National Theatre Wales first offering of 2011: Soul Exchange

National Theatre Wales have again pulled out the stops to create another piece of original yet extraordinary theatre, exploring another part of Welsh history.  Join in on the taxi-ride of a life time and enter a world which is at once alive and burgeoning but also full of history and personal stories,

Soul Exchange is a site specific performance but not in the conventional sense where it has simply been taken out of the theatre ‘space’. It is built around Butetown, celebrating the multi-cultural history and community that grew around the beginnings of the coal export industry. The performance is split into two parts, the taxi ride and the last part at the Coal Exchange. 

As soon as the audience queue to begin the Soul Exchange journey you enter its world: the dock ticket master sending you through, the passport photo’s where you absolutely cannot smile and the photographer kicks up a fuss if you so much as smirk (which is inherently funny: it is human nature to smile when told not to). A choir sings in the background and characters interact with the audience as they wait; grandmothers gossiping about their grandsons and offering to come around later for cups of tea, dock workers milling around and street sellers bartering their wares. Heading out to the taxis you pass a group huddled around a burning oil drum singing and banging away.

The taxi journey can be taken two ways; one is that the audience becomes the main character on the journey, second is that the audience is with the main character in the taxi following his movements. You are certainly drawn into the situation, experiencing everything as he would. The soon to be dad is in search of his own father and roots. Armed with a name and address that no longer exists, he and the taxi driver move from place to place picking up clues as to where he might find his father. As the audience listens to the actor’s on CD we are driven around Butetown passing by each stage of the journey: the community centre, church, tower blocks, and last of all the Coal Exchange. Amongst the streets the communities of past and present collide, with a 1920s/30s guitarist opposite a 90s hooded youth playing music from the car radio. A 70’s working class young couple arguing and an early century fruit and veg seller grace the streets; trilby wearing, Delboy style business men work their charm alongside modern ballet and street dancers. The young man finally finds his father at the church where secrets are revealed. Christian grandmothers christened mixed race children behind their father’s backs, so that they would not grow up with Muslim names; the man’s father Abdi Mahmood had become Peter Watkins. Yet it is the priest that solves the cryptic, concerning answers of the Vera and the community and delivers the bad news: the recent funeral had been his father’s funeral.

The Coal Exchange is the location of the wake, where there is further interaction between the audience and the characters of Tiger Bay. They are mourning the loss the father had been nicknamed Tiger Bay: the play places him as the community hub, its royalty and family - he is the community father as well as his family. Making him a representation of what community means, his legitimate children speak of his desire to make money but was always willing to help others. Tiger Bay is the location of the community, as well as being the community. I felt there were the odd moments where the theme of community became somewhat moralistic, driving home a little too much just how important community and family is to us all and whilst we are celebrating the history of what is now Butetown, without the coal industry it is not the community it was.



The Coal Exchange entrance hall, a building with a lot of history.



Audience interaction is crucial, without it the impact of the surroundings, the scenes played out on CD is lessened. We make up the vast proportion of the ‘community’, and splitting up groups to go into the taxis is a shrewd move, creating the ‘ah there you are’ moment when reunited – again enhancing the togetherness. The dance at the end was brilliant, encouraging the audience to dance to the ‘Butetown theme’ Tiger’s favourite song. They were simple steps but for those of us who didn’t know them it was very entertaining trying to keep up and not step on your neighbours toes, laughing with them when you did, it gave an enjoyable end to the evening.

Just some of the dancing at the end!

As we passed through the different elements the enormity of the organisation needed to produce a play on this scale was evident. The crew did a fantastic job as every stage of the journey was well structured and none of the audience looked lost or confused, we were given props and instructions where appropriate - a box of the main characters keepsakes in the taxi; photo’s, newspaper, a button with cloth and pieces of metal and then the letter Abdi Mahmood left to his lost son as we entered the Coal Exchange. The audience get to keep the boarding pass and the letter, keepsakes of our own of an excellently executed play and of a shared moment in time.

The boxes given to us for the taxi ride - placed on a very large man painted on the floor covered with maps, newspaper clippings and photo's

There are many creative elements to the play as it uses certain conventions of Radio drama and filmic techniques, using original and popular music. The audience has work hard to incorporate every element into the experience, as the dialogue and background music play out of the stereo the world outside whizzes by in a split second, much like it does in a film. You have to keep up, there is no clock watching or drifting off, every second is important.

One thing I was unsure how to react to was the length of the taxi ride as several of the street scenes were seen repeatedly. I recognise that Butetown is only a small area in which to and to get to the Coal Exchange some steps needed to be retraced and the CD was also a certain length but I felt that seeing something two or even three times was unnecessary. Yet stopping each taxi and using more of the street scenes would have required far more logistics and broken up the dialogue on the CD. 

As a play it is reliant on the history of Butetown although changing the history and the location would allow the play to fit into any other town or area of Cardiff, Wales or even the world. Soul Exchange is a fantastic feat, not only logistically but creatively and as a play alone. I look forward to the next NTW production with anticipation.

                                                        

Soul Exchange Theatre Review

National Theatre Wales have again pulled out the stops to create another piece of original yet extraordinary theatre, exploring another part of Welsh history.  Join in on the taxi-ride of a life time and enter a world which is at once alive and burgeoning but also full of history and personal stories,

Soul Exchange is a site specific performance but not in the conventional sense where it has simply been taken out of the theatre ‘space’. It is built around Butetown, celebrating the multi-cultural history and community that grew around the beginnings of the coal export industry. The performance is split into two parts, the taxi ride and the last part at the Coal Exchange. 

As soon as the audience queue to begin the Soul Exchange journey you enter its world: the dock ticket master sending you through, the passport photo’s where you absolutely cannot smile and the photographer kicks up a fuss if you so much as smirk (which is inherently funny: it is human nature to smile when told not to). A choir sings in the background and characters interact with the audience as they wait; grandmothers gossiping about their grandsons and offering to come around later for cups of tea, dock workers milling around and street sellers bartering their wares. Heading out to the taxis you pass a group huddled around a burning oil drum singing and banging away.

The taxi journey can be taken two ways; one is that the audience becomes the main character on the journey, second is that the audience is with the main character in the taxi following his movements. You are certainly drawn into the situation, experiencing everything as he would. The soon to be dad is in search of his own father and roots. Armed with a name and address that no longer exists, he and the taxi driver move from place to place picking up clues as to where he might find his father. As the audience listens to the actor’s on CD we are driven around Butetown passing by each stage of the journey: the community centre, church, tower blocks, and last of all the Coal Exchange. Amongst the streets the communities of past and present collide, with a 1920s/30s guitarist opposite a 90s hooded youth playing music from the car radio. A 70’s working class young couple arguing and an early century fruit and veg seller grace the streets; trilby wearing, Delboy style business men work their charm alongside modern ballet and street dancers. The young man finally finds his father at the church where secrets are revealed. Christian grandmothers christened mixed race children behind their father’s backs, so that they would not grow up with Muslim names; the man’s father Abdi Mahmood had become Peter Watkins. Yet it is the priest that solves the cryptic, concerning answers of the Vera and the community and delivers the bad news: the recent funeral had been his father’s funeral.

The Coal Exchange is the location of the wake, where there is further interaction between the audience and the characters of Tiger Bay. They are mourning the loss the father had been nicknamed Tiger Bay: the play places him as the community hub, its royalty and family - he is the community father as well as his family. Making him a representation of what community means, his legitimate children speak of his desire to make money but was always willing to help others. Tiger Bay is the location of the community, as well as being the community. I felt there were the odd moments where the theme of community became somewhat moralistic, driving home a little too much just how important community and family is to us all and whilst we are celebrating the history of what is now Butetown, without the coal industry it is not the community it was.

Audience interaction is crucial, without it the impact of the surroundings, the scenes played out on CD is lessened. We make up the vast proportion of the ‘community’, and splitting up groups to go into the taxis is a shrewd move, creating the ‘ah there you are’ moment when reunited – again enhancing the togetherness. The dance at the end was brilliant, encouraging the audience to dance to the ‘Butetown theme’ Tiger’s favourite song. They were simple steps but for those of us who didn’t know them it was very entertaining trying to keep up and not step on your neighbours toes, laughing with them when you did, it gave an enjoyable end to the evening.

As we passed through the different elements the enormity of the organisation needed to produce a play on this scale was evident. The crew did a fantastic job as every stage of the journey was well structured and none of the audience looked lost or confused, we were given props and instructions where appropriate - a box of the main characters keepsakes in the taxi; photo’s, newspaper, a button with cloth and pieces of metal and then the letter Abdi Mahmood left to his lost son as we entered the Coal Exchange. The audience get to keep the boarding pass and the letter, keepsakes of our own of an excellently executed play and of a shared moment in time.

There are many creative elements to the play as it uses certain conventions of Radio drama and filmic techniques, using original and popular music. The audience has work hard to incorporate every element into the experience, as the dialogue and background music play out of the stereo the world outside whizzes by in a split second, much like it does in a film. You have to keep up, there is no clock watching or drifting off, every second is important.

One thing I was unsure how to react to was the length of the taxi ride as several of the street scenes were seen repeatedly. I recognise that Butetown is only a small area in which to and to get to the Coal Exchange some steps needed to be retraced and the CD was also a certain length but I felt that seeing something two or even three times was unnecessary. Yet stopping each taxi and using more of the street scenes would have required far more logistics and broken up the dialogue on the CD. 

As a play it is reliant on the history of Butetown although changing the history and the location would allow the play to fit into any other town or area of Cardiff, Wales or even the world. Soul Exchange is a fantastic feat, not only logistically but creatively and as a play alone. I look forward to the next NTW production with anticipation.

                                                             

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

(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 8^TH and 9^th December,

Unprotected poster taken from website



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.

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 16^th 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 5^th December at the Provincial by Sherman Cymru.

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 16^th 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 5^th December at the Provincial by Sherman Cymru.