This is my critical blog. It is mostly Theatre reviews but there are occasional splashes of other media (when I can get my hands on it!)

Paradeisos Gwynfor or Paradise Paradise.
Greek: the ancient language of the classics and Welsh: a language just as old that sings to the soul.

Sunday 12 December 2010

Unprotected Theatre Review

Velvet Ensemble were in the WMC’s Weston Studio earlier this week with their first full production: Unprotected written by Bethan Marlow.

The play opens with our introduction to Violet (Rhian Blythe) the central character; her first monologue is a separate moment to the content of the play, as if she is asking permission and even forgiveness for what we are about to see. We see her moving into a new flat, alone and away from her ‘suffocating’ apparently religious parents and she embarks on a journey of understanding that transforms her innocence and naivety into an understanding of who she is. She moves between moments of innocence and complete manic, irrational behaviour which confuses Tom the second character as he is drawn towards her and at the same time pushed away. Whilst Tom is something of a plot device for Violet’s journey he is given motivation and we empathise with his position. For instance, in a moment of irrationality near the end, Violet threatens to jump out of a window and Tom freaks out – we are given to understand that his own torment, his initial reluctance towards Violet, comes from his past where someone else had jumped from a window.

In trying to understand who she is, Violet takes on the persona’s of stereotypes and other characters, dressing up as a sexy girl, working as a charity street vendor and the housewife baking quiche: she picks the completely wrong moment to turn up at one of Tom’s haunt’s to give him the quiche. The play deals with the issues of normality: how we as individuals see it, are afraid of what it means and also how we interpret it in others. Violet plays this game where she imagines what it is like to be other people and plays out the imaginings – “ [she wants to be everything and not her, but not knowing how] ”. There are also questions of love and how we fear that – Tom recognises that he is drawn to Violet but denies his feelings and refuses her cravings of a stable relationship by running off and appearing embarrassed around her.

It was a very bold move of Bethan’s to only include two visible characters, as the fewer characters there are the harder it is to create dramatic flow, but the content of the character’s actions provides plenty of tension and dramatic progression keeping the audience engrossed. It is a tense and very physical play with both actors running around, falling, jumping in and out of the bed and there are moments of comic genius in the dialogue that keep us intrigued. There are instances where Tom and Violet ‘speak’ to other people in the street although they are never seen and including those extra people would take away from the impact of Tom and Violet’s interaction. The exclusion of Violet’s possessive parents is explained away in her description of her parents and the “God is a bastard” line, although this is something of a stereotype and the only major one used in the play – the denouncing of a child for religious blasphemy. Yet without the stereotype it would have been more difficult to explain away their absence, thus taking away from the impact of Violet’s journey: her parents job is not to be there.

The set was a simple and effective raised square with the bare essentials of a bedroom and all of Violet’s possessions stored in cardboard boxes and it was mentioned that the bed was a ¾ bed rather than a standard double; whether this was a space issue or to force the characters to come closer together in the bed scenes I am unsure. The white of Violet’s internal space and world contrasts with the black corridor around it that represents ‘outside’ with leaves, crisp packets and empty cans litter the edges to reinforce the opposing worlds and there were specific points on the square the actors used to represent a door and a window. The opposing colours could also be seen to subtly clarify Violet’s opposing behaviour. An effective stage direction were the 'sex' scenes where the lights would black out as the characters started to undress or had moved onto the bed and were in position as if to get on with it, a clean yet brilliant way of handling a moment that is often difficult to carry through.
It is impressive that Rhian Blythe and Gareth Milton were only in rehearsals with director Sarah Bickerton for just over three weeks and the fact that they only had the locked in script for a week is even more notable, really proving that these are two brilliant performers. Although as Bethan mentioned after, Rhian played Violet in the original Never Fear Love production for the 2009 incubator project so she would have already had some insight into this very complex character. What added to the characterisation, and probably purely accidental were the bruises on Rhian's legs, I wouldnt be suprised she had collected them from the rehearsing of the rough and tumble parts of the play.
There certainly were no location issues – they could have been two individuals in any corner of any city across the country, only Rhian’s accent placed it in Wales against Gareth’s far more neutral accent. Any person watching the play, anywhere in the country would be encouraged to recognise that normal isn’t real – there are eccentricities, strange habits and unusual behaviours in everyone of us but we all must be careful that the intricate weavings we play out in life do not start to play us like a game and turn everything against us as Violet’s behaviour turns against her in Tom walking out of her life after admitting that he had loved her. If there was a decision to take it further or even on tour I would greatly encourage that decision and wish it every success.

Congratulations to Velvet Ensemble, Sarah Bickerton and Bethan Marlow for such a great production and good luck for the next project and the future ladies, I am eager to see more.

Unprotected is in the Weston Studio (WMC) 8th & 9th December

Tuesday 7 December 2010


(Unprotected poster taken from website)
Unprotected
Weston Studio 8th & 9th December



















Velvet Ensemble were in the WMC’s Weston Studio earlier this week with their first full production: Unprotected written by Bethan Marlow.
The play opens with our introduction to Violet (Rhian Blythe) the central character; her first monologue is a separate moment to the content of the play, as if she is asking permission and even forgiveness for what we are about to see. We see her moving into a new flat, alone and away from her ‘suffocating’ apparently religious parents and she embarks on a journey of understanding that transforms her innocence and naivety into an understanding of who she is. She moves between moments of innocence and complete manic, irrational behaviour which confuses Tom the second character as he is drawn towards her and at the same time pushed away. Whilst Tom is something of a plot device for Violet’s journey he is given motivation and we empathise with his position. For instance, in a moment of irrationality near the end, Violet threatens to jump out of a window and Tom freaks out – we are given to understand that his own torment, his initial reluctance towards Violet, comes from his past where someone else had jumped from a window.

In trying to understand who she is, Violet takes on the persona’s of stereotypes and other characters, dressing up as a sexy girl, working as a charity street vendor and the housewife baking quiche: she picks the completely wrong moment to turn up at one of Tom’s haunt’s to give him the quiche. The play deals with the issues of normality: how we as individuals see it, are afraid of what it means and also how we interpret it in others. Violet plays this game where she imagines what it is like to be other people and plays out the imaginings – “ [she wants to be everything and not her, but not knowing how] ”. There are also questions of love and how we fear that – Tom recognises that he is drawn to Violet but denies his feelings and refuses her cravings of a stable relationship by running off and appearing embarrassed around her.

It was a very bold move of Bethan’s to only include two visible characters, as the fewer characters there are the harder it is to create dramatic flow, but the content of the character’s actions provides plenty of tension and dramatic progression keeping the audience engrossed. It is a tense and very physical play with both actors running around, falling, jumping in and out of the bed and there are moments of comic genius in the dialogue that keep us intrigued. There are instances where Tom and Violet ‘speak’ to other people in the street although they are never seen and including those extra people would take away from the impact of Tom and Violet’s interaction. The exclusion of Violet’s possessive parents is explained away in her description of her parents and the “God is a bastard” line, although this is something of a stereotype and the only major one used in the play – the denouncing of a child for religious blasphemy. Yet without the stereotype it would have been more difficult to explain away their absence, thus taking away from the impact of Violet’s journey: her parents job is not to be there.



The set was a simple and effective raised square with the bare essentials of a bedroom and all of Violet’s possessions stored in cardboard boxes and it was mentioned that the bed was a ¾ bed rather than a standard double; whether this was a space issue or to force the characters to come closer together in the bed scenes I am unsure. The white of Violet’s internal space and world contrasts with the black corridor around it that represents ‘outside’ with leaves, crisp packets and empty cans litter the edges to reinforce the opposing worlds and there were specific points on the square the actors used to represent a door and a window. The opposing colours could also be seen to subtly clarify Violet’s opposing behaviour. An effective stage direction were the 'sex' scenes where the lights would black out as the characters started to undress or had moved onto the bed and were in position as if to get on with it, a clean yet brilliant way of handling a moment that is often difficult to carry through.
It is impressive that Rhian Blythe and Gareth Milton were only in rehearsals with director Sarah Bickerton for just over three weeks and the fact that they only had the locked in script for a week is even more notable, really proving that these are two brilliant performers. Although as Bethan mentioned after, Rhian played Violet in the original Never Fear Love production for the 2009 incubator project so she would have already had some insight into this very complex character. What added to the characterisation, and probably purely accidental were the bruises on Rhian's legs, I wouldnt be suprised she had collected them from the rehearsing of the rough and tumble parts of the play.
There certainly were no location issues – they could have been two individuals in any corner of any city across the country, only Rhian’s accent placed it in Wales against Gareth’s far more neutral accent. Any person watching the play, anywhere in the country would be encouraged to recognise that normal isn’t real – there are eccentricities, strange habits and unusual behaviours in everyone of us but we all must be careful that the intricate weavings we play out in life do not start to play us like a game and turn everything against us as Violet’s behaviour turns against her in Tom walking out of her life after admitting that he had loved her. If there was a decision to take it further or even on tour I would greatly encourage that decision and wish it every success.

(L-R)Bethan Marlow Sarah Bickerton and Victoria John
Congratulations to Velvet Ensemble, Sarah Bickerton and Bethan Marlow for such a great production and good luck for the next project and the future ladies, I am eager to see more.








Velvet Ensemble interview with Rachel Williams and Chelsey Gillard: Young Critics

Theatre Company Velvet Ensemble is back in the WMC with their first big production; Unprotected. This time as ‘graduates’ of its annual Incubator Project (2009) and we grabbed the chance to talk to its producer Victoria “V” John and writer Bethan Marlow during rehearsals in Cardiff, in an unexpected rehearsal space; rather than in a WMC studio V walked us to an office building around the corner where we settled into sofas out of the cold.

Velvet Ensemble:
Living in a world dominated by male writers and uninteresting female parts V was encouraged by positive, proud, can do women in American theatre: women who freely admit to being feminists. So V brought Velvet Ensemble to life as a theatre company creating productions for and about women, by women. Although they both stress that the male voice is still important - it is just an attempt to address the gender imbalance and to quote V they are not “angry, man hating, bra burning lesbians” but are certainly not afraid of that label, her attitude is that people should come see the plays and let them speak for themselves before she has to defend anything. 
We asked V to define Velvet Ensemble, was it aiming to be mainstream? Edgy? To her those words mean little: she doesn’t know the ultimate goal for the company, only that there is no ‘house style’ and she would like to produce a different work every time and that is the main reason for the absence of an Artistic Director.

The Incubator Project, Victoria?
V explained that WMC set up this initiative to nurture new talent, starting with Inc’Ling: where any type of artist; from actor to lighting designer can try out any new idea they have. From here it progresses into the Incubator project which requires a larger, more solid brief/work in progress: giving them rehearsal space and a small bursary. The work is then presented in a one night performance along with other ‘Incubator’ companies/ artists where the audience can provide feedback. For Velvet Ensemble the support provided was incredibly important especially now as they are in co-production with the WMC as part of an ‘Incubator 2’ almost, to develop Unprotected into a full production.

Bethan on Unprotected
It isn’t just the name of the show, Unprotected defines the process of evolution that plays can go through – nothing is safe. With the dates for the show around the corner we asked just how much of the original project and brief had survived and what had grown from it. Out of the original four, only one main character has survived so we only see her part of the story:  the best way to concentrate on the central idea. It still carries the same themes: questioning the word “normal” and playing with the word love and peoples fears; our relationship with love, what it is, what it makes you do and how scared we are of it and scared what it can make you do.  





Why should anyone go see Unprotected?
“The people that are involved are phenomenally gifted, are rising stars in Welsh theatre. We are expressing something new and Welsh talent should be supported in Wales”.


Cardiff and being in Wales
V currently lives in London but works between there and Cardiff, the two cities are vastly different, not just in size but in outlook and personality so we asked just what Cardiff’s allure was – away from the bright lights of London’s theatre. London is brilliant but vastly over populated: the spectrum of spectacular theatre to the downright dire is far greater: one is able to go out any night of the week to an array of locations and find a production, whereas in Cardiff’s smaller circle the spectrum is not so wide. Both are hugely passionate about Cardiff and Wales; its theatre scene is burgeoning, the support is far greater and the buzz of a fringe theatre scene has only now begun to stamp its mark outside of the conventional theatre space. They candidly admit it that the environment here is such that if the production was not done here, would not have been done at all.

It’s not a secret
“Theatre is just a job like anything else” and Bethan would be right, people see theatre as an unattainable luxury that only the gifted and privileged have access to but the case is most of us want to share what we learn – Bethan for instance does workshops in the prisons with Academi. Education is important to the VE team too – they work with Channel 4’s ‘4 talent’ and work within  schools, not  just to develop theatre skills but to also give people confidence, build self esteem and to just show that there isn’t a massive gap between the theatre and an audience. Both V and Bethan stressed that they want “real” people to come to their productions, open minded and willing to be as involved in the performance as the actors.  

So what is next? 
We didn’t get much out of V on this one, “the future is bright and varied” she said cryptically at the end. Although she is very excited about the next piece which will hopefully be a children’s show and she is looking at a stack of plays at the moment, all that is needed is the time and space to develop ideas and then the money to do it.

To find out more go to http://www.velvetensemble.co.uk/
Unprotected is on at the WMC 8TH and 9th December,

Unprotected poster taken from website


Monday 6 December 2010

Velvet Ensemble Theatre Company Interview

Theatre Company Velvet Ensemble is back in the studio with the production Unprotected, having  returned to the Wales Millennium Centre as 2009 ‘graduates’ of its Incubator Project: we grabbed the chance to talk to its producer Victoria John and the writer Bethan Marlow during rehearsals in Cardiff. We joined them in an unexpected rehearsal space; rather than in a Wales Millennium Centre studio Victoria walked us to an office building around the corner where we settled into sofas out of the cold.
The Incubator Project, Victoria?
Victoria explained that it is a WMC initiative set up to nurture new talent, starting with Inc’Ling: where any type of artist, from actor to lighting designer can try out any new idea they have before it progresses onto the Incubator project which requires a larger, more solid brief/work in progress: giving them rehearsal space and a small bursary to then present a work in progress where the audience can provide feedback over a one night performance billed with the other ‘Incubator’ companies/ artists for that year. For her the support provided then is incredibly important and without it they may not be where they are now and is likely to be just as important now as they are in co-production with the WMC as part of an ‘Incubator 2’ almost, to develop Unprotected into a full production.
Bethan on Unprotected
It isn’t just the name of the show, unprotected defines the process of evolution that play’s can go through – nothing is safe and with the dates for the show around the corner we asked just how much of the original project and brief had survived and what had grown from it. Out of the original four, only main character has survived so we only see her part of the story:  the best way to concentrate on the central idea. It still carries the same themes: questioning the word “normal” and playing with the word love and peoples fears; our relationship with love, what it is, what it makes you do and how scared we are of it and scared what it can make you do.  

Why should anyone go see Unprotected?
“The people that are involved are phenomenally gifted, are rising stars in Welsh theatre. We are expressing something new and Welsh talent should be supported in Wales”



Cardiff, and being in Wales. 
V currently lives in London but works between there and Cardiff, the two cities are vastly different, not just in size but in outlook and personality so we asked just what Cardiff’s allure was – away from the bright lights of London’s theatre. London is brilliant but vastly over populated: the spectrum of spectacular theatre to the downright dire is far greater: one is able to go out any night of the week to an array of locations and find a production, whereas in Cardiff’s smaller circle the spectrum is not so wide. Both are hugely passionate about Cardiff and Wales; its theatre scene is burgeoning, the support is far greater and the buzz of a fringe theatre scene has only now begun to stamp its mark outside of the conventional theatre space. They candidly admit it that the environment here is such that if the production was not done here, would not have been done at all.
It’s not a secret
“Theatre is just a job like anything else” and Bethan would be right, people see theatre as an unattainable luxury that only the gifted and privileged have access to but the case is most of us want to share what we learn – Bethan for instance does workshops in the prisons with Academi. Education is important to the VE team to – they work with Channel 4’s ‘4 talent’ and work within  schools, not  just to develop theatre skills but to also give people confidence, build self esteem and to just show that there isn’t a massive gap between the theatre and an audience.
Velvet Ensemble
Living in a world dominated by male writers and uninteresting female parts Victoria was encouraged by positive, proud, can do women in American theatre: women who freely admit to being feminists. So V brought Velvet Ensemble to life as a theatre company creating productions for and about women, by women. Although they both stress that the male voice is still important, it is just an attempt to address the gender imbalance and to quote V they are not “angry, man hating, bra burning lesbians” but are certainly not afraid of that label, her attitude is that people should come see the plays and let them speak for themselves before she has to defend anything. 
                We asked V to define Velvet Ensemble, was it aiming to be mainstream? Edgy? To her those words mean little: she doesn’t know the ultimate goal for the company, only that there is no ‘house style’ and she would like to produce a different work every time and that is the main reason for the absence of an Artistic Director.
So what is next?  We didn’t get much out of V on this one, “the future is bright and varied” she said cryptically at the end. Although she is very excited about the next piece which will hopefully be a children’s show and she is looking at a stack of plays at the moment, all that is needed is the time and space to develop idea’s and then the money to do it.



Thursday 25 November 2010

Measure for Measure Theatre Review

A Young Critics view of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure at the Provincial in Cardiff Bay by Sherman Cymru.

Black, White and those murky shades of grey
Like for like, Measure for Measure”

Shakespeare’s measure for measure can be seen as a social commentary of 1604 dealing with issues within humanity. Yet for that, the very essence of play still resonates in modern society, and the focus in this production is the dealings with personal and public morality and sexuality to the politics of power: how little the Duke does to stay in power and then when Angelo has power his changes create his downfall. The original play deals with those topics but as mercy, justice, truth and the bond each has with pride and humility: asking where along the path do you fall and if any stance that you take is right. The difference is simply that today the shades of grey take precedence instead of a 16th century clear cut black and white. Looking at the history and the evidence Measure for Measure provides, social and religious unrest exists now as it did then, just on a far larger scale, as does political scheming. It all prompts the question: how much could we learn if we looked at the lessons history gives us?

Walking into the theatre space you are greeted by opulence and luxury: everything in red from velvet drapes to satin seat cushions and red carpet. The ‘haze’ used during the production added to the overall atmosphere, particularly as ‘opium haze’ and such things were common place in the whore house and ‘parlours’ of the Medieval world.  As much as it created an extra element of authenticity I wasn’t keen on the haze: it came in waves, often overpowering: I felt that a lesser dose would have been better but at least they warned us before we went into the production. Ascending the stair’s the room opens out before you, white marble column’s rising to the roof, displaying the age and grandeur of the building – the Provincial being a bank in earlier times. The audience is seated in tiers around the central stage looking down on the performers. The production is full of sensuality and grace, the costume’s are revealing, the casts movements and poses are sexually inviting, there is dancing at certain points as the Saxophone player fills the room with this bluesy, sensual music.

With this version of the play the number of cast does not measure up to the number of characters taking part. Of the eight performers, five have two parts to play and to differentiate between each one subtle costume changes and clear accent differences occur: Lord Angelo becomes Mistress Overdone by draping sparkly material over the arms - much like a lady holds out the ends of her skirt – and the crisp upper class accent melts in to the lilting musical welsh accent. All the actors use the variation between the crisp upper class and the Welsh accent to differentiate their characters; of course some have stronger Welsh accents than others. In the limited space that the Provincial provides there was little if no space to change costumes behind the scenes, so a character’s representation had to be far more subtle, this is where accents play a great part and also to give actors character’s with opposing gender’s and personalities: Eiry Tomas playing the gentle Julietta and the bawdy Lucio. Productions that employ this technique can become difficult to follow but with the techniques used, my advice is to bear with it and the further you are drawn into the play the quicker it snaps into place.

As one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays, unlike the populist Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet or Macbeth it is a play of multiple faces with brilliant comedy and heart wrenching tragedy, it is as if the play has never made up its mind whether to side with the bawdy sexual humour or to dive into the tragedy. Yet in doing that it enthrals you even more: endearing the sinful characters and the audience dislikes the ‘pure’ character – introducing shades of grey into Angelo’s white and the Duke’s black portrait.

Is the path to hell paved with good intentions?
Leaving his city in the hands of piously minded powerful Angelo, the Duke goes into hiding as a Friar (there are two in the original play, one a proper friar, the other the Duke), and he observes Angelo bringing back the old laws: banning sex and brothels. As part of his intentions to clean up the city Angelo condemns a man to death (Claudio) as Claudio has made Julietta, his lover, pregnant.
Yet Angelo’s purity is questioned when Isabella appears, she is the innocent novice begging for her brother’s life, Angelo is tempted by Isabella – her purity and innocence, and he suggests that Claudio’s life could be saved if she will sleep with him. Also when the wrongs he has done Mariana are revealed by the Duke as Friar.  When the Duke is finally discovered as the Friar he has final judgement, forcing Angelo to marry Marianna as he should have many years ago and giving Isabella the right to demand Angelo’s life for Claudio’s life:

Duke Vincentio:
“...but as he adjudged your brother,--
Being criminal, in double violation
Of sacred chastity and of promise-breach
Thereon dependent, for your brother's life,--
The very mercy of the law cries out
Most audible, even from his proper tongue,
'An Angelo for Claudio, death for death!'
Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;
Like doth quit like, and MEASURE still FOR MEASURE...”

Claudio has not died – a likeness of him has gone in his place, but only the Duke knows this, even so Isabella does not bow to pressure to have Angelo’s life forfeit and is rewarded by the appearance of her brother. What is truly a piece of political scheming is the Duke’s request to marry Isabella at the end, his scheming and plotting as the Friar and his political clout as the Duke has cleared the path for him to do this.

The production stays true to Shakespeare’ s language – I am encouraged when I find they have kept the language as true as possible, translating it into the truly modern English takes away from what Shakespeare is meant to be, the history and the gift it is to the literary cannon. I accept that there will always be interpretations, they are a good way of exploring old themes in new ways and are often good productions – maybe I’m just a sucker for tradition, even if I still haven’t made my way through all of Shakespeare’s plays quite yet. I’ll get there one day.

I bumped into an old lecturer at the play; he is the dramaturge for the production (DJ Britton) which was an excellent surprise: it is nice to see people I know at productions, I feel like I am doing the right thing and getting on with it. 

This production has been a fantastic version of Measure for Measure; everything has been done well and even with the revamps to fit an eight member cast and the focus on the modernity of the issues. The production is on until 5th December at the Provincial by Sherman Cymru.




Tuesday 23 November 2010

Measure for Measure

Black, White and those murky shades of grey
Like for like, Measure for Measure”

Luxury and Opulence, all in red
Shakespeare’s measure for measure can be seen as a social commentary of 1604 dealing with issues within humanity. Yet for that, the very essence of play still resonates in modern society, and the focus in this production is the dealings with personal and public morality and sexuality to the politics of power: how little the Duke does to stay in power and then when Angelo has power his changes create his downfall. The original play deals with those topics but as mercy, justice, truth and the bond each has with pride and humility: asking where along the path do you fall and if any stance that you take is right. The difference is simply that today the shades of grey take precedence instead of a 16th century clear cut black and white. Looking at the history and the evidence Measure for Measure provides, social and religious unrest exists now as it did then, just on a far larger scale, as does political scheming. It all prompts the question: how much could we learn if we looked at the lessons history gives us?

Walking into the theatre space you are greeted by opulence and luxury: everything in red from velvet drapes to satin seat cushions and red carpet. The ‘haze’ used during the production added to the overall atmosphere, particularly as ‘opium haze’ and such things were common place in the whore house and ‘parlours’ of the Medieval world.  As much as it created an extra element of authenticity I wasn’t keen on the haze: it came in waves, often overpowering: I felt that a lesser dose would have been better but at least they warned us before we went into the production. Ascending the stair’s the room opens out before you, white marble column’s rising to the roof, displaying the age and grandeur of the building – the Provincial being a bank in earlier times. The audience is seated in tiers around the central stage looking down on the performers. The production is full of sensuality and grace, the costume’s are revealing, the casts movements and poses are sexually inviting, there is dancing at certain points as the Saxophone player fills the room with this bluesy, sensual music.

With this adaptation of the play the number of cast does not measure up to the number of characters taking part, nor to Shakespeare's orginal much longer cast list. Pared right down, five of the eight performers have two parts to play and to differentiate between each one subtle costume changes and clear accent differences occur: Lord Angelo becomes Mistress Overdone by draping sparkly material over the arms - much like a lady holds out the ends of her skirt – and the crisp upper class accent melts in to the lilting musical welsh accent. All the actors use the variation between the crisp upper class and the Welsh accent to differentiate their characters; of course some have stronger Welsh accents than others. In the limited space that the Provincial provides there was little if no space to change costumes behind the scenes, so a character’s representation had to be far more subtle, this is where accents play a great part and also to give actors character’s with opposing gender’s and personalities: Eiry Tomas playing the gentle Julietta and the bawdy Lucio. Productions that employ this technique can become difficult to follow but with the techniques used, my advice is to bear with it and the further you are drawn into the play the quicker it snaps into place.

As one of Shakespeare’s slightly less well known plays, unlike the populist Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet or Macbeth it is a play of multiple faces with brilliant comedy and heart wrenching tragedy, it is as if the play has never made up its mind whether to side with the bawdy sexual humour or to dive into the tragedy. Yet in doing that it enthrals you even more: endearing the sinful characters and the audience dislikes the ‘pure’ character – introducing shades of grey into Angelo’s white and the Duke’s black portrait.

Is the path to hell paved with good intentions?

Lord Angelo accepts the Duke's handing over of power
Leaving his city in the hands of piously minded powerful Angelo, the Duke goes into hiding as a Friar (there are two in the original play, one a proper friar, the other the Duke), and he observes Angelo bringing back the old laws: banning sex and brothels. As part of his intentions to clean up the city Angelo condemns a man to death (Claudio) as Claudio has made Julietta, his lover, pregnant.
Yet Angelo’s purity is questioned when Isabella appears, she is the innocent novice begging for her brother’s life, Angelo is tempted by Isabella – her purity and innocence, and he suggests that Claudio’s life could be saved if she will sleep with him. Also when the wrongs he has done Mariana are revealed by the Duke as Friar.  When the Duke is finally discovered as the Friar he has final judgement, forcing Angelo to marry Marianna as he should have many years ago and giving Isabella the right to demand Angelo’s life for Claudio’s life:

Duke Vincentio:
“...but as he adjudged your brother,--
Being criminal, in double violation
Of sacred chastity and of promise-breach
Thereon dependent, for your brother's life,--
The very mercy of the law cries out
Most audible, even from his proper tongue,
'An Angelo for Claudio, death for death!'
Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;
Like doth quit like, and MEASURE still FOR MEASURE...”

Claudio has not died – a likeness of him has gone in his place, but only the Duke knows this, even so Isabella does not bow to pressure to have Angelo’s life forfeit and is rewarded by the appearance of her brother. What is truly a piece of political scheming is the Duke’s request to marry Isabella at the end, his scheming and plotting as the Friar and his political clout as the Duke has cleared the path for him to do this.

The production stays true to Shakespeare’ s language – I am encouraged when I find they have kept the language as true as possible, translating it into the truly modern English takes away from what Shakespeare is meant to be, the history and the gift it is to the literary cannon. I accept that there will always be interpretations, they are a good way of exploring old themes in new ways and are often good productions – maybe I’m just a sucker for tradition, even if I still haven’t made my way through all of Shakespeare’s plays quite yet. I’ll get there one day.

I bumped into an old lecturer at the play; he is the dramaturge for the production (DJ Britton) which was an excellent surprise: it is nice to see people I know at productions, I feel like I am doing the right thing and getting on with it.  

This production has been a fantastic version of Measure for Measure; everything has been done well and even with the revamps to fit an eight member cast and the focus on the modernity of the issues. The production is on until 5th December at the Provincial by Sherman Cymru.



Friday 12 November 2010

The Wizard, the Goat and the Man Who Won the War

A tale of one man, or a tale of three?
A one off and premiere performance at the Dylan Thomas Festival
Writer/ Director: DJ Britton
Featuring: Richard Elfyn
 David Lloyd George was a man of great talents and great flaws, and in leading a very public life the press named him accordingly.
As the ‘Welsh Wizard’ for his oratory skills, the peoples champion – introducing pensions, national insurance and courage to take the country through its darkest hours in WW1.
‘The Goat’ for all his chapel upbringing he was a compulsive flirt and womanizer, having a long term mistress (later his second wife).
‘The Man Who won the War’: as named in 1918 in the tabloid press.
He started life as a lower class, chapel going Welsh boy from Criccieth who became Chancellor, Minister of War and later the Prime Minister. A champion of the Welsh and British cause, Lloyd George is one of the most documented men in history: from his own forays as a journalist, traveller, his autobiography, the press coverage of his life whilst alive, the countless accounts written of him by friends, family and historians and the numerous performances about him. All this information is a gift for a writer as, more often than not, research on a subject is scarce and here the writer David Britton – in his own words - takes the opportunity to pick “what’s interesting dramatically in his life”, using fact to inform an intricately woven fiction.
A one man play, it opens with Lloyd George sat on a bench in the French resort of Antibes covered in a Union Flag towel.  For the next hour we keep Lloyd George company during his waiting game for the young ‘Chanel girl’ Juliette even though it is supposed to be his 50th wedding anniversary with Margaret. He talks about events and people in his life; his daughter Mair who died at 17, Frances his mistress and growing up as a child in Criccieth. It soon becomes evident that his life is one large juggling act: between his wife and mistress; his Welsh identity and British image and his role as the people’s protector with his ever increasing wealth. The French cloth makers have made him the Union towel but “oh for a draig goch” (Welsh dragon) he cries at one point. The play is a mix of three languages with the English speech broken up by flashes of Welsh and French and whilst many in the audience may not understand the French or Welsh it adds to the atmosphere and the depth of the character before us. He also breaks into song, Myfanwy being one: singing is a huge part of Welsh culture, more so then with the prevalence of Christian hymns one of his speeches in Wales during the war centres around singing, asking why should we not sing? I’d pick a link on you tube for Myfanwy but there are a lot of them and some are pretty awful - unfortunately I don’t have the technology to extract my decent recording from its vinyl record.  One theme running through the play is the legend of King Arthur and his Knights – he talks to his Uncle Lloyd as a child about the legends, to his daughter Mair about believing in the legends and compares his political partnership with Churchill to King Arthur and Lancelot – Lloyd George as Arthur and Churchill as Lancelot.
Richard Elfyn had the difficult task of holding the performance together without the support of fellow cast members and the end result is brilliant: for a one off premiere performance it was carried off with fantastic flair and if any words or lines were missed out, I couldn’t tell you. Lloyd George as a character animates Margaret, Frances and Mair: Richard pulls it off effortlessly – changing voices for each character. In all humorousness he continued the animation in the question and answer session after, imitating David (who is Australian) rather well.  His costume was fantastic – almost the image of the man he is portraying, down to the cream suit, pocket watch and slightly long hair.

I was utterly sympathetic to the play only being an hour long, firstly for Richard Elfyn’s sake coping with all those lines and that single character productions carry the danger of floundering on the rocks of dramatic tension and momentum. Yet this play, with its carefully crafted devices and props works well. Giving Lloyd George a past and a present allows tension to shift and create drama: moving between his memories and the expectations he carries for the present/future. Winston Churchill and his aides are also at Antibes: Lloyd George is unable to decide who he should approach should Churchill’s men come by or go to his latest ‘flirt’ Juliette when she appears and the knowledge that Margaret expects him back or may even appear at any point. It ends with neither; he is the butt of a joke between Juliette and friends and is ignored by Churchill’s men so returns to the hotel and to Margaret.
I love going to the Dylan Thomas Centre for events and the yearly Dylan Thomas Festival – this is the third year running I have attended at least one event and The Wizard, the Goat and the Man Who Won the War was a closing event for the festival. It is a brilliant place with a staff always willing to help and it would be a disappointment to see anything happen to it – if the rumours DJ Britton mentioned about it going or anything like that are true - even if I always complain there’s no room to move in the theatre’s seats, which there isn’t but I’d rather suffer a discomfort than see a vital piece of the Swansea arts scene disappear.  It has always been an opportunity to catch up with people I no longer see on a daily basis; lecturer’s and friends from the Swansea MA in Creative Writing – often it results in fresh writing tips, welcome encouragement and interesting titbits of information on new reading material.  Talking to David after I explained I was now a young critic and he revealed that being a premiere performance there were no ‘professional’ critics - simply not to put Richard off and also they are unsure as to what is the official next step. For that I am glad I didn’t catch him before hand, even if I am still only finding my feet.
Listening to David and Richard discuss the play after was interesting, as they revealed the organic process by which the play developed – David writing a few pages at a time, Richard reading them and David writing the next few depending on how Richard read each piece. Also that finding out about Lloyd George in Antibes had been a dramatic gift to good to turn down. They spoke about staying away from the ‘historical overview’ that piece’s like this can become and create “our Lloyd George” a fictional creation of their own based on the facts – after all Juliette is an invention.  The piece was excellent and I wish David and Richard all the best in taking it on tour next year, and would see it again just to find out what tweaks or sweeping changes they decide to make. I think that whatever they decide will only make it better.

Thursday 11 November 2010

The Wizard, the Goat and the Man Who Won the War
A tale of one man, or a tale of three?
A one off and premiere performance at the Dylan Thomas Festival
Writer/ Director: DJ Britton
Featuring: Richard Elfyn
 David Lloyd George was a man of great talents and great flaws, and in leading a very public life the press named him accordingly.
As the ‘Welsh Wizard’ for his oratory skills, the peoples champion – introducing pensions, national insurance and courage to take the country through its darkest hours in WW1.
‘The Goat’ for all his chapel upbringing he was a compulsive flirt and womanizer, having a long term mistress (later his second wife).
‘The Man Who won the War’: as named in 1918 in the tabloid press.
He started life as a lower class, chapel going Welsh boy from Criccieth who became Chancellor, Minister of War and later the Prime Minister. A champion of the Welsh and British cause, Lloyd George is one of the most documented men in history: from his own forays as a journalist, traveller, his autobiography, the press coverage of his life whilst alive, the countless accounts written of him by friends, family and historians and the numerous performances about him. All this information is a gift for a writer as, more often than not, research on a subject is scarce and here the writer David Britton – in his own words - takes the opportunity to pick “what’s interesting dramatically in his life”, using fact to inform an intricately woven fiction.
A one man play, it opens with Lloyd George sat on a bench in the French resort of Antibes covered in a Union Flag towel.  For the next hour we keep Lloyd George company during his waiting game for the young ‘Chanel girl’ Juliette even though it is supposed to be his 50th wedding anniversary with Margaret. He talks about events and people in his life; his daughter Mair who died at 17, Frances his mistress and growing up as a child in Criccieth. It soon becomes evident that his life is one large juggling act: between his wife and mistress; his Welsh identity and British image and his role as the people’s protector with his ever increasing wealth. The French cloth makers have made him the Union towel but “oh for a draig goch” (Welsh dragon) he cries at one point. The play is a mix of three languages with the English speech broken up by flashes of Welsh and French and whilst many in the audience may not understand the French or Welsh it adds to the atmosphere and the depth of the character before us. He also breaks into song, Myfanwy being one: singing is a huge part of Welsh culture, more so then with the prevalence of Christian hymns one of his speeches in Wales during the war centres around singing, asking why should we not sing? I’d pick a link on you tube for Myfanwy but there are a lot of them and some are pretty awful - unfortunately I don’t have the technology to extract my decent recording from its vinyl record.  One theme running through the play is the legend of King Arthur and his Knights – he talks to his Uncle Lloyd as a child about the legends, to his daughter Mair about believing in the legends and compares his political partnership with Churchill to King Arthur and Lancelot – Lloyd George as Arthur and Churchill as Lancelot.
Richard Elfyn had the difficult task of holding the performance together without the support of fellow cast members and the end result is brilliant: for a one off premiere performance it was carried off with fantastic flair and if any words or lines were missed out, I couldn’t tell you. Lloyd George as a character animates Margaret, Frances and Mair: Richard pulls it off effortlessly – changing voices for each character. In all humorousness he continued the animation in the question and answer session after, imitating David (who is Australian) rather well.  His costume was fantastic – almost the image of the man he is portraying, down to the cream suit, pocket watch and slightly long hair.

David Lloyd George 1863-1945

I was utterly sympathetic to the play only being an hour long, firstly for Richard Elfyn’s sake coping with all those lines and that single character productions carry the danger of floundering on the rocks of dramatic tension and momentum. Yet this play, with its carefully crafted devices and props works well. Giving Lloyd George a past and a present allows tension to shift and create drama: moving between his memories and the expectations he carries for the present/future. Winston Churchill and his aides are also at Antibes: Lloyd George is unable to decide who he should approach should Churchill’s men come by or go to his latest ‘flirt’ Juliette when she appears and the knowledge that Margaret expects him back or may even appear at any point. It ends with neither; he is the butt of a joke between Juliette and friends and is ignored by Churchill’s men so returns to the hotel and to Margaret.
I love going to the Dylan Thomas Centre for events and the yearly Dylan Thomas Festival – this is the third year running I have attended at least one event and The Wizard, the Goat and the Man Who Won the War was a closing event for the festival. It is a brilliant place with a staff always willing to help and it would be a disappointment to see anything happen to it – if the rumours DJ Britton mentioned about it going or anything like that are true - even if I always complain there’s no room to move in the theatre’s seats, which there isn’t but I’d rather suffer a discomfort than see a vital piece of the Swansea arts scene disappear.  It has always been an opportunity to catch up with people I no longer see on a daily basis; lecturer’s and friends from the Swansea MA in Creative Writing – often it results in fresh writing tips, welcome encouragement and interesting titbits of information on new reading material.  Talking to David after I explained I was now a young critic and he revealed that being a premiere performance there were no ‘professional’ critics - simply not to put Richard off and also they are unsure as to what is the official next step. For that I am glad I didn’t catch him before hand, even if I am still only finding my feet.
Listening to David and Richard discuss the play after was interesting, as they revealed the organic process by which the play developed – David writing a few pages at a time, Richard reading them and David writing the next few depending on how Richard read each piece. Also that finding out about Lloyd George in Antibes had been a dramatic gift to good to turn down. They spoke about staying away from the ‘historical overview’ that piece’s like this can become and create “our Lloyd George” a fictional creation of their own based on the facts – after all Juliette is an invention.  The piece was excellent and I wish David and Richard all the best in taking it on tour next year, and would see it again just to find out what tweaks or sweeping changes they decide to make. I think that whatever they decide will only make it better.

Saturday 6 November 2010

Secrets? Truths? & Disclosing them to a stranger

Childhood             Forgiveness         Tolerance              Crazy Things

Like ghosts stepping out of the mists of time - instead it is the youth theatre cast approaching our tables from within the inner chapel and altar of St John the Baptist Church. But in the dark with the lighting set just right? It felt eerie yet I was relaxing into my seat. The haunting Russian folk /string music playing enforced that feeling actually enhancing the feeling of stillness that silence would normally bring in a church.

Kontakt 3 is not your average theatre production: pushing the boundaries of theatre as we know it: there no audience separation and you are right there in the thick of it. Singled out, one per table the ‘audience’ await the arrival of the cast - you are left alone with the music and your thoughts unable to converse with friends, family or even swap comments  with a stranger.  In the
blurb handed to participants on leaving Philip Mackenzie (Director) asks the very pertinent question of “How often does an adult sit across the table from a 14 year old and have a meaningful interaction or conversation?” and unfortunately today the answer is likely to be rarely; if ever. Not wanting to be clichéd but Kontakt does what it says on the tin, but it explores how we communicate in an unconventional manner

And to provoke some level of response? Yes.

The first point of contact between people is eye contact. To demonstrate this, a cast member come and sit opposite you, staring/watching you in silence before moving on and a second does the same.

Second is conversation: a third person comes and sits with you striking up conversation. Mine, a friendly young gentleman who wasn’t that much younger than me, asked me to tell him about myself and it turns out we had interests in common. Too be honest being of a similar age I wasn’t too surprised yet if an older adult was in my seat I doubt they would expect to have similar interests.

The third step in this process was a set of cards each having a topic or phrase to initiate specific conversation, whilst this is a somewhat forced way of interacting it opens doors for individuals to open up to a stranger or connect over similar situations. Here she held my hand in silence before the cards, hiding her face – creating a sense of security before the questions were asked.

In the fourth exploration of communication a girl sat opposite me with pen and paper and we communicated through art, drawing different things on the paper. The end result looked a bit like a child’s drawing of home with a house, sunshine, tree’s and people there were also the mountains of Wales as ‘home’. The music then changed to an Abba classic and everyone was coaxed up to dance: was this the breaking down of barriers now we had communicated? As many people find getting up and dancing difficult (the guzzling of alcohol is usually required in my case)


Last but not least was the ‘interrogation’ as the youngest of my questioners called it – wearing a Poirot moustache of all things, it was a series of probing questions that I had to answer although he was a bit too friendly and encouraging to be Poirot and I struggled not to laugh at the comedy value.

Throughout this process those of the cast who stood behind the chair opposite completed a set choreography that was nothing less than the Macarena in slow motion - though that it was the Macarena didn’t click until after when talking with the other young critics. I was rather unsure as to the point of this choreography initially it did not seem to have a purpose yet now thinking on it each movement was a representation of the open and closed nature of communication: showing open empty hands, hidden palms, hiding faces and arms wide open above heads. Not knowing what to expect at the start I was a little put out by the staring at first, didn’t know where to look and questions like why is she staring? What are they doing? Were running through my head: until I focused and simply stared back. One thing that did make me giggle as well as pause for thought was that on two occasions everyone sat down and the chair opposite me was empty – no one came to fill it for a moment – in those seconds I felt the echoed moments of loneliness I experienced as a young adult and also laughed at being the last one left as usual.

The actors and actresses where certainly brave to keep a straight face complete the piece’s and listen to strangers open up. I really enjoyed the experience and although very different, it was completely worthwhile. If you are given the opportunity to see a production like this go, though expect to divulge your inner most truths and wants and don’t expect to be judged: some are willing to divulge their own feelings and opinions to you to. Think of it as the turn of a priest to confess to the sinner who has been confessing, apt for a church I think.  Kontakt is on for a further day (Sat 6th November).