"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.

Wales Theatre Awards 2017 / Video Portfolio

I attended the Wales Theatre Awards last weekend - held, for the first time, at the Taliesin Theatre on the campus of Swansea University - and wrote it up for the British Theatre Guide. As ever, it was a lively and well-attended event with a celebratory mood in the auditorium, and a wide range of work highlighted across all the genres. Personally, I was pleased to see Cardiff's The Other Room get four awards, and Hijinx win Best Ensemble for "Meet Fred". And the Special Achievement Award went to legendary Welsh tenor Dennis O'Neill, who seemed suitably surprised and delighted.

"Meet Fred" (Hijinx)

Prior to that, I took a useful Cult Cymru training workshop in the use of Wordpress, which enabled me to create a video portfolio page to showcase my short films. Jolly fun.

"The Martian" / Made In Roath 2015

During a scientific mission on Mars, astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after an explosion. Left behind by his crewmates, he faces a struggle, not only to survive, but also to alert his bosses on Earth as to his plight; and even if he were to succeed, any successful rescue would take years…

“The Martian” is Sir Ridley Scott’s most satisfying film in quite some time, possibly since “Gladiator”. Matt Damon’s irreverent, resourceful hero is supported by an excellent cast, including Jessica Chastain as his ship’s commander, Jeff Daniels as the careworn head of NASA, Kristen Wiig as a PR chief, Donald Glover and McKenzie Davis as minor but crucially important nerds, and a number of Brits – Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean, Benedict Wong - in pivotal roles. As might be expected from the director of “Blade Runner”, the visuals are breath-taking; but there is also much humour, the 1970s disco soundtrack underlining Watney’s determination to remain upbeat.

Written by Drew Goddard, based on a novel by Andrew Weir, and set only a little way into the future, the science is on a believably human level – no chatty computers, no magical food-generating machines, no instant transportation through wormholes, etc. This is a tale of human courage, ingenuity and co-operation. In fact, in a genre which thrives on dystopianism, “The Martian” is hearteningly positive and optimistic. I almost wish I’d paid the extra to see it in 3D.

This past week saw Cardiff’s boutique Made In Roath Arts Festival, with artists’ open houses, pub theatre, music, photography etc.  I managed to contribute this year, with a purpose-made video inspired by “The Book Of American Negro Poetry” (ed. James Weldon Johnson, 1922), shown in the garden of vegetarian bar/restaurant Milgi.

The Aframerican Poet from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.

Classic Poetry Cinema

"Reasons To Be Thankful"

Reasons To Be Thankful from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.

I took advantage of the Vimeo Weekend Challenge entitled "Thankful List" to make this minute-long tribute to... good things, generally.

Artes Mundi 2014

I paid my regular (i.e. every two years) visit to the 2014 Artes Mundi exhibit – or, at least, those elements of it which are currently housed at Cardiff’s excellent National Museum of Wales. As usual, it’s a disorienting experience.

On entering the space, one’s first experience is of Theaster Gates’ multimedia display, comprising a big-screen amateur gospel video and various iconic objects – notably a stuffed goat on a railroad track; it appears to be a celebration of marginalised aspects of African-American culture. Carlos Bunga’s piece consists largely of a set of large columns, defining a space throughout which other elements are dotted – most interestingly a hypnotic video showing a light-bulb being smashed and inexpertly reassembled. Renzo Marten’s room is dominated by confrontational self-portrait sculptures of Congolese plantation workers, rendered in chocolate (I overheard an attendant remarking on their propensity to melt). I hesitated to enter Renata Lucas’ exhibit, since it looked as though it was still under construction; what it is, though, is a room full of hinged wooden pallets, which one is free to walk through and rearrange – thus defining one’s own experience of the gallery space, I guess. And I’ve seen Omer Fast’s military-themed video-work before, at the Tate Modern – his piece here is a slick, surreal film about parents mourning their soldier son; from the fraction of the 40-minute piece which I caught it seemed to be full of striking moments.

Fascinating, as ever, and far more imposing and thought-provoking than any verbal description can convey. As is another current exhibition there, of worrisome official prints from World War One.

Meanwhile, this piece of video flash-fiction is entirely irrelevant to all that, other than in the obvious fact that experiencing stimulating art-works does inspire one to create.

Ideal - a short story from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.

"Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco" / "Wendy Hoose"

I could have sworn I’d once attended a rehearsed reading of Gary Owen’s first play “Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco”, but a few minutes into Waking Exploits’ revival of it at Chapter, the first in Wales, I realised that it was entirely unfamiliar to me. The vividness of the writing earned glowing critiques back in 2001, and the inventive direction and acute characterisations in this production, which I reviewed for the British Theatre Guide, ensured that it remains a powerful, disturbing piece about too-easily recognisable lives.

My other recent theatre-reviewing visit was to Sherman Cymru to see Scottish play “Wendy Hoose”. It was sold as a sex comedy “with a difference”, although the merest glance at the publicity material made it clear that a central theme was disability. Very funny, too, with engaging performances, although at least one person I’ve spoken to since has suggested that the writers were possibly trying too hard to be un-PC in their treatment of the issue.

In other news, my training to become a community arts facilitator has continued; and my film of Bill Yarrow’s poem “Florid Psychosis” has been accepted into the Visible Verse Festival in Vancouver, Canada – something of an achievement when one assesses the pedigree of the other pieces.

"Florid Psychosis" by Bill Yarrow from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.

"Two Faint Lines In The Violet" - by Lissa Kiernan

I was delighted to discover recently that American poet Lissa Kiernan had used the short mashup film I'd made of her poem "Census" - as discovered in The Poetry Storehouse - as part of the on-line publicity campaign for her book "Two Faint Lines In The Violet" (the full story is outlined on the Moving Poems website).


"Census" - by Lissa Kiernan from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.

One hopes that others will follow her lead.

Colony 14 / O4W / YOCA

I was delighted to learn that my short film, “The Want Of Intimacy” is being included in a proper, grown-up art exhibition, as part of Colony 14, in Cardigan, West Wales in late August.

Meanwhile, more details of Outcasting’s Fourth Wall (O4W) exhibition of artists’ films, which will include some of my Poetry Storehouse videos, have been announced: they will be showing at various venues in Cardiff starting late in September.

Added to this, I recently learned that a script of mine, entitled “Rump”, reached the final stage (the top 1%) in the most recent BBC Writersroom call-out, Script Room 5. Which means absolutely nothing in terms of it ever getting produced, but it a little validation is always welcome.

Meanwhile, I’ve just started training as a participatory arts facilitator, with Youth Of Creative Arts (last week I attended a sobering but entertaining workshop on child protection issues in TV, film and theatre), and will be helping with Project Fio, assisting a group of young people in creating a new piece of work for public performance. One hopes it will only be moderately traumatic for all concerned.

Tate Modern / Video Art etc

As usual, when I pay my biennial visits to the Tate Modern, works leap out which hadn't made an impression before. This time round, on my birthday outing, I was struck by the unearthly beauty of Meredith Frampton's 1928 portrait of professional model Marguerite Kelsey:

The colorful geometric imagery of Ellsworth Kelly, and the Pop Art portraiture of Alex Katz also made an impression; as did what I caught of Omer Fast's Middle-Eastern war-themed video installation "The Casting". Always a profoundly inspiring day out.


Re my own work, I was delighted to hear last week that my submission to Outcasting's "Fourth Wall" artists' moving image festival has been successful, and that some of my poetry films will be showcased in Cardiff later in the year.

The Poetry Storehouse continues to provide stimulating material to work with, and it was nice to see the poet Kathleen Kirk reference my video of her poem "Daughter Of Midas" on her blog:


"Daughter of Midas" - a poem by Kathleen Kirk from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.

Some of my work has also been included in a piece discussing filmmakers' varying approaches to the same text in a Connotation Press article by Erica Goss.

Tiny steps...

"Mercury Fur" / Harry Holland vs Sally Bliumis-Dunn

My most recent reviewing assignment for the British Theatre Guide was Philip Ridley’s controversial “Mercury Fur”, from Company Of Sirens at Chapter; all about grim doings amongst hoodie-clad youth and City types in a post-apocalyptic London. Mercifully, most of the violence takes place off-screen, but it’s all suitably disturbing. Google searches suggest that it’s quite popular amongst drama students, providing, as it does, a variety of meaty roles for young men (and one older woman).

For my latest Poetry Storehouse video experiment, I summoned up the courage to e-mail locally based painter Harry Holland to ask if I could use some of his paintings to accompany a poem by Sally Bliumis-Dunn. Luckily, he was kind enough to allow it…

"Woman As Bird, Woman As Song" - poem by Sally Bliumis-Dunn (with paintings by Harry Holland) from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.

"Contractions" / Moving Poems Interview

I went to see the Welsh premiere of Mike Bartlett’s brutal corporate satire “Contractions” at Chapter, reviewing it for the British Theatre Guide. Another small company successfully getting bums on seats by importing a play by a trendy writer from elsewhere in the UK, but one can’t complain about the quality of the production.

The website Moving Poems has published an e-mail interview which I gave to Nic Sebastian, of the website The Poetry Storehouse, whose contents, contemporary poems made available for creative remix, I’ve used in my filmmaking. Jolly fun.

"Say It" / Moving Poems

"Say It", the short film I wrote for the It's My Shout scheme, kicked off the Made In Wales series this week on BBC2 Wales, and is currently available to view on the iPlayer. I rather enjoyed it - excellent work from all involved.

I've also got some work featured on Dave Bonta's fascinating Moving Poems website. Which is also lovely.

Lou Reed / Roathbud 2013

It’s always odd when one is affected by the death of someone one has never met, or indeed, never even particularly wanted to. But the passing of Lou Reed, news of which emerged gradually on Sunday, affected me strangely. I suppose it’s because his work has impinged on me at several key points in my life: being bemused and entranced on hearing “Walk On The Wild Side” on Radio 1’s Top 20 show at an impressionable age; finding a vinyl copy of the Velvet Underground’s “Live 1969” double album in Lewis’s department store  in Hanley (surely ordered in error), having read about their influence on the then-burgeoning Punk Rock movement, and playing it over and over again on my rudimentary record-player; later buying “Loaded” on cassette, and discovering it to be full of pop gems and remarkably intense vocal performances; his various TV appearances, whether as a curmudgeonly interviewee, or a performer, e.g. the film of his “Songs For Drella” collaboration with John Cale, which languishes in my recorded-off-the-telly VHS pile, or his startling “Later" performance, accompanied by a pre-fame Antony Hegarty, and a bloke doing Tai Chi…

Perhaps it need simply be said that without Lou Reed, most of the music I’ve enjoyed over the past forty years simply wouldn’t exist.

As part of Made In Roath 2013, there was a special screening of short films, Roathbud Film Discoveries, at the G39 art workshop, introduced by Tom Betts of Chapter Moviemaker. A full house, and a mixed bag, as might be expected – some of the films weren’t quite short enough – but it was good to see some familiar faces onscreen. Offerings included the slickly intriguing La Morta E Bella and Punk’s Not Dad’s star-studded pop video “Monkey Boots”.

"Troyanne" / Liberated Words

My latest review assignment for British Theatre Guide was Ian Rowlands’ “Troyanne”, for Company Of Sirens at Chapter. Inspired by real-life stories of accidental family shootings in the U.S. and set in the context of military involvement in the Middle East, it could easily have been a one-dimensional anti-American rant at easy targets; it mostly avoids this, however. And Caroline Bunce is electrifying in the central role, as a bereaved wife and mother.

Yesterday I went to the Arnolfini in Bristol to check out the Liberated Words Festival of Poetry Films – I’d been lucky enough to have one selected for the evening session. The afternoon was taken up with a panel discussion, where various practitioners, mostly academics, discussed their varying theoretical takes on the genre, some of which whizzed straight over my head; in fact, for me, the most interesting films shown in this strand were the most traditional – documentary style adaptations of the works of Bristol-based performance poet David Johnson.  

My film of a Jo Bell poem was part of a highly varied two-hour programme of poetic shorts which concluded proceedings. Some were excellent, others deeply dull. I was mostly relieved that the image quality of my piece – made using entirely free software, and burned to DVD on my home laptop – seemed to pass muster on a big screen.

 

Festivals

I’ve finally managed to get two films into festivals which are happening over the next few weeks, after several years of half-hearted attempts. It helps that they’re poetry films, which is quite a niche area, and that the festivals are both new ventures. Thus, my oblique take on Jo Bell’s poem “The Shipwright’s Love Song”, will be screened during the Liberated Words Poetry Film Festival, which is part of the 2013 Bristol Poetry Festival – my response to a challenge to put images to one of four poems. And I’ve just learned that my visualisation of Wallace Stevens’ modernist piece “Lulu Gay”, has been shortlisted for the Ó Bhéal International Poetry-Film Competition at the Indie Cork Festival of Independent Cinema 2013. Which is very lovely. Both free to enter, as well, which is a bonus – a lesson one learns the hard way.

The only other excitement in my life has been the over-reaction of a playwright to my review of his play. This took the form of a number of immoderate posts on Twitter. It wasn’t even a bad review; it simply suggested that his play was “solid” rather than a work of life-changing genius, as other reviewers have argued. All the more peculiar given that this particular author has been brutally critical of his fellow theatricals in the past.

"The Nightvision Experiment" - online drama

For my most recent review assignment for the British Theatre Guide, I didn’t even have to leave my room – it was The NightVision Experiment, a sci-fi horror piece delivered to my computer via tweets and video footage. Technically accomplished, and effective in its creepiness, if a little generic in terms of narrative. The makers suggest that one watch in the dark, with one’s headphones plugged in; obviously, I was too much of a coward to go down that route.

In other news, here is my latest very short film, based on a poem by Sir Henry Wotton, and featuring an appearance from Sammy Davis Jr.:  

"In Tune"

I decided to have a go at making a music video on my laptop, using entirely public domain resources.
I found this tune by Pittsburgh hip-hop artiste Kellee Maize at the Free Music Archive online; the images are from the Prelinger Internet Archive - I even managed to sneak in an appearance by Fred Astaire.

"The Letter"

The Letter from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.

New short film - "The Want Of Intimacy"

The Want Of Intimacy from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.