"Miramar" / "The Winter's Tale" / Pitch Radio

My most recent assignment for the British Theatre Guide was Taking Flight Theatre’s annual outdoor touring Shakespeare production, in Thompson’s Park, Cardiff. This was of “The Winter’s Tale” (and yes, I had to do research beforehand), and they certainly embraced the piece’s absurd plot elements (“Exit, pursued by a bear” and all).

"The Winter's Tale" - Taking Flight Theatre

Prior to that, was the first production from Triongl, a company comprising three actresses: – “Miramar”, a tragi-comedy about home and the threat of homelessness, starring Valmai Jones as an elderly widow who finds herself in deep trouble following the death of her husband. Funny and worrisome.

In other news, the short play I wrote for Radio Cardiff's Pitch Slot, inspired by the legend of the C.I.A.s attempt to co-opt abstract expressionism into the Cold War, and produced by local performance art luminaries Good Cop Bad Cop is now available to hear online.

Pitch 3 Radio commissions - untitled no 76 by Othniel Smith from richard huw morgan on Vimeo.

"In Time O' Strife" / "Roathbud" etc.

Obviously, the cultural highlight of the past few weeks, and possibly the year, has to be the Johnny Marr gig. But The Cardiff Contemporary art festival (of which my “Inside The Poetry Storehouse” film was a small part), has also been enlivening the city – the excellent John Peel portrait below is part of the co-incident Empty Walls project.

The Made In Roath Festival has been happening, too. I went to the now-annual Roathbud screening at The Globe, which was the usual entertaining mixed bag, including some amusing mini-shorts from comedian Marek Larwood, some likeable no-budget local documentaries, a two-hander starring Boyd Clack and Rhodri Hugh, and a screening of Ryan Andrews’ star-studded “Little Munchkin” (2011). And the allied Cardiff Open exhibition has  been taking place at the former Blockbuster Video store on Albany Road – full of good stuff.

My most recent British Theatre Guide reviewing assignment was National Theatre of Scotland’s revival of Joe Corrie’s miner’s strike drama from the late 1920s “In Time O’ Strife” at Sherman Cymru – enlivened by punk-folk music and angry dancing, but still somewhat downbeat, given the unhappy ending.

I’ve had a go at compiling three recent short plays – including my “Dirty, Gifted and Welsh” piece into a Kindle download. This is the trailer:

"Untitled No. 76"

A few months ago, performance art duo Good Cop Bad Cop, in their guise as producers/presenters of the arts-themed show “Pitch” on Radio Cardiff, put out a call for proposals for projects to be broadcast as part of their programme. Called “Pitch To The Power Of Three”, it would consist of twelve three-minute pieces, either plays, monologues, or poetry readings. I put in a proposal for a three-character drama with an “art” theme and happily, it was accepted.

Thus, this week, my play “Untitled No. 76” was broadcast, and is now archived on the Culture Colony website (about 21 minutes into the podcast). Set in a painter’s studio in New York in around 1951, it was inspired by the news story which emerged some years ago that at the beginning of the Cold War, the C.I.A. attempted to enlist abstract expressionism in the propaganda war against the Soviet Union.

Produced and directed by the Pitch team, it features Holly Davies, Steven Elliot and Richard Mitchley. And since it was supported with funding from Arts Council Wales, everyone got paid, which was nice. 

"Pitch" on Radio Cardiff / Haiku

I was delighted to learn this week that I’m one of about a dozen writers/writing teams whose proposal to come up with a three-minute piece for the excellent “Pitch” slot on Radio Cardiff (run by performing duo Good Cop Bad Cop) has been successful. The projects, some poetry, some prose, some plays, will be broadcast early in 2014. Mine will be a drama on the subject of “art”. I’m working on it right now.

Recently, I took part in my first Vimeo Weekend Challenge, attempting to create a 17-second haiku film. A useful exercise.

Heart (Haiku) from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.