"Mr Turner" / Project Fio

It’s not often that I’m the youngest person in a cinema, but if the audience for the screening of Mike Leigh’s latest offering was anything to go by (lunchtime on a Cineworld Bargain Tuesday), “Mr Turner” looks like being a big hit with the third-ager audience. I’ve reviewed the film more fully elsewhere, but suffice to say that Timothy Spall gives the performance of a lifetime in this grittily picturesque depiction of the last 25 years or so in the life of painter J. M. W. Turner, arguably the principal progenitor of Impressionism. Earthy both tonally and visually, this is a major achievement which really needs to be experienced on the big screen.

Sunday evening saw the culmination of the 2014 incarnation of Project Fio, the youth theatre project on which I did some work experience during the summer; a multi-cultural group of young Cardiff residents putting together a piece under the leadership of Abdul Shayek of Youth Of Creative Arts. Performed in the Weston Studio at the Wales Millennium Centre, and entitled “Life Support”, its aim was to dramatise our use of social media via vignettes, movement and poetry, exploring the question of whether our addiction to mobile technology enhances or impedes connection with the real world. There were inevitable technical issues given the time constraints involved in putting it together, but the show was cleverly conceived, and very confidently performed. 

"Roberto Zucco" / "Boyhood"

My most recent British Theatre Guide reviewing assignment was at Chapter - August 012’s production of Bernard-Marie Koltès’ “Roberto Zucco”. It’s a fine production, director Mathilde Lopez highly inventive as usual; although the audience is complicit in being amused by the antics of a real-life murderer, which is slightly problematic.

Yesterday I caught the latest film by Richard Linklater – “Boyhood”, the story of whose production is almost as fascinating as the move itself. Telling the story of a family’s life over twelve years, it manages to be deeply moving, despite nothing particularly out-of-the-ordinary happening. Ellar Coltrane impresses as the central protagonist, as do Patricia Arquette and especially Ethan Hawke as his divorced parents (fuller review here).  

The intervening weekend saw me taking the first steps in training to become a participatory arts facilitator with YOCA. This included a trip to the premises of Volcano Theatre in Swansea, to take part in singing and circus-skills workshops. Hopefully the beginning of an interesting journey.

"Telly Hunnies"

Flash fiction, available to read on Readwave. May contain nudity.

"Parallel Lines" / "The Incident"

My latest theatre visit, on behalf of the British Theatre Guide, was to see Katherine Chandler’s “Parallel Lines” at Chapter, the script of which won the 2012 Wales Drama Award (indeed, the press night coincided with the announcement that she’d received a runners-up award for another play from the judges of the Bruntwood Prize). An impressively angry, funny and poignant piece, about young people being severely let down by their elders.

In an attempt at flash fiction, I wrote an 800 word short story entitled “The Incident”, and posted it on the Readwave website, just to see if anybody would read and comment on it. So far, so good.