Last Christmas | Theatre Review

 Sherman Cymru
12 December
★★★★★

Christmas with a difference has landed at the Sherman: amongst the brightly coloured lights and floating snowflakes, stands one man: devoid of renditions of ‘He’s behind you’, emotions run high and hangover’s hit hard when reality rears its head and the spirit of Christmas is floundering. Matthew Bulgo’s debut play Last Christmas explores the idea of finally growing up and realising happiness isn’t just about escaping the past, but embracing the future. Tom faces the ghosts of the Christmas past to head into his future.

There is a unique take on a seemingly clichéd topic in Last Christmas: Tom escapes the backwards, boring Swansea life for the lights and highs of London as a film maker, but after a while the drudgery of paying the bills and an ordinary office job seeps back in. The character’s and the detail of Swansea are vivid: Lanky, Spanner and Bins are that much more alive than the likes of London character’s ‘Suz’ and the Intern. If ‘ambition is critical’ enough for people to leave, Last Christmas highlights the fact that they end up leaving something behind: true friendship and family – what did Tom’s dad really think at the end? Was he proud? It is Tom’s journey home where he comes to realise, through a haze of alcohol that he need not have worried: he has after all begun to become his father.

A one man show is difficult to pull off but the combination of talent brought about by Dirty Protest’s collaboration with Clwyd Theatre Cymru creates an intimate piece full of emotion and passion. Siôn Pritchard’s skillful acting and comic timing is fantastic: he portrays this ordinary man in such a way that everyone can empathise with on different levels and his portrayal of those in his story is pitched perfectly, each personification adding to the depth of the story. Matthew Bulgo’s use of language and imagery is superb: he has brought a character - who could easily have slipped into a one dimensional life - into a multi-dimensional, full colour existence. Filled with stomach creasing rants that flow with ease into dark, grief filled moments that brings tears to the eyes. Kate Wasserberg has used her skill to mould these two talented elements of actor and writer into a seamless and striking piece of theatre.

Last Christmas was a captivating hour of theatre and joy to watch, filled with the mixed blessings that Christmas brings for so many and the joy for others.

The Adventures of Sancho Panza - Theatre Review

The Adventures of Sancho Panza
Riverfront Theatre, Newport
9 November

★★★★

The Adventures of Sancho Panza is a modern twist on the Don Quixote classic, drawing the real and fictional worlds together and the Don is no longer centre stage. With an unusual opening scene, Sancho Panza and his mother are attending the funeral of their father and husband, it is after when Sancho cannot get his mother to read with him and he reads alone, that his imagination takes over, bringing the Don himself to life and launches Sancho into his adventure.

It is an adventure full of glorious battles that simultaneously get more creative and ludicrous as the journey goes on, from fighting a lion to a singing competition with another knight. The comic element to the show is a huge factor and the audience are often in stitches: Gareth Clarke’s comic timing as Sancho is impressive, appearing almost instinctive, the same with Andrew Tadd – whose cheeky aside’s to the audience are perfect.

The set is striking yet simple – all in white it is transformed from kitchen to castle, waterfall and country road with ease and some ingenious use of props: the Don’s horse is actually a double base and Sancho’s donkey a Violin. Roles of paper have versatile uses, from Knightly capes to waterfall’s and caves. The cast climb all over the furniture, turning a table into a horse drawn carriage.

Involving the audience in a rendition of Robbie Williams’ Angels was a stroke of genius:  I had to concentrate very hard to join in, as I fought not to break out into a fit of laughter.

My only note would be that the piece felt like it faltered slightly: the pace started to wind down about two thirds through, rather than continue at a pace, almost if an interval might be needed somewhere. As it moves past this it does regain its momentum as Sancho is granted is own island to govern and the comedy continues.

The musical talent of the cast is brilliant: Maxwell James is handy with his guitar throughout. His rendition of the opening “There’s a million other places I’d rather be than here…There’s a million other people in the world I would rather be” is heartrending as we watch the funeral procession unfold. He plays challenging Knight in the Don’s (Gareth Wyn Griffiths) sing off. Wyn Griffiths is brilliant as the chivalrous, kind but occasionally daft Don.

Closing back in on reality, Sancho’s mother finds him reading out in the cold, his imagination having run its course and together they are able to work through their grief and Sancho’s questions of ‘Why?

A masterful, heart-warming and touching piece it is well worth seeing.

The Adventures of Sancho Panza is on tour again in 2013.

Info: www.hijinx.org.uk/ Hijinx as a theatre company are dedicated to creating accessible theatre for all the family and to the inclusion of actors with special needs.

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Theatre Review

Fri 2 Nov

Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

It is one thing to remember how funny a show an be, it is another to bear witness to a production that goes one better and every enunciation, tumble and action is comic perfection. In this production of Shakespeare’s farcical fairy tale every comic nuance possible is put to work, creating a hilarious, adventurous and magical performance. Theatre Mwldan and Mappa Mundi have revisited a partnership with Torch Theatre for this production, an enterprise that has again worked wonders.

Transported from ancient wooded Athens to 1940’s Britain, this Midsummer Night’s Dream is a new commentary on changing times where love wins out over stubborn class divides as Lysander –transformed into an American – fights for Hermia with the now straight laced, Englishman Demetrius. Air raid sirens sound and silent films play, setting the scene before the cast launch into the text – dressed as the soldiers, land girls, wardens and the glamorous upper class.

The plebeians  of St Athans Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society (SAADOS) are the perfect comic bumbling relief to Oberon and Titania’s dark, sinister fairyland where unrequited love and false chivalry abound as the human’s fall victim to Puck’s shambolic meddling. Their inexplicable rendition of Pyramus and Thisbe making the perfect comic mockery of amateur theatre Liam Tobin’s Bottom and James Peake’s Flute stumble over lines, over act the scenes and produce ridiculous prop’s – Llinos Mae’s Snout suffers as the SAADOs rendition of the ill-fated wall. Mathew Bulgo’s plays Quince, forever attempting to improve his amateur actors and forever failing – only to give up in complete irritation.  

With such a sizable but incredible talented ensemble cast it is difficult to pick the shining star: they all shone. Yet Joanna Simpkins was truly impressive as Helena: heartbroken and desperate her pursuit of Demetrius plays out with such physicality the audience is at once with her in sympathy and laughing at the hilarity if it and it starts again as the roles reverse  and she is pursued by both Demetrius and Lysander after Puck’s meddling. Francois Pandolfo as Puck is simultaneously menacing and enticing – flitting about the stage he is the willing villain of Oberon’s jealous plan and his appearance amongst the audience adds to the dreamlike quality of the show, becoming the dream’s storyteller.

A remarkably simple set works well with the lighting, enhancing the dark, dreamy world. Multi-media use at the beginning and end: delivering Puck’s final lines is eerie and perfectly placed to close down the dream and let the dreaming audience awaken.  

A Midsummer Nights Dream is on tour until 8th December. 

Info: www.mappa-mundi.org.uk 

Llwyth - Theatre Review

23 Aug 2012

Y Llwyfan, Carmarthen

★★★★★

On a night when communities come together in brilliant catharsis – Wales has lost the rugby - four friends are living their own moments of catharsis as they move through their own night of fighting, reminiscing and revelations.

Llwyth takes its inspiration from the Gododdin – a tale of warriors and men from several tribes bound together as a community by loyalty for their King and their country against a common enemy. Over a year they trained during the day and feasted and drank at night before marching on their foe and wiping out seven times their number. Weaving the lyrical, poetic language of this sixth century poem into the play, writer Dafydd James handing Aneurin (Simon Watts) beautifully crafted monologues that he performs with conviction and perfectly pitched acting. 

This play isn’t just about being gay or about gay life in Cardiff, it digs deeper into a world of universal insecurities, friendships that last - no matter what and that sense of belonging many of us earn for. Rhys (Paul Morgans) is turning 30 and faced with boyfriend Gareth (Michael Humphreys) supposed inconsistencies and throughout the night they fight out their differences. Gavin (Joshua Price) is that innocent teenager starting out in life, a mix of naivety and that rush to experience life. Dada (Danny Grehan) is the aging ‘queen’, father and storyteller of the group, having already lived and experienced life. Aneurin is a struggling writer, lost amongst his ideas and fighting against his past – unable to face up to his emotions and the recent death of his mother.

Humour has a huge presence in the dialogue, breaking up the tension at the most perfect moments. The Eisteddfod gets a lambasting and faces of the media get their mention as comparators to the character’s themselves and as part of their life stories.

Written predominantly in Welsh there are splashes of English and Wenglish: a vision of truth of today’s culture in Wales and even though it is English that is predominantly heard every day it adds another element to the play. As much now as in the sixth century this is a land of languages and cultures, of tribes that exist separately yet come together for a common cause.  There are surtitles available in English, but with the superb acting and physicality of the cast, the harmonic choral singing of the choir and soundtrack and the skilful use of the stage and props through Director Arwel Gruffydd Llwyth captivates the audience enough to forget about the surtitles.

A distinctly Welsh play, Llwyth is not necessarily owned by Wales, it will travel and it has proved that – receiving rave reviews at Edinburgh’s Fringe and through its invitation to the Asian Arts Festival in Taipei.

A play to make you laugh, cry and what to join in dancing, Llwyth is a genius piece of writing: tender, heart-rending, laugh out loud funny and exciting. I promise you will find it hard to fault it and will absolutely love it.

Llwyth is at Sherman Cymru for its last set of performances 12-14 September before it heads to the festival in Taipei.
Info: http://www.shermancymru.co.uk/

Y Storm - Theatre Genedlaethol Cymru - Eisteddfod 2012

Y Storm

National Eisteddfod Wales

8th August 2012

★★★★

Ystorm is Gwyneth Lewis Welsh language translation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. A tale full of power, jealousy and revenge:  Prospero was the Duke of Milan but his love of the dark arts and his library led him to invite his brother Antonio to share the power. Antonio then conspired with the King of Naples Alonso to usurp Prospero and send him to a far flung island. It is Gonzalo who allows Prospero to take supplies and his books. It is on this island that the story starts, where Prospero has used is powers and servant Ariel to shipwreck his enemies on his island where the lets them wander, tormented by dreams and spirits. Ferdinand is split from his father Alonso and thinks him dead but at sight of Miranda (Prospero’s daughter); Ferdinand falls madly in love and submits to Prospero’s servitude to prove he loves her. It is Prospero’s aim to regain his Dukedom and teach his enemies the lessons they deserve yet it is Prospero who also learns lessons – to treat his enemies with honour and to be the better man.

Directed by Elen Bowman Ystorm is part of the World Shakespeare Festival, in conjunction with the London 2012 celebrations.

As a first language English speaker and admittedly only Welsh language learner, I walked in concerned as to how much I was going to understand but within moments the performance took over and entranced the soul. 

The continual movement and use of the whole space as the cast mingled in amongst the audience added another level to the performance. The surtitles were good for keeping up where the story was when you couldn’t quite remember the next part but the non-fluent audience did not have to rely on them - just listening to the language was a pleasure.

Members of the acclaimed Citrus Arts are part of the cast, lending their unique physical brand of circus theatre to the performance, using the tent scaffold to its full potential, as spirits flying around the sky (with aerial equipment) and adding a carnival atmosphere to the scene (using fire and floor equipment) when Prospero uses his powers to conjure up a fantasy for Miranda and Ferdinand and Ariel calls forth the Gods of the land.

Ariel is a character trapped by the lure of freedom and Meilir Rhys Williams plays him perfectly, he is at once the unearthly, playful mischievous spirit and the loving servant. Along with his team of spirits the choreography was fantastic, playing with the human characters minds – working around them as if invisible with perfect timing and grace.

The performance space – a purpose built tent - was a warm sandy island in the middle of an ocean of mud, replicating the remote island Prospero was cast out to and transports the audience into the Shakespearean world as they took their seats on tiered platforms around the tent. 

Trinculo (Hugh Thomas) and Stephano (Siôn Pritchard) were the perfectly pitched comic relief against the more powerful, emotional turmoil’s played out by the larger characters with their brilliantly timed drunken antics and petty greed putting their own instant gratification above all else. When they come across Caliban hiding from Prospero they turn him into a willing drinker as he happily submits to being their servant not Prospero’s. Caliban’s character also provides a different angle to the story: after all he is the original inhabitant of the island – given the role of the brutish uncivilized slave he is another innocent in the equation, used harshly by Prospero for his own ends.

A brilliant show I would definitely recommend and I look forward to further productions by Theatre Genedlaethol Cymru.

Y Storm is at the United Counties Showground, Camarthe 18-21 September and
Faenol Estate, Bangor 2-6 October 

Act One's King Lear: Edinburgh Fringe Preview

Cardiff's Act One head for Edinburgh's Fringe:

Sun 12-Sat 18 August

The Monkey House, Edinburgh
(originally for Buzz Mag)

The Edinburgh Fringe is a pivotal point in the theatrical calendar and Cardiff University’s very own Act One drama society are heading up there to perform, taking performances ofWuthering Heights, The Institute andKing Lear. Nearing the end of their intensive rehearsals I caught up with Piers Horner, Co-director of King Lear.

This King Lear has a substantially cut script – to fit into their 1 hour 15 minute and to make it more absorbing and engaging to a modern audience: Piers admitted it had been a challenge to retain a concise script, make a production that is far more accessible and to hold people’s attention, but also keep the essence of the play and not detract from it.

A post-apocalyptic interpretation, its intensified violence is blended with the text's raw power and the original Shakespearean language. Piers explained the idea of a crumbling society, where Lear himself is a crumbling figurehead – losing power to his two callous daughters whilst the third daughter is banished and powerless to help. Gloucester, part of the only remaining sub-plot, is corrupted by his illegitimate son Edmund, forcing his elder son to flee.

To Piers heading up to the Edinburgh fringe is incredible and hugely exciting, particularly as they only ever envisaged it as a main Cardiff Act One production and to be there on showcase with great companies in an event where anything can happen is incredible. Performing in The Monkey House they have a prime afternoon spot away from the larger evening performances.

For those lucky enough to be heading up to Edinburgh in August @LearFringe2012 is their Twitter tag.
Tickets: £7.50. Info: www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk

Two Worlds of Charlie F - Review

Sherman Cymru, Cardiff

Weds 25 July
(originally reviewed for Buzz Mag)

★★★★★

With a 14 strong company of wounded soldiers alongside four professional actors,The Two Worlds Of Charlie F is a play with a difference . Whereas previous plays have politicised, moralized and dramatized interpretations of the recent wars, it is the soldier’s story, told and performed by them, that takes centre stage.

Unique and unforgettable, the play is the soldier’s view of service, injury and recovery. It travels from the moment they sign up, to the Afghan war, to the rehabilitation rooms of Headley Court and all that comes in between; the drug-induced hallucinations in hospital to the relationships and life after. Monologues that are both full of sharp wit and stark descriptions like “shit, skin-flakes and sand” (of Afghanistan), are a reminder of what they went through and what they are going through after.

Appearing on stage are 14 members of Bravo22 Company: a project for wounded, injured and sick service personnel, in recovery capability programmes that partners, amongst others, Theatre Royal Haymarket Masterclass and The Royal British Legion. Director Stephen Rayne was attracted to the project through its ambition as it was to go one step further and put service personnel on the stage. The project aims to providing a unique work placement within a new theatre company, and as producer Alice Driver said: “By being part of this process they would not only immerse themselves into a new industry but benefit from the effects of this theatre model: increased confidence, self-awareness and ultimately allowing them to step away from their injury.”

The play blends a level of verbatim and creative theatre, as writer Owen Sheers stated, it’s “not about bringing our intentions to it, [but having] a one-to-one conversation” with the director and cast engaging in weeks of unscripted rehearsals to draw out individual experiences, as well as the experiences of their families. Enough material was collected to allow him to write for an audience but stay true to the cast. Many situations, lines and phrases are used in the play that are completely authentic to moments experienced by the cast.

The story is told their way, with dark comic humour, dead pan observations and moments of unafraid revelations. From a new recruit unsure what to say to the amputee recruiting officer, to a lost limb possibly in one of a number of pubs and two of the wounded soldiers comparing the scars on their stumps. The play blends in elements of musical theatre, with moments of choral singing and choreographed movement as the recruits sing a song to get them through their ‘basic training’ and the nurses later burst into song about the soldiers medications. The choreography by Lily Phillips is creative, seamless and very well performed by all the cast.

Using ‘briefing-sessions’, flashbacks, video talking heads, the monologue’s and the choreography The Two Worlds of Charlie F, is a reminder that there is a modern equivalent to the history books. We find out why they joined: for a dare, to make parents proud and to make ends meet, how they have overcome impossible odds to survive and we find out who they are: ordinary men and women with an extraordinary job. They faced up to their tasks with courage, making heroic selfless decisions on behalf of their colleagues and people they do not know.

Info: www.shermancymru.co.uk / 02920 646900

Wales Book of the Year Awards 2012

Thurs 12 July 

Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

Patrick McGuinness and John Gower are the overall winner’s for this year’s Wales Book of the Year award, in English and Welsh respectively.

Winner of the Fiction category as well as overall in English, The Last Hundred Days is Patrick McGuinness’ debut Fiction novel, having published successful poetry and literary criticism: set in 1989 Bucharest it handles Ceausescu's last days in power and shows a city struggling to survive an intense moment in its history. As the world stands on its own precipice, some watch as others battle for freedom or survival the book focuses on a moment within history, weaving the line between fiction and the historical novel. As the English language panel said of the book “In a world turned upside by the Arab Spring and economic cataclysm, can there be a more apposite or important book than The Last Hundred Days?”

Jon Gower’s novel Y Storïwr ‘The Story Teller’ the Welsh category winner in Fiction, aptly follows a boy born on a stormy night in West Wales with an amazing talent for telling stories.

The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama played host to this year’s winners, a spectacular space for the revamped awards, with its open meeting hall and concert space blending the modern and traditional.

2012 is the first year the competition has included the categories of Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction and Poetry, instead of the previous 2 long lists of ten authors going into the ceremony. Each category winner takes home £2,000 and the overall winner then takes a further £6,000 prize. The Roland Mathias Poetry prize in English has also been adapted into the awards for the first time, this year the prize was won by former Welsh National Poet Gwyneth Lewis for her Poetry collection Sparrow Tree, a collection that puts nature writing in a spin.

The Creative Non-Fiction prize went to Richard Gwyn for his memoir and autobiographical book The Vagabond’s Breakfast. The book is an account of years of his life lost to addiction, reckless travel and serial hospitalizations once he was faced with a sentence of death unless a liver donor was found.

The People’s Prize, chosen by readers of the Western Mail and available to all the English language shortlist, was awarded to Philip Gross for his poetry collection Deep Field. It was a fantastic moment to see poetry in the forefront of reader’s imaginations, highlighting the diversity of talent and choice available in Welsh literature.

English Language Chairman of the Judges Spencer Jordan recognised that “each of the three category winners are writers at the very top of their game” and that writing is far more than pen, paper, characters and words as he added “Writing is never more compelling or braver that when it comes from the heart, and that’s what these three books do. In their own small way, each is a manifesto for the human soul in the 21st Century.”

Welsh Language Winners:

Fiction: Jon Gower with Y Storïwr
Creative Non-Fiction: Allan James with John Morris-Jones
Poetry: Karen Owen with Siarad Trwy’i Het

With such a strong shortlist to Judge for 2012 my expectations for 2013’s long lists and short lists to be as diverse, creative and brilliantly written are high. The process for next year’s awards has already begun, an event definitely to look forward to.

Dance GB - Review

Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff.

27 June.

A unique piece for a unique year, or rather I should say three pieces, as National Dance Company Wales, Scottish Ballet and English National Ballet join forces to create a pioneering celebration, combining dance with the Olympic Games. London 2012 has taken the country by storm, and none of it has become repetitive, especially these fabulous spectacles of physicality and dance.

Part of the Cultural Olympiad (labelled as the largest cultural celebration in the history of the Games). As the British Nations unite to compete, these dance companies have united to celebrate and showcase the skills of the dancers. Each dance company brought its own artistic identity to the theme of ‘athleticism’, along with world renowned Choreographers.

First up was Scottish Ballet with Run with It, as a spectacle of fast paced physicality it showcased the dancers skills and agility, Martin Lawrence’s dynamic choreography blurred line between the athleticism of the Olympics and the grace and fluidity of dancers. The unexpected formation of starting line and ordered pattern of runners is in stark juxtaposition to the fluid, free moving dancers Conducted underneath the modern, clean lined representation of a tree by Martin Boyce the atmosphere changed with the dancers movements slowing and growing more pronounced as the lighting changed through the ‘leaves’ of the tree. Dressed in a stylised athletic kit the dancers blend and contrast with the lighting as they move.

Christopher Bruce National Dance Company Wales: the baby of the group and the home team presented Dream. An entirely different, homely, British piece as the dancers gather on stage dressed in 50’s costume. A village sports day or a child’s dream? The dancers romp around the stage competing in egg and spoon, tug of war, sack and three-legged races before disrobing and Ravel’s Bolero launches from the Orchestral pit and the dancers spring into athletic movements of fencing, boxing, figure skating, and synchronised swimming, sports that melded the grace of the dancers with the more regimented precise sporting movements. Dream was a marvel to watch and with a year of Britishness upon us it brought our history and the ordinary people behind it, back to the fore front with true grace and wit. Particularly, as there were moments of comic perfection that the audience were able to laugh with.

English National Ballet closed the show, with And the Earth Shall Bear Again, a darker, much more apocalyptic piece than the others. Dressed in sheer, earth coloured outfits, dancers are bathed in a brilliant shaft of light as they pass beneath it, and the rest is shrouded in ever increasing darkness. Whether dancing alone or in groups. Choreographed by Itzik Galili there is a contemporary take as the dancers move to create mirror images of each other and building uniformity. There is an increased intensity to their movements as the rhythmic percussion of John Cage’s music increases in pace and volume. Whilst overly loud for a soundtrack the dancers entranced the audience with their confident and bold performances.

New to dance, it was an impressive display of talent, poise and creativity. Everyone enjoyed, whether there for the dancing, Olympic themes or to experience something new.

The Institute - Review

Act One, Cardiff University

19 June '12

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a subject normally associated with soldiers and warfare, but as a recognised condition it can hit much closer to home. The Institute is an original, thought provoking and moving play on the effects of PTSD on ordinary people.

The main focus is on Ben, a paramedic happily moving through life: buying a house, dancing with his girlfriend and socialising with mates, until he has that ‘one case’ that he cannot do anything about. He is unable to save Mair, a 15 year old girl trapped in a building. Unable to process the helplessness and sense of failure he withdraws from his life and friends. Not understanding his fragile mind-set and frustrated by their inability to help his friends snap, telling him to “Man up like the rest of us” that he is too proud to admit he has a problem. It isn’t just Ben who is affected: the character Jane was in a car crash and Sophie in an abusive relationship – both unable to process and cope with those moments in their lives they end up at the institute, test subjects for a cure. As those cure’s take place the events that cause PTSD in each individual are played out as audio – a clever device that pulls in background information whilst heightening the emotion and atmosphere, wrenching at the heart strings.

The play switches between the different lives affected by PTSD, the victims, their family/friends and the Institute staff who witness the heartache and find their own niches and coping mechanisms with their daily tasks. Using an unconventional device of cast members on stage at all times, the play gains a poignant second layer rather than falling into the usual trap of distracting the audience that this device can bring. It is the ‘patients’ of the institute that remain on stage at all times – they serve as a reminder of PTSD’s effects people.

A difficult subject to tackle, The Institute handles it with sensitivity. Supported by the Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute, Act One is presenting The Institute in Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival this August. A fantastic piece of theatre, I wish the cast and crew every bit of luck in the Fringe.

For info visit: www.actonetheatre.org.uk

The Maids - Theatre Review

The Riverfront, Newport

Weds 13 June
(originally posted for Buzz Mag)

★★★★☆

Standing in The Riverfront's foyer and the scene is already being set, as accordion player Joe Corbett wanders the open spaces, bringing the haunting world of The Maids and Jean Genet to our lives. Acclaimed as a commentary on social class and based on a brutal double murder, The Maids shocked the original audience with its stark portrayal of servant life and sickly sweet etiquette.

Solange (Olwen Rees) and Claire (Christine Pritchard) are servants and sisters in Madame’s house and are unable to escape their repetitive, poverty stricken lives. In those quite moments when Madame is away engaging with her friends and lover over music and champagne, the sisters are able to escape to a secret and savage world to play out an act they call The Ceremony. Swapping roles Claire becomes Madame and Solange becomes Claire: imitating themselves and Madame in a cruel, violent release of frustration, shame and of revenge against their mistress: dreaming up ways to kill her. The sister’s never complete The Ceremony, constantly interrupted by ordinary life, their own fear of failure and conscience. To close the play, Claire succumbs to a moment of mad clarity, adopting the role of Madame she demands the tea – knowing full well it contains an overdose of sleeping pills. Madame (Rosamund Shelley) is in complete contrast to her servants, as she glides through life with ease, melding an air of glamor with a vulnerable naivety, as she is also trapped, but in a male dominated world.

Traditionally the three characters are played by a younger cast but in casting older women director Erica Eirian has added a richer and far darker feel to the piece. Whereas a younger cast might give hope for the future, here there is strength of character, devotion to each other and their imagined task as Rees and Pritchard use their depth of experience to drive home the despair that even hope has gone now servitude has taken their whole lives. Unable to live individual lives as mother or lover the only viable escape is death.

You never quite figure out who is the stronger sister: at times both are as evil as they are loving and desperate As Claire appears weak and whimpering one moment only to egg Solange on the next, plotting their next move. Solange appears the stronger, never breaking and quick to anger but her devotion to Claire is un-paralleled: she would do anything for her.

The atmosphere created by the accordion and mezzo soprano Buddug Verona James is haunting and highly emotional. Opening the play, Buddug’s beautiful voice captures the essence of the anger, despair and pain laid out by the cast.

The Maids will be showing at The Torch Theatre, Milford Haven from Wed 20 - Sat 23 June. Tickets £8 Info:http://www.torchtheatre.co.uk / 01646 695 267

The Get Together - Review

Sherman Cymru, Cardiff

Wed 23 May

★★★☆☆

Four friends gather at an old Cardiff haunt but they no longer quite fit together – life and choices have taken them in different directions, and those choices colour their views of the others. As this night unfolds anything is possible. In fact, “Laughter, betrayal and blood” is not the slightest bit metaphorical in describing The Get Together, as past mistakes are dragged into the open, knitting needles are brandished and laughter flows with easy grace as memories are shared and alcohol loosens opinionated tongues.

Part of Sherman Cymru’s RAW initiative, the piece was produced under the more thrills than frills style where the writing and talent take centre stage. Written by Corrie writer Simon Crowther, crammed full of pathos and moments of cathartic humour the narrative is strong and the comic one liner’s are honed to perfection. True to its roots of the ‘local’ pub the language is colourful, heated and utterly straightforward. With some brilliantly talented Cardiff voices on stage, the scene is set. Descriptions of the area put you in mind of the Vulcan, a historic Cardiff pub that struggled with the threat of closure before it finally closed its doors earlier this month. With aged wooden chairs as seating, the audience are there with the cast as the purveyors of gossip and drinking. The set itself is a solitary table and multiple chairs with ancient Christmas decorations still up weeks after and the well-used Juke box – a testament to the RAW ideal.

Having got into trouble over a monkey, oops sorry: baboon, the local celebrity is Phil (Gareth Pierce): an outsider to this group of friends, he is the storyteller quoting lines from Jaws (on TV in the ‘other’ room), launching into song as the juke box clunks into life and causing havoc as his antics madden Bull (Roger Evans) to the point of confrontation – resulting in disaster as Phil stabs himself with the knitting needle and panic as Anna (Mali Harries), eight months pregnant goes into labour. Landlady Carol (Ri Richards) keeps the drinks coming, acts as peacekeeper and it is Carol who tells them about Phil’s trouble at Longleat.

Clarkey (Huw Rhys) is the ‘Peter Pan’ of the group, living what he can of the high life and ignoring responsibilities and Mari (Nia Roberts) is the kept woman with a London life, far removed from her Cardiff past. Together they reminisce and mull over mistakes but it is Phil’s cracked window that belies their privacy, allowing Bull and Anna to hear every word. Regret’s, jealousy, accusations and admissions of failure ensue: to Mari, Anna has done nothing with her life but “spit out children”; to Anna, Mari is talentless and a useless godmother and the full extent of their failed friendships comes to light.

A paired-back comedy that shines a light in the darkest corners of an apparently innocent reunion where fakery for the sake of saving faceis abandoned in favour of dramatics and truth. It is definitely one to see.

Continues at Sherman Cymru until 26TH May
Info: www.shermancymru.co.uk / 02920 646900

Just Like Little Dogs - Theatre

Patti Pavilion, Swansea

Fri 11 May

★★★★☆

“The Towie rules for pulling girls  (and boys)” a contemporary reference adapted to give a nod towards the Tawe, perhaps? As the life of Swansea teenagers come under the disco light of this energetic and unflinching collaboration between National Theatre Wales and Frantic Assembly.

Little Dogs is a stage adaptation of the Dylan Thomas short story Just Like Little Dogs, performed in the Patti Pavilion – a newly refurbished Victorian building across the road from Swansea’s sandy shoreline. The audience are a stone throws away from the locations in Thomas’ story.

Using the original premise, where youngsters live out their lives yearning and searching for love, strangers on the same quest, Little Dogsexplores those half formed lives, moments before teenagers cross the threshold into adulthood. As the hard boy, Jordan Bernarde explains that pulling girls is about being hard – he later repeats that litany, only to pull children’s toys from his pockets and armchair. In a separate sequence, Berwyn Pearce pulls girls knickers from his pockets.

There is one particular moment that overlaps between the old and the new narratives. A single line of Thomas story: “…where the methylated-spirit drinkers danced into the policeman’s arms and women like lumps of clothes in a pool waited, in doorways and holes in the soaking wall, for vampires or firemen…” is danced out by the cast when two policemen appear, highly unimpressed by proceedings and try to halt the girls from going any further.

Set out as a promenade piece, the audience are shuffled from corner to corner as the movement changes. Starting in a living room not out of place in 1920’s Cwmdonkin Drive, we are transported to the scene of a battered boy racer car, the desecrated toilets of a particularly seedy night club, the sandy beach, and the dirty streets in between – including an empty midnight bus stop. The cast guide us as they move to the beats of the music, diving in close and occasionally nudging along, they emerge from the audience: one minute part of us, the next part of them.

The older, grandmotherly figure of Sian Phillips may have been a ghostly, under used presence, yet it is her primarily silent presence that provides the significance. She is representative of the generational divide between teenagers and their grandparents, yet her two shining moments, comforting the lost and lonely Darren Evans with a forgotten lullaby and her striking, powerful monologue for the finale binds those two generations together – they are not so different after all: a fact Dylan Thomas could well have agreed with and we should be “humbled by the thrash of love”.

What the piece lacks in dialogue and substantial narrative, it makes up for in fantastic style, with Frantic Assembly’s unique brand of vibrant, physical theatre. It is punctuated by a soundtrack with a solid beat – reminiscent of a night out clubbing – it entrances you, grabbing at the heartstrings. Whilst these teenagers present the unrelenting, negative side to growing up, it is a gritty realism that will make you think, either of your own past, or of those teenagers out on Swansea’s infamous Wind Street living their lives and searching for that someone.

Little Dogs continues until Sat 19 May at the Patti Pavilion, Swansea. Suitable for ages 15+. Tickets: £5-15. Info:www.taliesinartscentre.co.uk / 01792 602060

Clytemnestra - Theatre Review

Fri 20 Apr

Sherman Cymru

★★★★☆

Clytemnestra, an ancient Greek legend adapted for stage, is Sherman Cymru’s first major English language play since re-opening in February. Written by Gwyneth Lewis – former Welsh National Poet – Clytemnestra is her first stage play.

“When we’ve killed all the animals, men will be next”. Transported 200 years into the future, food is scarce and the human condition is stretched to its limit as families are forced to make sacrifices and wage war to survive. Agamemnon is no different: father and clan leader he has ventured out to barter for supplies, acting in the wider interest he exchanges younger daughter Iphigenia for trade routes. Only, his plan back fires as she is raped and killed and in her grief Clytemnestra goes mad, killing Agamemnon on his return.

Told from Clytemnestra’s point of view, the audience watch as she loses sight of reason and succumbs to the whispering torment of a Fury, hell bent on havoc and revenge. The Furies are an ancient race of God’s/Godessess adapted by Gwyneth into vengeful spirits, and they act as a perfect tool in Clytemnestra’s madness: wraiths within the main character’s shadows, they are the basest and most primitive part of the human psyche, demanding an eye of any eye. Played by Nia Gwynne and Adam Redmore, they are a constant presence on stage, adding an intense physicality to the play with their blend of graceful choreography and dark threats. Played brilliantly by Gwynne and Redmore, their creepy, contorted voices embody revenge.

Jaye Griffiths is powerful in her performance as Clytemnestra, pouring pure agony into her cries of grief and delivering her Fury led madness with conviction. As the voice of reason and family loyalty Rhian Blythe’s Electra is worried for her mother and easily fits to her moment of command. The chorus of abattoir workers provide light comic relief and normality against the outpouring of grief and calculated revenge. “Who’d be a leader? Better far to be a pleb”.

With terrifying brilliance, the soundtrack hits you full on a constant wall of wailing grief and post-apocalyptic percussion, putting the audience firmly in the world of the characters. The set is a simple but powerful statement of blood stained, stark white tiles and tall steel structures – the backdrop of a slaughterhouse.

Stripped down to its essential, the plot is simplistic and very easy to follow, the language ordinary and direct.  Yet for the minimalist approach the narrative seems to glance over some sections, barely giving the audience enough to bite into: Clytemnestra meeting Aegisthus is a very physical scene but the dialogue is sparse. What are Agamemnon and Cassandra? Are they lovers or victor and victim?

If you are expecting poetics on a grand scale, this may not be for you, as the poetic rhythm exists as an undercurrent that softens the ordinary language rather than build on it – to hear it you do have to listen carefully.

If you enjoy the Greek tragedy with a twist and the dark, eerie setting of a post-apocalyptic world then I couldn’t recommend it more. A terrifyingly beautiful play it serves up a healthy dose of the mad and macabre.

Clytemnestra continues at Sherman Cymru until Sat 5 May. Tickets are £15-£25. Info: 029 2064 6900 / www.shermancymru.co.uk

#NTW18 Social Media Call - The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning

What makes us come to the decisions make and do the things we do? What influences us? Bradley Manning is accused of making a decision that shook the world, a US soldier and only a few years ago a teenager in Haverfordwest, he is accused of releasing  thousands of US documents to Wikileaks, he faces a maximum life sentence in jail if found guilty and has no chance of parole. His story has touched people across the world and one only has to ‘Google’ him to discover a torrent of support and campaigns for his freedom.

Wednesday I attended the first NTW Social Media Call, intrigued I went along, knowing just how controversial the subject matter for NTW18 is. What I found was what makes NTW the theatre company it is: unique, intense and passionate theatre unafraid to address wider issues and still retain a sensitivity to the subject. At it's heart, this play is about Manning; - a misunderstood, rebellious and intelligent teenager and young man who became something akin to an anti-hero.

A semi-fictional account of Manning's life, the production mixes together his teenage life in Haverfordwest and life in the US Army. There are soldier's to direct you to your seats, but they behave far more like teachers.

The main stage space is surrounded by pillar's of  screen's, throughout the performance they display a multitude of images steering the audience from location to location: from Iraqi war images, army base and prison cell to snippets of the live streaming chat and web coverage of Manning's plight. They are also put into clever use by the cast as as prop's.






  





This is a snippet of rehersal's as they ran through scene's and cue's:

Institutions is the name of the game here as NTW exploit every potential in Tasker Milward, Cardiff High and Connah's Quay Schools. Just walking into Cardiff High to watch rehearsals was weird enough of a feeling, it's narrow, claustraphobic and dark corridors. The locations cotribute to the feelings of uniformity and being given orders. In his life, Bradley Manning, has gone from one institution to another: school, army and currently prison.

A play with a difference, the audiencce is not confined to the corridors or assembly hall's of schools. Fully hyper-conected you can join in on a live webcast of some performances, taking part in a forum and even having some comments displayed on the screen's during the play.

The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning continue's until 21st April in Cardiff before moving on to Flintshire. 
For more information visit: http://nationaltheatrewales.org or search #NTW18.

Clytemnestra - Rehersal Preview & Social Media Call

Tues 10 April

Invited by the Sherman to a Social Media Call, I was excited at the prospect of peeking behind closed doors. Clytemnestra is one of the first in house Sherman plays since its February re-opening.  

Rather intriguingly I caught them going over the intricacies of one particular scene, where Aegisthus meets Clytemnestra for the first time and the furies finally grow quiet. This particular scene seemed to embody the entire play: a dark, post-apocalyptic atmosphere accentuated by loud, bone-chilling music with the Furies whispering devil’s thoughts of pain and anger to the character’s – heightening their emptions. The Furies, played by Nia Gwynne and Adam Redmore, are as constant on the stage as the main characters – representing their subconscious and driving them to revenge, as Director Amy Hodge explains. Whilst the Furies do lend the play its movement focus and physicality it is not all choreography and dance as the play is full of rich poetic language and the “Classical, normal, dramatic angle” where it utilises the traditional Chorus form.

A highly controversial character in Greek mythology, Clytemnestra is at once wronged wife and victim, an adulteress, distraught mother and a murderer. Married to Agamemnon, the sacker of Troy, legend has her killing him at the behest of her lover Aegisthus. Clytemnestra is played by acclaimed actress Jaye Griffiths.  In this dark, futuristic version toga’s are completely absent, oil has run out and wars are waged over food as human endurance is pushed to its limit by war and hunger. The creative team -Greek Designer takis (yes it is spelt without a capital letter), Composer Simon Thorne; Choreographer John Stjernholm and lighting designer Lee Curran – are all ready to ready to take its dangerous and hungry world to audiences. All to frame the story with dramatic sound (which is quite true at rehearsals) and movement it is a perfect story to create an explosive and imaginative setting.

Listening in, the rehearsals are as fun as they are hard work, apparently 'elegant robot' and 'French and Saunders Run' are technical dance terms as the cast use familiar terms to remember movements and timing.

As Director Amy Hodge assures, “you won’t need to know the Greek myths to understand the play [as] it is very clear and simple story telling” whilst it is inspired by, and the myths are ever present “you could come to it knowing nothing and still be able to track it all…. The story is able to stand on its own in the current climate.” Amy described Clytemnestra as a “Beautiful piece of work, it is saying important things, exploiting the potential of the theatrical form and it is hugely ambitious.”

An intriguing, challenging and brilliant looking play, I am keen to see it next week.

Clytemnestra is showing at Sherman Cymru 18 April-5 May.
Tickets are available here and remember under 25s tickets are half price

Questions asked of Director Amy Hodge by fellow blogger Katie Brown (Blog here)

Wasted - Theatre Review

Sherman Cymru

Photo: Richard Davenport

Sat 24 March

★★★☆☆

Wasted is the debut play by Kate Tempest, the writer and performance poet currently taking hip-hop and performance poetry scenes by storm.

Ted, Danny and Charlotte are three childhood friends bound by the death of a friend. As the 10-year anniversary appears, the trio look back on their own lives, asking whether one lost life has led them to waste their own.

Now, Charlotte (Lizzy Watts) is a disillusioned teacher, unable to inspire the classroom, Ted (Cary Crankson) wears a city suit yet pushes paper around his desk with monotony, and Danny (Ashley George) is an aspiring musician living the good life but failing to get anywhere.

The play opens with the three characters storming on stage to launch into fascinating observations on London life. It is these sections – full of Tempest’s spellbinding verse - sporadically placed throughout that hold the power: rhythmically perfect monologues and layered conversations filled with strong messages about living life.

As theses sections fade into the more traditional theatre form the momentum drops, leaving the piece with little depth. The characters never reach nor realise their goal - living their lives as before -leaving us with only superficial glances into their personalities and the potential emotional themes left unrealized: skimmed over as if insignificant. Even as Danny wrestles with his love for Charlotte and his old life and Ted tries to convince him that a relationship is about work and knowing what the other person needs, with Ted then bemoaning his own stagnant relationship - the routine of nothingness – it all feels sluggish and very superficial. In a moment of epiphany Charlotte books a flight to go travelling yet she never leaves -with to many excuses not to go she can’t move on physically, a state of paralysis.

The mammoth performances of Crankson, George and Watts deliver both the poetic language and ordinary dialogue with brilliant intensity and energy.  They are accompanied by a raving soundtrack that pumps the life through the audience and feeds the lyrical power. Cai Dyfan’s set is effective yet simple, backed by a screen not out of place in a club with multi-functioning speakers scattering the floor to be used as seats, stages and flashing lights.  The screen provides backdrops and a montage of images depicting the daily dissatisfaction and frustrations of the characters.

As the characters promise to throw out conventions as they confess to being “the awkward ones in the theatre” Tempest seems to wrestle with her want to express expansive ideals and observations on society and theatrical conventions instead of using her talent to throw out those conventions and create something new.

A Provincial Life - Theatre Review

#NTW17

Sherman Cymru

5 March 2012

Provincial Life see’s the return of National Theatre Wales for their newest round of productions. Staging it in the newly refurbished Sherman Cymru it is written and directed by acclaimed director Peter Gill who returns to his native city after a glittering career spanning half a century.

Originally adapted from Chekhov’s short story ‘My Life’ in 1966, it brings with it a timely poignancy, resonating with much of the audience, as today many struggle with the financial consequences of social mobility, and the continuing search for equality. Following Misail we watch as a young man struggling to reconcile his position of privilege with that of the working life in 1890’s Russia: a time when social conventions were under scrutiny and political ideal’s changing, Karl Marx having only died in 1883. Misail’s eventually shuns his status and inheritance to take up a work man’s life, only to regain some social standing in his marriage to Maria. His hopes of success in their venture are later dashed when she realises their failure and deserts him and the estate to return to privilege.

Much of Chekhov’s work is a careful weave of tragedy and comic genius, and A Provincial Life capture’s this mix eloquently, as Ivan (John Paul-Macleod) provides humorous interludes against the expansive emotional ponderings and familial arguments. It is Boris (Lee Haven-Jones) the flighty, loveable, forever on the move, yet responsible doctor who provides the debating table for Misail’s reckonings. Nicholas Shaw’s portrayal of Misail is faultless yet his character is not the life and soul of the piece, its life and soul is made up of the endearing, loveable and bizarre character’s Misail seems to attract. The strong cast adds a Welsh flavour as the Chekhovian wit fits the stronger accents like a glove.

Set against a stark backdrop of wooden boards the props are a fabulous, lavish mix period furniture and intricate fixtures, employed perfectly by the cast. There is a seamlessness between scene changes as the costumed ensemble act as stage hands, in some ways giving their portrayal of the lower classes, of servants an extra dimension and clarity. The lighting was simple and very effective, depicting the turn of the seasons as well as reflecting the scene’s mood. The cliff hanger style ending at the interval was a very ingenious technique, with the cast mid step as the curtain dropped

At almost 3 hours the production did feel over-long, particularly for a short-story adaptation. There were moments where the piece intentionally slows, giving the audience chance to digest and ponder the ideas and lives before them. These moments stretch the emotional connections the audience has gained a little too far.

Chekhov’s My Life has Misail as the narrator and whereas A Provincial Life has him as the protagonist and the parade of monologues are a testament to the story’s original form, as a result the play sits on the fence and the levels of action are inconsistent. At the finale the format fully shifts and Misail finally takes up the narrator role, standing alone and bereft in the final scene to recount the death of his sister – the price she pays for flouting conventions – and the ideal’s he has come to terms with. The shift in theatrical device is a little disorientating, having been given Misail as hero and idealist until that point. In saying that, the finale is emotional and heart rending: a testament to the convincing and compelling skills of the whole NTW team.

Continues at Sherman Cymru until 17TH March
Info: www.shermancymru.co.uk