Classic Poetry Cinema

"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:

“Dirty, Gifted and Welsh” / “Gone Girl”

Due to my on-going facilitator training, I arrived late at “Dirty, Gifted and Welsh”, the day-long writer-centred collaboration between Dirty Protest and National Theatre Wales, held at the Angel Hotel in central Cardiff. I was in time to catch a session on the writing process led by Louise Osborne, a vaguely theatre-oriented pub-style quiz, and an intriguing monologue by Miranda Roszkowski. Things seemed to have quietened down a bit by the time of the evening performances of the Rapid Response plays, one of which, “Effete” was my short comedy about gay marriage. It seemed to go down well, though – plenty of laughs, almost all of them intended. The general impression was of a fulfilling day for all concerned.

I went to see David Fincher’s “Gone Girl”, having read Gillian Flynn’s best-selling novel a few months ago and completely forgotten at least one vitally important plot point; this only served to enhance my enjoyment, however. The screenplay is by Flynn herself, thus the source material’s cynical take on lies and manipulation within relationships remains intact. Ben Affleck, as the man accused of his missing wife’s murder dials down his trademark shiftiness in order to appear genuinely perplexed; and Rosamund Pike is a revelation as the multi-faceted Amy. The film does slightly outstay its welcome once the more sensational elements of the plot have played out, but the performances remain cherishable. 

"Romeo and Juliet", National Theatre Wales, etc

An unusually busy week, which saw me spending a few days up in Bangor, North Wales, as part of my arts facilitator training, observing as National Theatre Wales put together an Assembly, in which a number of poets came up with a performance exploring the democratic process. Highly stimulating (further reading).

Then, back in Cardiff, two plays to review on successive evenings: “Romeo and Juliet”, Rachel O’Riordan’s debut as director at Sherman Cymru; and Lucy Gough’s adaptation of Dylan Thomas’ “Adventures in the Skin Trade” at Chapter; both innovative, and enjoyable for different reasons.

And this weekend, I have a short play entitled “Effete” on as part of “Dirty, Gifted and Welsh”, the joint venture between National Theatre Wales and Dirty Protest at the Angel Hotel in the middle of Cardiff. Should be a lark.

Not to mention the continuing adventures of my “Inside The Poetry Storehouse” film as part of Outcasting’s contribution to Cardiff Contemporary.

"Say It" (2013) - my BBC / It's My Shout film.

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”.

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.

Trailer for Generic Kindle Bestseller

"The Shipwright's Love Song" by Jo Bell

Successful submission to the Four by Four competition for the Liberated Words Poetry Film Festival; part of the Bristol Poetry Festival 2013. Narrated by the poet.

"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.:  

"Sonnet 29" by William Shakespeare.

"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.

Picnic Play @ Clwyd Theatr Cymru

Had a good day this week – my first ever trip to Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold, where Dirty Protest had arranged a rehearsed reading of my play “Songs For Swinging Lovers”. This was as one of the Picnic Plays which Theatr Clwyd are staging as part of their Celtic Festival, in the venue’s Clwyd Room, with the cast, script-in-hand, faced with a small (but somewhat less small than I expected) audience, sat arranged on cushions and at picnic tables. Actors Keiron Self and Sara Lloyd Gregory (both of whose performances in “Love And Money” I’d recently reviewed, prior to discovering that they were going to work on a piece of mine), along with Jenny Livsey and Sam Jones, presented my “dark comedy with a vague wife-swapping theme”, under the direction of Matthew Bulgo. It seemed to go well – laughs and silences in the right places, kind words from audience-members afterwards. We were even, courtesy of Kate Wasserberg, given a tour of the impressive building, as well as refreshments. I have no idea whether the play will go any further, but the reading was certainly a useful experience in terms of gauging its effectiveness as drama, and spotting areas where it might be tweaked. I’m very grateful to all concerned.

And the next day, when I returned to Cardiff, I had some more possible, vaguely encouraging news re my writing about which more later, if all goes well.

"Goodwill"

Music by The Custodian Of Records.

"Continuum"

Continuum from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.

Shakespeare - Sonnet 24

Biffy Clyro at Cardiff Motorpoint Arena

In the five months since I bought my Biffy Clyro ticket, I’d somehow forgotten how much I liked them; it was only hearing their latest single, “Biblical” on the radio in recent weeks that piqued my sense of anticipation, sending me out hopeful of an emotional lift on a cold, wet Friday night.

I arrived in time to catch a few songs from the support act, City and Colour whose name (before I’d done my preparatory on-line research) had conjured up whingeing emo-metal. In contrast, what we got from Canada’s Dallas Green and his four (one presumes) friends was epic, almost old-school rock balladry; melodic, impassioned and rather impressive.

The eventual arrival of the headliners was greeted with a whoop of uncynical delight the like of which I’ve seldom heard at a popular music concert, and one was reminded that this is a band who spent more than a decade building up a passionate following prior to the huge success of their “Puzzle” album (their masterpiece, in my opinion), and the embarrassing if lucrative patronage of Cowell (via the unfortunate Matt Cardle). Indeed, they rewarded their older fans by paying as much attention to their early material (“Justboy”, “Jaggy Snake”, “Glitter and Trauma”) as to their more crowd-pleasing recent hits which, although tending more towards the anthemic, retain Biffy’s adventurous approach to time signatures. This renders drunken swaying a tad trickier than at most gigs, but somehow we managed; there was also much singing along in Scottish accents. On a split-level stage, with creative use of evocative video back-projection, the trio (augmented by keyboards and second guitar) brought out most of the hits (a notable exception being my personal favourite, “Folding Stars” – perhaps an understandable omission, since it’s about a personal bereavement). They even chanced a “diolch yn fawr” or two, which always goes down well in these parts. 100 minutes (plus three encores) of intense, euphoric rock’n’roll on a grand, but still touchingly human scale.

 

A beautiful night, and one which has prompted me to re-investigate their back-catalogue.

"Mag" by Carl Sandburg

"Coming To Terms"

"Seek, Seek..." (Millions Of Us)