Carlos Acosta / Spring Fringe / The Beauty Parade / Tylwyth

Well, obviously, coronavirus panic has called a halt to all theatrical activity for the time being (including a rudimentary project I was working on); but at least I managed to see and review some interesting stuff before the shut-down.

Acosta Danza (photo: Johan Persson)

The most high-profile was legendary Cuban ballet dancer Carlos Acosta’s company delivering a beautifully diverse programme entitled “Acosta Danza Evolution” at the Wales Millennium Centre, culminating in Christopher Bruce’s amusing Rolling Stones-soundtracked “Rooster”. Also celebratory, although in a more sombre fashion was Kaite O’Reilly’s “The Beauty Parade”, in the W.M.C.’s Weston Studio - an aesthetically ambitious, multi-media tribute to female undercover operatives during World War 2.

 

Sophie Stone in "The Beauty Parade" (photo: Jorge Lizalde)

I also caught two shows in the now-truncated Spring Fringe season at The Other Room: the likeably ramshackle “Back To Berlin”, about the beginning of the end of the Cold War; and Katie Greenall’s “Fatty Fat Fat”, a brave but funny look at body image. There was, in addition, a trip to Newport’s Riverfront to see Operasonic’s enchanting “Vehicles”, a small-scale opera for young people, with a science-fiction twist.

 

"Back To Berlin" (photo: Dali Mia Poulsom)

The big hit of the year, however, was shaping up to be “Tylwyth” at the Sherman, Daf James follow-up to “Llwyth”, his pioneering look at the lives of gay men within a Welsh-speaking environment. I was delighted to note that a familiarity with the first play was unnecessary, and while I didn’t get all of the cultural references, sur-titles meant that most of the wit and darkness came across. Sadly, however, like most cultural life in the U.K. and beyond, the Welsh tour has been postponed.

 

"Tylwyth"

Festive Theatre Round-Up

Through accident or design, the big Christmas show at the Wales Millennium Centre this year is the touring version of West End/Broadway blockbuster “Les Misérables”, which sets the appropriate tone for the festive period. Actually, I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to – the barricade was especially imposing.

"Les Mis" (photo: Helen Maybanks)

A few weeks ago, the season kicked off there with the touring production of “Nativity! The Musical”, Debbie Isitt’s adaptation of her successful film, which was very amusing. The actual Christmas show in the venue’s Weston Studio  is “Red” from Likely Story Theatre – an imaginative, freewheeling, small-scale tale set in the Red Riding Hood universe. The festive show on the Sherman’s main stage  is “The Snow Queen” – as clever and entertaining as is traditional, but it could have done with more magical appearances from the title character.

"The Snow Queen" (photo: Mark Douet)

"Red" (Photo Polly Thomas)

In a non-festive vein, National Theatre Wales collaborated with inclusive theatre company Hijinx for eco-sci-fi extravaganza “Mission Control” at the Principality Stadium: impressive in terms of vision, less so when it came to organisation.

"Mission Control" (photo: Main House)

Last week I attended the latest BBC Writers Room Wales Festival, held at the National Museum. As usual, Russell T Davies was a funny and inspirational speaker; and the evening event involving Rob Brydon and Ruth Jones, and focussing on “Gavin And Stacey” was a joy.

"Hive City Legacy" / "Hela" / National Dance Company Wales

My latest batch of theatre reviews: “Hive City Legacy” at the Wales Millennium Centre – a touring performance piece giving us the rare opportunity to see several “femmes of colour” on stage at the same time in a music/dance extravaganza focussing on issues of identity (which played to a disappointingly small audience on the night I saw it); Mari Izzard’s bilingual psychological thriller “Hela”, the final piece in the dystopian Violence Series at The Other Room; and the latest collection of excellent short pieces presented by National Dance Company Wales under the heading “Roots” at the W.M.C.’s Dance House – as always, it’s good to see them going to the effort of making a sometimes abstruse art-form accessible without dumbing down.

Lowri Izzard and Gwydion Rhys in "Hela" (Photo: Kirsten McTernan)

"On Your Feet" / "Hedda Gabler" / "I Wish I Was A Mountain"

As always, my theatre reviewing “career” has thrown up some fascinating juxtapositions. The day after the touring version of “On Your Feet”, the highly accomplished jukebox musical based on the career of the Miami Sound Machine (who were founded, I hadn’t realised, on the songwriting prowess of lead singer Gloria Estefan), at the Wales MillenniumCentre, I saw the Sherman’s production of Ibsen’s epoch-making “Hedda Gabler”, featuring some slightly odd directorial touches, but also some brilliant performances, especially from the women.

 

Heledd Gwynn as Hedda Gabler (Photo: Mark Douet)

A week or so later came Toby Thompson’s “I Wish I Was A Mountain” at the Centre’s Weston Studio – a show for children with an unusually philosophical bent based, as it is, on a story by Herman Hesse; its several pleasing aspects included the jazz-inflected score.

Toby Thompson (Photo: Jack Offord)

"Once Upon A Time In... Hollywood" / "Annie" / "Club Tropicana"

Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood” is a meticulously assembled love letter to a vintage Hollywood on the brink of change in the late 1960s. It tells the tale of a few days in the real and professional lives of an almost-washed-up action star, Rick Dalton – brilliantly played by Leo DiCaprio - and Cliff Booth, his even more obsolescent stuntman (Brad Pitt), whose lives intersect (eventually) with those of fresh-faced, optimistic Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), and the sinister faux-hippies of Manson family. It is leisurely, almost meditative in tone, at least until the violent, history-rewriting climax. Beautifully done.

Most local theatre-makers appear to have disappeared off to Edinburgh; thus, the only work I’ve got to see in recent weeks are large-scale touring musicals at the Wales Millennium Centre. Most recently was the 1930s-set Broadway classic “Annie”,  which I found quite cheering; a little less so was 1980’s pop-fest “Club Tropicana” – a somewhat more cynical confection.

Craig Revel Horwood in "Annie" (photo: Paul Coltas)

"Kinky Boots" / "Grit"

Still running, as I write, at the Wales Millennium Centre is “Kinky Boots”, the Broadway/West End hit stopping off as part of an extensive U.K tour. This tale of a struggling Northampton shoe-making factory which saves itself by starting to cater to the drag queen market features a dazzling central performance from Kayi Ushe as Lola (aka Simon), and a mercifully non-musical-theatre-esque song score by Cyndi Lauper. And without getting bogged down in debate, Harvey Fierstein’s script provokes discussion about the nature of masculinity.

Kayi Ushe in "Kinky Boots" (Photo: Helen Maybanks)

The night after seeing this, I went to a preview of a show at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of scale – a one-man play on a post-apocalyptic theme, which is being taken to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe by the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. “Grit”, written and performed by Benjamin McCann, is a highly accomplished production – it will be interesting to see how the Edinburgh run goes.