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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| "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.
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| "Tylwyth" |
Very Nice
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