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"

"Llyrf Glas Nebo" / "Winners"

After the traditional January drought, two theatre review assignments came up in close succession. First up was Manon Steffan Ros’ adaptation of her best-selling Y.A. novel “Llyfr Glas Nebo” (“The Blue Book Of Nebo”), a post-apocalyptic tale set in North Wales and presented in Welsh with (on the night I attended) English sur-titles; a touching portrayal of a mother-son relationship under impossible conditions. The next evening, also in the Sherman Theatre, but in the studio space, was the latest in their irregular “Get It While It’s Hot” series of “A Play, A Pie and A Pint”-style presentations:– Lowri Jenkins' “Winners”, about a relationship defined by the love of rugby; funny and poignant.

Incidentally, it was good to see the Sherman foyer abuzz, with two plays on at the same time – a rare occurrence in recent years.

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.

"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)

"On Bear Ridge" / "American Nightmare" / "Say When" / "The Creature"

Cardiff’s August theatre drought (Edinburgh Festival-related) came to an end with the launch of the autumn season at The Other Room – The Violence Series starting with Matthew Bulgo’s “American Nightmare” (an expanded version of a play I worked on at the venue’s Young Artists’ Festival a couple of years ago); a futuristic vision of war and technology. There was also Robert Bowman’s “Say When”, a solo piece about male body-image/weight issues and their relationship to environmental concerns. Equally in tune with straight-from-the-headlines concerns, but rather more elliptically, is Lucy Gough’s “The Creature”, a take on extreme youth criminality told through the prism of “Frankenstein”.

"American Nightmare" (photo: Kirsten McTernan)

The undoubted highlight, though, and the nation’s most high profile production for a while has to be Ed Thomas’ “On Bear Ridge”, from National Theatre Wales and The Royal Court Theatre, featuring Rhys Ifans’ first ever appearance on the main stage at the Sherman Theatre – more war and dystopia, but with a distinctive and surreal rural Welsh accent. One waits, agog, to see what the London audience will make of it.

"On Bear Ridge" (photo: Mark Douet)

"Cotton Fingers" / "Twelve Cabins..."

In the past couple of years, National Theatre Wales has received some criticism for their apparent reluctance to stage actual plays in actual theatres, as well as for a perception that they weren’t doing enough with the public money with which they have been entrusted. Thus, it was good to be part of a full house in the Arena at the Sherman, to see Rachel Trezise’s “Cotton Fingers”, a monologue first performed over three nights last year in West Wales as part of the company’s celebration of 70 years of the National Health Service. In it, Amy Molloy engagingly plays a young woman from West Belfast, forced to travel to Wales for the termination of an unwanted pregnancy. A much-needed reminder of continuing struggles.

 

Amy Molloy (photo: Craig Fuller)

Most recently, at Chapter, I saw “Twelve Cabins Twelve Vacancies”, a show spinning off from the fact that director/performer Chris Durnall’s father died on the same night that Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” premiered on U.K television (in 1968), and the effect that this connection may have consciously or sub-consciously had on his subsequent life. Intriguing, especially for film nerds.

"Lose Yourself" / "Robinson" / Jonny Cotsen

The theatrical hit of the moment, in these parts, seems to be Katherine Chandler’s “Lose Yourself” at the Sherman Theatre – a tale involving sexually promiscuous footballers and drunk young women, which transcends its torn-from-the-headlines relevance via a witty script and a spirited central performance.

"Lose Yourself) (Photo: Burning Red)

Also, in recent weeks, I saw “Robinson – The Other Island”, a radical reinterpretation of the Crusoe story, given an A.S.M.R. twist using binaural stereo relayed through headphones. Ironically, the very next night, also at Chapter, I finally managed to catch Jonny Cotsen’s “Louder Is Not Always Clearer”, in which he explores his experience as a Deaf man; again, more amusing than one might have expected.

"Louder Is Not Always Clearer" (Photo: Kirstem McTernan)

"Calendar Girls" / "Crave" / David Nash etc

The latest big touring show that I’ve been able to see at the Wales Millennium Centre was the musical adaptation of nude-posing-housewives comedy-drama “Calendar Girls” featuring a starry cast and not-quite-stellar tunes from Take That’s Gary Barlow. Suitably amusing and moving, it went down very well with the overwhelmingly female audience.

Also on were two largely devised pieces: “Shooting Rabbits” from Powderhouse at the Sherman was a vaguely hallucinogenic depiction of the experience of Welshmen volunteering to fight in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, featuring an excellent live score from Sam Humphreys; and “When It Clicks”, from graduate company Golden Sock in the basement of Little Man Coffee Company – a well-acted but dramatically unsatisfying take on Stockholm Syndrome.

The undoubted highlight of the week was Sarah Kane’s “Crave”, produced under the Professional Pathways scheme at The Other Room, and featuring a talented cast of drama students. The play has no real narrative, and it’s a deeply pessimistic insight into its unhappy author’s frame of mind, but it’s a powerfully cathartic experience, akin to listening to a suite of sad songs (R.I.P. Scott Walker).

"Crave" Poster

And only today, I went to the recently opened and impressively extensive exhibition of largely tree-based sculptures by legendary North Wales-based artist David Nash at the National Museum of Wales. A beautiful evocation of the possibilities which open up when Man develops a creative rather than destructive relationship with the natural world. And it even has a wholesome odour about it.

Roberto Devereux / Awakening / Peeling / The Full Monty / Shrew etc

There’s nothing like a spot of variety. On successive evenings at the end of February I watched a one-man play recreating a fictional kids TV show, a traditional 19^th century opera given a steam-punk visual flourish, and a trilogy of contemporary dance pieces, one involving spectacular mirror-based illusionism.

Justin Teddy Cliffe’s “Tigerface” – a piece about the importance of not letting go of your childhood dreams - was part of the Spring Fringe season at The Other Room, in which the very clever “Bummer And Lazarus”, a kind of canine take on “Waiting For Godot”, also featured.

Joyce El-Khoury (photo: Bill Cooper)

The opera was Donizetti’s “Roberto Devereux” from Welsh National Opera; a piece with which I was previously unfamiliar. This is his take on the story of Queen Elizabeth 1^st and the Earl of Essex, and featured a remarkably intense lead performance from Joyce El-Khoury as the vengeful monarch. In contrast, a couple of weeks later, again in the Wales Millennium Centre, came the touring version of “The Full Monty”, which was probably a closer adaptation of the angry “steelworkers turned male strippers” film than the largely female audience was expecting.

"Afterimage" (photo: Rhys Cozens)

The dance show was “Awakening” from National Dance Company Wales, comprising their now-classic “Tundra”, alongside the magical “Afterimage”, and Caroline Finn’s pagan-ritual-influenced “Reveller’s Mass”. This was in the Newport Riverfront, where the following week I saw Taking Flight’s revival of Kaite O’Reilly’s “Peeling”, about three actresses with disabilities reflecting on tokenism and much else.

"The Taming Of The Shrew" (photo: Mark Douet)

In addition to this was the Sherman’s “The Taming Of The Shrew”, which was free-wheeling fun featuring a strong largely female cast, although Jo Clifford’s gender-swapping Shakespeare rewrite didn’t really solve the problems of the play’s inherent sexism; and Meltem Arikan’s “Y Brain/Kargalar”, a lyrical two-hander in Welsh and Turkish about memory, exile and reinvention.

Then there was the Creative Conversation, hosted by National Theatre Wales, a day-long “Devoted and Disgruntled” discussion event, which was meant to be about the future of Welsh theatre in general rather than criticisms of the company; although a few inevitably surfaced. Still, it was good to be in a room with lots of people who love the art form.

"tick, tick... BOOM!" / Stammermouth / "See-Through" / Hijinx

I was lucky enough to pay my first ever visit to the Valleys town of Newbridge, a week or so ago, to see the inaugural production from a new company, Yes Please :– Jonathan “Rent” Larson’s small-scale rock musical “tick… tick… BOOM!” – an excellent trio of performances, even if the source material was a tad irritating in that neurotically complacent “off-Broadway musical” way.

There were also two visits to The Other Room, for their Spring Fringe season of off-beat visiting works – Stammermouth’s “Just A Few Words”, which has a personal resonance for me; and Claire Gaydon’s YouTube tragi-comedy, “See-Through” – both deceptively clever.

 

Stammermouth (photo: Holly Cade)

Not to mention the latest from Hijinx at the Sherman, in collaboration with Teatro La Ribalta and Frantic Assembly: “Into The Light” - a highly imaginative physical theatre piece in which performers both with and without learning disabilities explored the hunger to perform.

"Into The Light" (Hijinx)

October 2018 etc

Again, much theatre-going in the past few weeks – largely themed around female talent, as it happened. There was Alan Harris’ “This Incredible Life” at Chapter, starring Welsh legend Sharon Morgan as a feisty former journalist afflicted by dementia; two touring productions at The Other Room – Isley Lynn’s startlingly frank, vaginismus-oriented “Skin A Cat”, and “Lands”, from Antler Theatre, a friendship-themed comedy-drama with a clever trampoline motif; “Street” and “Izzy’s Manifestos” a double-bill of monologues by Susan Monkton and Kevin Jones at A.J.’s Coffee House; and, on a somewhat more epic scale, the all-female version Nigel Williams’ adaptation of William Golding’s “Lord Of The Flies” at the Sherman.

"Lord Of The Flies" (photo: Sam Taylor)

Added to this, there was Alun Saunders’ “Tuck”, a musical drama about mental health issues amongst the drag-queen community, which kicked off the latest Performances For The Curious season at the Wales Millennium Centre; plus, again at the The Other Room another Kevin Jones play, the darkly nostalgic (well, 1990s) “Cardiff Boy”, which is turning out to be one of the most-praised productions of the year. Then there was National Dance Company Wales’ “Roots” at the W.M.C.’s Dance House – three short pieces intended to provide a painless introduction to contemporary ballet.

"Cardiff Boy" (photo: Kirsten McTernan)

The biennial Artes Mundi Prize has returned to the National Museum of Wales. This time round, it comprises two video installations (Bouchra Khalili’s take on Jean Genet’s supportive visit to see the Black Panthers in 1970; a fairly static piece by Apichatpong Weerasethakul; two 3D installations (Anna Boghiguian’s reflections on the steel industry; a tapestry twinned with a circular metal construction from Otobong Nkanga), and what I found the most immediately appealing exhibit – Trevor Paglen’s photography which finds ironic beauty in defence/aerospace technology.

The Made in Roath Festival was also taking place – I was lucky enough to be part of a well-attended Roathbud screening of short films, with “The Good Girl”.

"The Good Girl" by Lucy Logsdon from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.

There have also been a couple of visits to the cinema. I was impressed and moved by the latest remake of “A Star Is Born”, Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut (he also co-wrote the screenplay and some of the songs, and stars, of course). The style is quite cine-verité, and he and Lady Gaga are both highly convincing as Jackson, the alcoholic country-rock star on the skids, and Ally, the struggling, insecure club singer with whom he hooks up. There are some excellent supporting turns, especially from Sam Elliot as Jackson’s much older half-brother. The musical performances are believable as well, with Jackson’s rootsy “authenticity” cleverly contrasted with Ally’s shift from earnestness into choreographed commercial pop. Inevitably, there are few surprises in terms of narrative, but it still hits home, emotionally.

I also went to see Steve McQueen’s “Widows”, his adaptation of the 1980s’ TV series which I never saw) about the wives of slain robbers carrying out a heist. Stylishly done, if a little slow to begin with, with a script which deftly (but unsubtly) links organised crime with urban power politics. Some excellent performances, too, led by powerhouse Viola Davis, but with Elizabeth Debicki luminous as an abused woman finally finding herself, and Daniel Kaluuya as an extremely unpleasant bad guy.

"Ghost Stories" / "Sirens" / "Tremor"

I didn’t get to see the acclaimed stage production of Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman’s “Ghost Stories”, but reports were that it combined elements of their excellent other work (“The League Of Gentlemen”, Derren Brown) to satisfyingly chilling effect. The film adaptation is perhaps less successful, since the kind of scares which are thrillingly rare on-stage are commonplace in the cinema. The plot sees Nyman’s professional debunker of psychic phenomena challenged to investigate three inexplicable spooky events, giving it a “Dead Of Night”-style portmanteau structure. The acting (Nyman, Marin Freeman, Paul Whitehouse, Alex Lawther) is impeccable, and the visuals are highly atmospheric; but the whole thing is rather slow, and the thinness of the individual plot-lines sets us up for a denouement which is somewhat predictable. Still, it’s more than scary enough to deter night-time viewings.

I attended “Sirens”, one of the events in the Performances For The Curious season at the Wales Millennium Centre. This was a presentation, by Leeway Productions, of new songs developed with participants in their “10-Minute Musicals” scheme, as well as through a recent song-writing workshop with Amy Wadge. Working with a broadly female-positive theme, the songwriters, most of whom also performed, were a varied bunch (e.g. actor Huw Blainey, hip-hop performance poet Rufus Mufasa, 14 year-old Myah Freeman, Elis Walker from the band Mellt), the material ranging from the heartfelt to the humorous; an entertaining and heartening 90 minutes or so.

 

"Tremor" (photo: Mark Douet)

My latest theatre reviewing assignment was Brad Birch’s “Tremor” at the Sherman – about a former couple interrogating the implications of a traumatic incident in their shared past. Well performed, but perhaps not entirely successful in its attempts to drag contemporary politics into a relationship drama.

"Cannonballista" / "Richard III Redux"

My most recent reviewing assignments have been two contrasting one-woman shows. The first, “Cannonballista” at the Sherman, from Bristol-based performer Liz Clarke sees her creating a flamboyant, burlesque-style alter-ego to aid in creativity and facing the world – obviously, an age-old idea, but executed with great charm.

Cannonballista (Photo: Paul Blakemore)

And then came “richard III redux OR ‘Sara Beer (is/not) richard III’” at Chapter, an inventive deconstruction of depictions of Shakespeare’s fictionalised villain, put together by Beer and Kaite O’Reilly, from the starting point that the actress is affected by the same curvature of the spine as the historic Richard Plantagenet – funny, informative and a powerful statement about inclusivity (although Antony Sher gets a bit of a kicking).

Sara Beer (Photo: Panoptic Photography)

Fio Declaration / "Black Panther"

I’ve spent the past couple of weeks working on a project with Fio, entitled “Declaration” – aimed at helping to increase diversity in Welsh theatre. Aside from being given some personal voice coaching from legendary actress Cathy Tyson, the highlight was the final evening, where three short plays by B.A.M.E. writers were presented at the Sherman Theatre, one written by actor Connor Allen and directed by me. My experience is detailed more fully in a piece I wrote for Arts Scene In Wales, but basically, it was valuable, enjoyable and occasionally highly stressful.

Despite my growing aversion to superhero films, I went to see Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther”, conscious of its being a cultural landmark, as a mainstream Hollywood film with a mostly black cast, and a focus on Afro-centrism. Basically the tale of the struggle for control over vibranium, an alien element which has made the small African kingdom of Wakanda secretly potent, its massive success is a testament to how much its message of brotherhood and empowerment was needed. The cast is remarkable, and apart from the “Yonder lies the castle of my father” tone to some of the dialogue, it is very well executed. Unfortunately, I’m pretty much immune to the fast-moving CGI slickness which is an essential component of the popular appeal of films from the Marvel universe. Thus, while I wholeheartedly applaud the achievement, I have to confess that it didn’t grab me emotionally.

"Terra Firma" / "A Number" / "Woman Of Flowers" / "The Commuter" / "The Shape Of Water"

My first reviewing assignment of the year was National Dance Theatre Wales three-part “Terra Firma” at the Sherman – a welcome chance to see two pieces I’ve seen before – “Folk” and the beautiful “Tundra”, alongside the recently-developed “Atalay”. Obviously, I’m no expert in dance, but there’s plenty there, in terms of grace and skill to delight the non-aficionado.

My second was the first in the new season at The Other Room – Caryl Churchill’s “A Number”, in which a father encounters cloned versions of his adult son. A very clever and involving two-hander, handled with great assurance.

And most recently, there was Theatr Pena’s “Woman of Flowers” at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama – Sion Eirian’s take on Saunders Lewis’ adaptation of the story of Blodeuwedd, from the Mabinogion – a rare chance to see some pleasingly weird classical Welsh theatre in English.

Sara Gregory in "Woman Of Flowers" (photo: Holly McCarthy)

I wouldn’t normally have gone to see a Liam Neeson action feature in the cinema, but “The Commuter” is notable for featuring my niece, Ella-Rae Smith, in what turns out (spoiler alert) to be an important role. The story of a recently unemployed salesman (and former cop) who is bribed/blackmailed by criminals to track down an associate on a commuter train, it’s very slickly directed by Jaume Collet-Serra; and Neeson is more charming than he’s allowed to be in his “Taken” guise. And, of course, Ella is excellent.

 “The Shape of Water”, Guillermo del Toro’s latest film is a fable of connection and outsiderdom, featuring a magical lead performance from Sally Hawkins. She plays Elisa, a mute cleaner, in a U.S. government facility in 1960s Baltimore, who becomes entranced by a new acquisition – a sea-creature captured in South America, the study of whose biology would impact on Man’s ability to breathe in space. The period detail is impeccable, as are the performances – Michael Shannon as the saturnine bad guy, Richard Jenkins as Elisa’s gentle, gay neighbour, and Octavia Spencer as her feisty friend and work-colleague.  It doesn’t break any new ground thematically, but it tells an age-old story with great style and sensitivity, and is well deserving of all the awards and nominations which are coming its way.

"The Disaster Artist" / "Wind In The Willows" / Flossy & Boo / "Cut & Run" / "The Chimes"

Like most people, I guess, I haven’t seen Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room” in its entirely, the clips that are available on Youtube having done enough to ensure me that it truly is one of the most inept films ever released. I was heartened, then, to see that “The Disaster Artist”, James Franco’s lightly fictionalised documentation of its production, is funny in a warm and sympathetic rather than a derisive way. The chemistry between him as Wiseau and Dave Franco as co-conspirator Greg Sestero is palpable (they are brothers, after all), and the portrait of obsessive ambition steaming ahead despite deficiencies in terms of talent is all too easy to relate to. A highlight in a year of strong, diverse films.

"The Disaster Artist"

Theatre experiences lately have included “Unspoken”, a double bill of mental illness-themed plays from Eno Theatre at the University of South Wales, and a number of festive offerings: The Sherman’s main stage production of “Wind In The Willows”, which was great fun; my first experience of local surreal comedy duo Flossy and Boo in their “Alternativity” at The Other Room; and Charles Dickens’ “The Chimes” – an adaptation of one of his Christmas novels, taking place in St John’s Church near Chapter, and featuring people who have experience of homelessness amongst the ensemble – highly effective, if a little unsubtle in terms of spoon-feeding contemporary relevance.

Flossy & Boo (photo: Llyr Attala)

And most recently, at Chapter, there was a Dirty Protest development (i.e. script-in-hand) performance of Branwen Davies “Cut And Run”, starring Catrin Stewart. Given that it’s the tale of a Welsh Londoner returning to spend the festive period at home, it could almost be a companion-piece to their previous success, Matthew Bulgo’s “Last Christmas”. The similarities end here, however; it is very much a woman’s story. There is dark humour and poignancy in equal measure; and its prospects should benefit from the fact that the narrative leaves Wales and Christmas far behind.

"The Cherry Orchard" / "Little Wolf" / "Of Mice And Men" / "P.A.R.A.D.E."

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, theatre-going-wise; headlined by three notable adaptations of extant pieces.

Simon Harris and his Lucid Theatre Company presented “Little Wolf” at Chapter, his take on Ibsen’s “Little Eyolf” – as stylish as a tale of parental loss can be. Also there was August 012’s minimalist version of Steinbeck’s “Of Mice And Men” – typically oddball and adventurous from director Mathilde Lopez.

"Of Mice And Men" (photo: Jorge Lizalde)

"Little Wolf" (photo: Jorge Lizalde)

The highlight, though has to be Gary Owen’s updating of Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard”, set in Pembrokeshire on the brink of the Thatcher “revolution”. Playing in the main auditorium at the Sherman Theatre, and having extended its run even before it opened, it’s slickly done, and both funny and moving.

"The Cherry Orchard" (photo: Mark Douet)

And then there was “My Name Is Rachel Corrie”, from Graphic at The Other Room – a very well acted revival of Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner’s love letter to a martyred student activist.

"My Name Is Rachel Corrie" (photo: Kieran Cudlip)

Not to mention the most high-profile and large scale event of all – “P.A.R.A.D.E.” from the National Dance Company of Wales at the Wales Millennium Centre – conformity-themed dance pieces by Caroline Finn and Marcos Morau preceded by a spectacular revolution-oriented outdoor event featuring a robot walking down the side of the building. Impressive, if ultimately unclear in its intentions.

"P.A.R.A.D.E." (photo: Mark Douet)

There was also the local Made In Roath festival, where, as well as seeing a rehearsed reading of “Little N”, a tender tale of aunt-hood from Kelly Jones, I presented something of my own – a video installation comprising my film “In Limbo”, the aria I wrote with Carlijn Metselaar, and a new film of Edwin Markham’s poem “Brotherhood”.

I also had a couple of short plays performed last week. Firstly, I took part in the Scriptdawg event at the University of South Wales’ Atrium, where I wrote a short relationship comedy over a couple of days to be presented and appraised. Then, most recently, a piece I’d submitted to a “Seen” event at The Other Room was read, along with work by Catherine Lucie and Annie Thomas. This was “The Actress”, part of a mini-trilogy I’ve been working on, which was performed by Caroline Berry. There was enough positive audience reaction to give me confidence in a female-centred script which contains both comic and potentially difficult elements; and some pleasing post-show feedback.

"How My Light Is Spent" / "Last Days Of Judas Iscariot" / "Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol, 2"

A recent reviewing assignment was “How My Light Is Spent” the latest play by Alan Harris, and one of the winners of the Bruntwood Prize in 2015. It is the Newport-set tale of the developing relationship between a recently unemployed man, played by Rhodri Meilir, who feels that he is literally disappearing, and Alexandria Riley’s phone-sex worker, who is also floundering. Both actors also take on the roles of other, equally lost supporting characters, in this funny and poignant piece. Another co-producing triumph for the Sherman Theatre.

"How My Light Is Spent" (photo: Jonathan Keenan)

Most recently, I had the chance to review one of the end-of-year productions from the Richard Burton Company at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama – “Last Days Of Judas Iscariot” by New York playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis. Given the size of the cast, and the combination of a serious religious theme and a profanely comic tone, it hasn’t been professionally produced as often as it might have, so I was grateful for the opportunity to see it. Doubtless amongst the excellent company there were actors I will one day boast about having in the same room as.

I only went to see the first “Guardians Of The Galaxy” film some weeks into its cinema release, struck by its surprise success, and found it charming, if nonsensical. The second film in James Gunn’s series makes even less sense, involving as it does, Kurt Russell turning up as Chris Pratt’s alien father, who is actually a planet (or something), and Pratt’s gang of misfits being chased across the universe by a gold-painted Elisabeth Debicki after stealing some batteries. It was good to see a beefed up role for Karen Gillan, however, as Zoe Saldana’s understandably bitter sister; and the whole thing is colourfully entertaining, and full of Python-esque self-undercutting humour.

"twenty16" / "My Country; a work in progress"

By some strange coincidence, the last two plays I’ve been to review are both self-proclaimed “state of the nation” pieces.

First, there was “twenty-16”, at Chapter, in which a number of young people from Ystradgynlais, guided by professional theatre-makers, presented a performance which looked at how they saw both their lives and the world as a whole, from the vantage-point of being sixteen years old. Very entertaining and moving, and quite heartening.

At the other end of the scale, in terms of international prestige, was the touring production of “My Country; a work in progress”, at the Sherman; the National Theatre’s response to the U.K.’s vote to leave the E.U., developed by listening to voters and asking Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy to shape their interview responses into a narrative. Not nearly as dry as one might have expected, and full of celebratory moments, but every bit as incoherent (perhaps intentionally) as the actual public debate involving actual politicians.

 

"My Country..." (Photo: Sarah Lee)

BBC Writers Festival 2017 / "Killology"

Last week, I was one of the many hopefuls who attended the first Welsh Writers Festival, at Cardiff’s Chapter Arts Centre. It was the official launch of the BBC Writersroom in Wales, and as well as free food and drink, there were sessions aimed at writers who are interesting in working in areas such as childrens’ TV, radio, and comedy-drama. For me, though, the highlight was the appearance of Cardiff-born Andrew Davies, author of many notable TV adaptations (“Pride and Prejudice”, “War And Peace”, “House Of Cards” etc), who provided several useful tips, quips and snippets. I was fortunate enough to be asked to blog about it on the BBC website, where I provided a fuller summary of the event, but I think it’s fair to say it was an enjoyable day, with optimism in the air.

My latest reviewing assignment for the British Theatre Guide was Gary Owen’s “Killology”, playing at the Sherman Theatre, prior to moving on to the co-producing venue, London’s Royal Court Theatre. Given an ominously bleak staging, it takes as its starting point the idea of violent video games influencing behaviour, and turns into an emotionally resonant mediation on fatherhood. Possibly his best yet.

"Killology" (photo: Mark Douet)