Arts Diary: Made in Orléans, the Joan event that could teach us a thing or two

“In 1429, the young woman liberated the city. The authorities and residents will be eternally grateful,” M. Galopin writes. “Thanks to her courage, Joan of Arc became a French heroine, known throughout the world.”

Orléans has long venerated the memory of the day the 17-year-old rode into the city in 1429, hailed as a saviour who inspired its inhabitants to rout the perfidious English (annoying them sufficiently that they had her burned at the stake in Rouen as a witch.)

This year the locals are going all out, in ways that make you think that Edinburgh should perhaps stage a Bonnie Prince Charlie festival, though his liberation was not quite as successful.

Alternatively, if Alex Salmond and Nicholas Sarkozy wanted to needle David Cameron just a little bit more over the euro with echoes of the Auld Alliance, a large Scottish delegation ought to be dispatched to Orléans immediately.

In Orléans’ Sainte-Croix Cathedral today, organisers will stage the “handing of the sword” ceremony, when Clarence Guerillon, the city teenager who represented Joan of Arc for the city in 2011, officially hands over her sword to Miss Joan of Arc 2012.

There will be street shows, M Galopin writers, with “horses, knights, musicians (drums, bagpipes), civil authorities, religious authorities, military authorities … music, songs, speeches.”

Big celebrations will then follow in April and May, to mark the 583rd anniversary of the liberation, with films, exhibitions, a military parade, and a triumphal recreation of Joan’s entry into the city.

Tourism, I presume

Speaking of impending anniversaries – well it does seem that time of the year – reports come from Zambia of that country’s plans to celebrate the bicentenary of David Livingstone in 2013 with a “world-class festival”.

Livingstone didn’t discover Victoria Falls, of course, but as the Zambian Post reports, he is “the Scottish explorer accredited with being the first European to see and name the Victoria Falls”, and more importantly “was committed to exploration, medicine, education and the eradication of slavery”.

According to the bicentenary 2013 liaison officer, Frederick Mwendapole, plans afoot to celebrate the Blantyre-born missionary and former cotton-mill worker will include international arts, cultural and sporting festivals in Livingstone, ten miles from the falls.

“The event will promote Livingstone as a preferred tourism destination as several tourists from abroad will come to Zambia and Livingstone in particular,” Mwendapole says.

Clearly another item on the agenda of Fiona Hyslop, cabinet secretary for Culture and External Affairs.

Stair crazy

British comedienne Victoria Wood premiered Acorn Antiques: the Musical in London in 2005, based on the brilliant satires of TV soaps she wrote for her sketch show. Julie Walters reprised her role as “Treasure in a Pinney” Mrs Overall, making comic use of a stairlift to fine effect.

Tempo Musical Productions, a leading am dram outfit in the capital, will be staging its own production of the Olivier award-winning show at the Church Hill Theatre from 13 February. And when Tempo’s Mrs Overall makes her entrance, it will be on a genuine Acorn Stairlift.

Acorn Stairlifts proudly boast of being one of the largest suppliers of stairlifts in the world (nobody mention Stannah!), with thousands installed in the Edinburgh area alone. All of the carriages for their stairlifts are produced at the Lothian Electric factory in Haddington.

The company was first approached by an amateur group near Manchester asking to borrow a stairlift. It went on to offer them to every other amateur group producing the musical.

“We can install a stairlift within hours of receiving an order, even on special curved staircases, so it is an easy task to install one for this excellent production,” says company secretary Dave Belmont.