Pepperland / Young Artists Festival / Dirty Protest

Last week I got the opportunity to experience, for the first time, the work of legendary American choreographer Mark Morris, as “Pepperland”, his and composer Ethan Iverson's tribute to the Beatles' "Sgt Pepper" album played at the Wales Millennium Centre as part of his group's U.K. tour. Wonderful stuff - very colourful and witty, and a much-needed reminder of late 1960s idealism and optimism.

 

"Pepperland" (photo: Mat Hayward)

Last week also saw the 5th annual Young Artists Festival at The Other Room. I got to see the final night of three, on which short plays by Isley Lynn, Brad Birch, Roger Williams, Lisa Parry, Nerida Bradley and Owen Thomas were performed by a cohort of young actors. As always, a selection of pieces which ran the gamut from darkly experimental to broadly comic; as always, an impressive set of performances.

There were more short plays the following evening. I managed to get to a hastily arranged evening of Dirty Protest pieces at local vegetarian cafe Milgi which was where the project started, in 2007, and which was due to close its doors for the final time. The yurt out back has hosted work by dozens of writers (myself included), and been graced by the presence of some remarkable actors (including, on one memorable occasion, a pre-fame Arthur Darvill and Phoebe Waller-Bridge). This celebratory event saw some of DP's greatest hits, from Kit Lambert, Tracy Harris, Alan Harris, Rhiannon Boyle and Roger Williams (again) performed by Siwan Morris (who took part in the very first Dirty Protest), Matthew Bulgo, Gareth Pierce and Rhian Blythe. All very jolly, and this time, I managed to get a seat.

"Us"

I’m not a fan of contemporary horror films, life being scary enough as it is. I recently caught up with Jordan Peele’s much-acclaimed “Get Out”, however, and was duly impressed with its clever use of genre clichés to tell a profound story about race in America. Thus I took the opportunity to see his new film, “Us” in the cinema, where it belongs.

This is the story of an ordinary family (who happen to be African-American), taking a beach-side vacation, only to be assailed by their apparent doppelgangers. This is put into context by a framing narrative featuring a traumatic event which marked the childhood of the mother of the family, Lupita Nyong’o’s Adelaide; its relevance only gradually becomes apparent.

As with Peele’s previous film, “Us” falls into a number of horror categories – in this case, zombies, home invasion, spooky children, pandemics etc. Thus, there are plenty of the jump scares, gory moments and incongruous wisecracks which followers of the genre will appreciate, alongside excellent performances, particularly from Nyong’o and Elisabeth Moss as a holiday neighbour.

Peele’s script is clever, and his direction very slick, but inevitably “Us” has less of an impact than “Get Out” because it falls more squarely into the “horror” category, and its message re the consequences of social exclusion is slightly less pointed. Still, it’s an impressive piece of work.