Even by global standards, Meryl Streep is a rare thing: an actress of
intellect and compassion, great natural beauty and truly inspirational
talent.
With 14 nominations, she is the most Oscar-nominated actor (either male or
female) in Academy Award history.
She is also one of the few
people to have won all three of the major movie acting awards (Oscars,
Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild).
So it was a real coup for
Northern Ireland in general, and the Old Museum Arts Centre (OMAC) in
particular, when Ms Streep honoured her promise to help drum up support for
the planned new Metropolitan Arts Centre.
She generously gave up a
precious weekend in London from the set of her latest movie, the Abba
musical Mama Mia, to travel to rain-soaked Belfast.
In doing so,
she lent impressive authority to the plans for the new MAC, which aims to
take up where OMAC left off at the cutting edge of contemporary drama in
Northern Ireland.
Tributes should be paid to those at OMAC and
elsewhere for the originality of their vision and the energy with which they
are pursuing it. Like Ms Streep's visit itself, it will enrich us all.
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