 1997′s ‘Eg es Fold Kozott’ (‘Between Heaven and Earth’) is her biggest seller to date. Expect a few local star names for this one-off performance.
Baracnicka rychta
Just about the last authentic old-style Czech pub in the tourist mecca of Mala Strana district, this thoroughly worn-in space serves up heady litres of Pilsner Urquell and has recently started hosting regular live bands in its barn-like back room. They range from such dubious adventures as 1950s rock from Tom’s Billy to the odd wonder of wandering Swedish jazz big bands such Basklas and His 10 Doctors of Syncopation. Good, hearty, greasy pub grub as well, with prices little-changed in the last 10 years – local beer starts at 16Kc (30p) per half litre, and massive platters of food are around 100-150Kc (£1.50-£2.50).
The Tempest at the Abbey
Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ is the New Year offering from the Abbey Theatre. Shakespeare’s last play involves a tale of magic, love and reconciliation. Shipwrecked on a magical island, the King of Naples and his courtiers are caught in an enchanted dream woven by the vengeful Prospero until all hell breaks loose on the island. Directed by Conall Morrison, the production stars Ballykissangel’s Lorcan Cranitch and Bosco Hogan, as well as Olwen Fouere and Barry McGovern. Music is provided by Conor Linehan and Ellen Cranitch.
Anarkali
Don’t be deterred by its drab façade – this Pakistani restaurant (which, curiously, has cheery pictures from Indian cities festooning its walls) is a culinary thrill. Recently renovated, it has also been transformed from a waiter-only to a largely self-service eatery. For 395BF (£6), you can take as much from the buffet of dal, fish curry, assorted chicken dishes (like chicken and rice) and vegetable biryami as your belly can hold. Rice, nan bread, side salads and coffee are all included for that price. Wine prices are also reasonable.
Romance
From the start of shooting, Catherine Breillat’s new film has been the object of close media scrutiny – less to do with her reputation as an uncompromising director than with its highly graphic sexual content. Its central figure is Marie (Caroline Ducey), who can’t get satisfaction from her impotent boyfriend and so has casual sex with Paulo (well-hung Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi – wooden in more ways than one) and an obscurely liberating sado-masochistic dalliance with Robert (François Berléand). The really graphic stuff lasts in total no more than a few minutes, but the effect is profoundly unsettling. ‘Romance’ is a bleak and pessimistic film, coloured by a schematic, prejudiced view of love and sex that verges on paranoia. (In French.)
Batavia
The ‘Batavia’ is a reconstruction of the giant seventeenth century sailing ship originally built for the Dutch East India Company and wrecked off the Western Australian coast in 1629. The story of the shipwreck itself sounds like a future movie script, with much calamity, mutiny and thirst-crazed rebels running amok. The new ‘Batavia’ – which was transported here from Holland in a semi-submersible dock ship – opens up the world of the spice traders for first-hand inspection. Kids can check the vast cargo holds, visit the captain’s cabin and play on the cannons.
