“When each of you in this room were born, there were 6,000 languages spoken on the planet. Now, a language is not just a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules. A language is a flash of the human spirit. It’s a vehicle through which the soul of each particular culture comes into the material world. Every language is an old-growth forest of the mind, a watershed, a thought, an ecosystem of spiritual possibilities”.
So says my friend Wade Davis in a TED speech in Monterey in 2003.
This premise is largely what drives the excellent Theatr Gwalia’s “Inheriting Gods” that has now finished its short run at Chapter in Cardiff.
Writer C.M. Stephens links the Wampanoag language to the Welsh by interacting a Valleys tourist Rhiannon, and an indigenous descendant, English name Shaw, within a Cape Cod setting. Once they sort out their national identity, they find that they have an awful lot in common. In finding out about each other’s language and culture, they reach a state of transcendence where they discover their own.
Playwright C. M. Stephens
Both my paternal and maternal lines originate in Somerset. My Barrington line found themselves in Brecon in the 1870’s and remained for the next one hundred and twenty five years. Why Brecon? Well my great great grandmother, was a typical female Welsh export at this time, a servant in Weston Super Mare. She came from Llanspyddid outside Brecon and this obviously prompted their emigration. My mother’s family landed up in Cardiff in the 1890’s.
Inevitably, both families married Welsh folk so I have the usual Davies, Williams and Powell lines on my family tree. When examining the 1901 Census, my great grandfather, James Davies is recorded as a Welsh speaker., but like so many families, this was not passed down to his children. Brecon, being located close to the English border is not a particularly Welsh speaking town and despite learning the language in school for many years without distinction, I now know only a basic number of Welsh words, but am unable to string sentences together. This mirrors Rhiannon in the story.
Shaw a descendant of the indigenous people has been Americanised. Cape Cod, where most of the action takes place has a large Wampanoag settlement at Mashpee. Other reservations are found on Martha’s Vineyard. In fact, each year, a powwow takes place, a weekend of dancing, drumming and musical performances celebrating the People of the First Light. This year, the three day festival starts on 6th July. I guess it is the Wampanoag equivalent of our Eisteddfod.
Charlie Jobe
Saran Morgan
The Wampanoag language is unusual in that it was, at one time extinct, but has been revived since the 1990’s. Even more so than Welsh, it struggles to survive being immersed within the English speaking communities. Also, like Welsh, it has its own varied culture and way of life.
The play touches upon many subjects besides language loss. The Wampanoag were the people who greeted the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth Rock on November 11th 1620. Ms Medway-Stephens makes the point that I used to debate with my Chinese students in their American Literature class when studying William Bradford’s controversial contemporary account. The point being that each year American’s celebrate the fact that the good earth provides nourishment on Thanksgiving Day, whilst simultaneously and mostly unintentionally, wiping the faces of the indigenous people’s whose land they stole in the same soil.
Of course there is a common denominator in that both races were exploited by the dreaded English, another point the writer is anxious to make. To be fair to our neighbours over the other side of Offa’s Dyke, it as not only the English who colonised America, as the ill-fated Darien Scheme instigated by the King of Scotland clearly shows. I’m sure us Welsh did our bit – well Patagonia springs to mind.
The name Rhiannon, the Horse Goddess of that great work of Welsh literature, the Mabinogion is also brought into the narrative. There is also much attention paid to Shaw’s anglicised name.
Then there are the Welsh politicians who went on hunger strike to successfully plead the case of having a Welsh language television station.
The burning question to be addressed may be an uncomfortable one for us Anglo-Welsh. That is, how Welsh can you actually be without speaking the language of your nation; without reading its literary heritage in its mother-tongue; without singing the beautiful songs that have been passed down over the ages?
If there is a more important Welsh play in the English language written in this or any other year, I would very much like to see it.
My only criticism is that I feel it is under-developed as it stands. Lasting only sixty five minutes, the issues and others not mentioned here, don’t get sufficient time to be explored fully. I recall seeing Robert Lepage’s seminal play, “The Seven Streams of the River Ota” in both it’s workshop production and its triumphant seven and a half hour epic presentation at the National Theatre a couple of years later. I can see “Inheriting Gods” developing in a similar way. By having twenty to thirty minute vignettes exploring the issues referred to for both the Welsh and Wampanoag themes bound together by the central premise.
The two characters played by Saran Morgan and Charlie Jobe are both likeable. Scenes are divided by videos and photographs of both Cape Cod and Wales. Accompanied by an assortment of songs in both English and Welsh, I think this worked really well. The set seems to be some kind of stockade, although it may represent the reservation or even the traditional architecture of Wampanoag huts.
Saran Morgan and Charlie Jobe
The play has now ended its short run, but I hope to see it re-emerge, perhaps somewhere along the lines I have suggested here.
Finally, to slightly change one of the central anthropological questions, what it is to be human and alive. Carmen Medway-Stephens poses the question, what it is to be Welsh and alive.
NB. This review contains strong language and adult themes within the context of the subject matter of this play.
Transcript
The immediate problem I face with this review is how to name it.
Its correct title is The Motherfucker with the Hat, but in polite circles it is either called, “The MotherFxxxxr with the Hat or The Mother with the Hat. Being fairly polite myself, I shall refer to it as the MotherF with the Hat.
This play markes the first collaboration between Glasgow’s Tron Theatre and Cardiff’s Sherman Theatre. Having seen Tron Theatre productions previously in Scotland and in London, I was aware that I was in for a challenging hard-hitting show, that is not so much “In Yer Face” theatre as slapping you around the face drama.
The MotherF with the Hat is a Tony Award nominated play by esteemed New Yorker Stephen Adly Guirgis. This playwright is often mentioned in the company of such American icons as David Mamet and Tracy Letts, so you know he is right up there with the American cream. That’s cream not Dream as there is little to associate the content of this play ith that national American ethos.
Written in 2011, the play premiered at Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on April 11th of that year to mixed reviews. Much of the adverse criticism was aimed at the portrayal of Ralph D by Chris Rock as many critics were a little underwhelmed with his performance.
The play was a bit of a financial flop, largely due to the problem I highlighted at the start of this review. In the more Puritanical American world, it as difficult to market because you couldn’t even call the play by its name. A dig at American Puritanism is referenced in the script when a potential bout of bed-hopping leads to an exclamation from Jackie, putting a halt to Victoria, his sponsor’s wife’s advances, “I mean what are we – Europeans or some shit?” Made me feel quite proud (to be European).
MotherF with the Hat made its British premier at the Lyttleton Theatre on 10th June 2015, to almost universal praise. This Tron/Sherman production marks its Scottish and Welsh debut.
The play is a five-hander and begins with Veronica tidying up her bed in preparation for a visit from boyfriend Jackie, who has just been released from prison and who is trying to start living a decent life, beginning with finding a job. Veronica is a cocaine-sniffing attractive girl nicely played by Welsh actress Alexandria Riley, who recently appeared in the acclaimed Sherman production of “The Cherry Orchard”. Her single room located in a residential hotel in Times Square is a bit of a mess. Empty bottles and full ashtrays and clothes scattered untidily on the floor.
When Jackie enters and they start conversing, it is obvious by the tone of the conversation that they are going to get down to a bit of rumpy-pumpy. Whilst Veronica prepares herself by taking a shower, (offstage), Jackie strips down to his briefs, ready for action and gets into bed. He then espies a man’s hat lying on the coffee table. Suspicions arise and Jackie wants to know who the motherfucker with the hat is. He sniffs the bed imitating an anteater hoovering up its prey trying to identify whether any sexual activity had recently occurred which he wouldn’t have been a part of.
Jackie played by Francois Pandolfo is probably the central character in the play and he does well playing the paranoid Puerto Rican New Yorker.
Other characters are Jermaine Dominique as Ralph D., Jackie’s sponsor. I found his Machiavellian excuses for behaving badly very funny. His wife, Victoria, played by American actress Renee Williams has just had enough of her husband’s antics. The final character Cousin Julio, (Kyle Lima), is a macho individual, being a kind of mix of a masseur and notary public. He also has connections to the Mob.
The acting is fine throughout with just a couple of lapses with the New York accent. For me however, the star quality of this production is Kenny Miller’s set design.
On three split levels, each representing a character’s abode, at the bottom you find Veronica’s hotel room in Times Square – probably a run-down establishment. The middle level represents Ralph D’s and Victoria’s Hell’s Kitchen place. An area of NYC largely associated ith actors and a has a prominent gay quarter. At the top, you have Cousin Julio’s minimalist Feng Shui abode in gentrified Washington Heights. This arrangement is no accident as it depicts an ascending order of prosperity.
The play depicts betrayal, guilt, infidelity and addiction but has an abundance of dark humour within it.
With so much going for it, why did I find myself constantly checking my watch for the final twenty minutes, with the production only lasting ninety minutes? Maybe it is because I found it rather one-paced – there isn’t much variety in it. The naturalistic dialogue is sparkling and has a cadence to it that almost makes it sound lyrical at times, but it overwhelmed me in its intensity.
Having taught for many years in China, I became aware that Chinese audiences always judge the merit of a movie based upon its resolution, and being Chinese, it should have a moralistic quality to it. I found the play rather slight, and I liken the spectacle to travelling up to London for a day’s sightseeing and spending all your time travelling around the circle line.
Can I recommend this play? Well, I guess it comes down to home being where you hang your hat, (sorry about that). If you are at home watching an amusing, profanity driven play which offers little hope but doesn’t make you think too hard, then you should love this play.
Due to profanity throughout, adult themes and brief male nudity, I suggest that this play is meant for adults only.
The show runs at the Sherman Cardiff, having already completed its Glasgow run, until 31st March 2018.
Francois Pandolfo as Jackie and Jermaine Dominique as Ralph D
Francois Pandolfo as Jackie and Renee illiams as Victoria
By Stephen Adly Guirgis, Director Andy Arnold, Designer Kenny Miller, Lighting Designer Simon Hayes, Sound Designer Sam Jones, Casting Director Kay Magson CDG
Cast : Francois Pandolfo Jackie, Alexandria Riley Veronica, Kyle Lima Cousin Julio, Jermaine Dominique Ralph, Renee Williams Victoria
Based in Manhattan, America and with a strong Portuguese/Cuban dialect, you are soon captivated by the comical attributes of these fine actors and actresses, portraying logistical humour from the above parts of the world and engulfing the audience into blurts of laughter throughout. This play and the way it was presented managed to still possess all the gory attributes that accompany life for Jackie being an ex-con and a recovering user. Jackie is on a mentoring and sponsor programme and his life partner is still an active user. His life is turbulent to say the least!
A wonderful job was done in creating three separate places/scenes, almost like three stages of life on one set by Designer Kenny Miller. Jackie was on the bottom trying to work his way up, elated by the news of a new job, he returns home early to his partner Veronica to celebrate his news, all seems well until the mother f**ker and the hat emerges, and he feels that he has lost everything.
“Leaving hats around like Zorro leaves Z’s” Hysterical!
He is then staying with his sponsor/mentor Ralph and his wife Victoria. This is when the truth really comes out! What does Jackie do, live and learn or act out? He is complexed he wants to be good person, but he is far from perfect as we find in many propelling scenes of violence, the seeking of hope and faith, the dark reality, and the rejoice or kind of. I particularly liked the scenes in the top tear with his cousin Julio. Julio told a story of their youth that kind of brought Jackie back down to earth. His cousin is someone who speaks from the heart in such a funny way and who is truly there for Jackie. When the lights went down on Veronica, I felt a tear, it was gripping.
Renee was the only one of the cast that I had seen perform previously and was impressed with how diverse her acting is. Overall everyone one of the cast really went for it and it was full of intensity from the off and throughout. After the show another theatre goer said that they wanted to know more about the fate of Veronica and Jackie’s relationship, but I was content with the ending. What will be will be, they seemed to both be at least trying to be more mature about things at that point, so who knows.
Hands up to all involved. Brilliant, current and thoroughly satisfying.
In this article we interview a range of arts professionals to share good practice in the areas of Access, Inclusion and Diversity.
Meredydd Barker
Hi can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
I’m a playwright, artistic director of Narberth Youth Theatre and the west Wales rep for Youth Arts Network Cymru – YANC
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
It begins with the young. Youth Arts Network Cymru – YANC – is doing tremendous work in this regard in the hope that as the young people involved grow older and, perhaps, make a career in the arts, best practice can spread through the industry . Then, one day, access, inclusion and diversity will not be issues that have to be continually addressed. They won’t be issues at all.
Helena Davies
Hi can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
Hi, I’m Helena Davies, and I’m a linguist with a background in Technical Translation and English as a Foreign Language. I have a BA in Italian and Spanish, an MA in Literary Translation and I am currently preparing for my Welsh Mynediad exam in June. I moved to Cardiff from London last year, and over the last couple of months, I have been training to become a Captioner, working on producing film and TV subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. I recently received audio description training from Dr Louise Fryer, BBC Radio 3 Presenter and Audio Describer, and Anne Hornsby of Mind’s Eye, both pioneers in UK audio description. I am now looking to establish a career in Captioning and Audio Description. I dance samba de gafieira and samba funkeado, and am passionate about media and arts accessibility.
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
With a strong interest in dance and accessibility, I was delighted to be invited by Carole Blade, Creative Producer for Dance in Wales, to attend a three-day audio description training course based on the Family Dance Festival at Chapter Arts Centre. Over an intense three days, we learnt how best to audio describe dance, which is considered to be one of the hardest mediums to describe. We all concurred that “Drifter” by Jukebox Collective, featuring the talented Kate Morris, was by far the trickiest to describe. The Family Dance Festival is presented by Bombastic and Coreo Cymru, and features four short audio described dance performances in Welsh and English, with accompanying touch tours. It is a great initiative and exciting to see dance being opened up to all. The Family Dance Festival is running from 24 March to 14 April 2018
Elise Davison
Hi can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
I’m the co founder and Artistic Director of Taking Flight Theatre Company, the company I co founded with Beth House in 2008. Before this I was an actress for 10 years, a teacher, a presenter and a facilitator. Taking Flight is an inclusive company originally set up to break down the barriers, or perceived barriers to participation in the arts. We have been integrating access tools into our work for a long time now and act as creative access consultant for many other theatres companies. We have produced over 17 tours of Wales, run many residencies and trained many facilitators in our 10 years. We have recently become a disability led organisation, as over half of our Board of Directors identify as disabled, and this is really important to us.
Currently we are touring our inclusive family show You’ve got Dragons which gently raised the issues of Mental Wellbeing in young people and accompany this with free resilience building ‘Dragon Taming’ workshops which have been created in collaboration with clinical psychologists. This is touring the whole of the UK and is a really exciting development for the company. It’s been great to find so many theatres in England keen to programme inclusive work. We are a company that seeks to nurture the next generation of theatre makers, we have taken risks with casting, with our creative access, with our marketing materials. As creatives we take risks with everything else we do so we need to be prepared to do so with regards to diversity and access. It’s great to see some of our former employees ‘take flight’ and set up on their own e.g. Sami Thorpe and Chloe Clarke of Elbow Room and we continue to wish them every success on their new adventures. TF offer support and advice when we can and do everything within our power to ensure we make our work and our process as accessible as possible. We make mistakes, we often get it wrong and we continue to learn and to develop our work and we love to collaborate…many heads are better than one!
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
Fio – Abdul is doing so much to raise the issues around the lack of diversity in Wales and is producing some cracking work. We hope to work more closely with Fio in the future.
Mess up the Mess – a ‘quietly inclusive’ company that really nurture the young people they work with creating strong, independent theatre makers with excellent ideas about access. Can’t wait to work with them again – we continue to learn from them.
Hijinx Theatre – producing excellent touring work and taking the international scene by storm, this company is changing the attitude towards in inclusive work featuring learning disabled actors. Meet Fred continues to tour across the world and the next show The Flop is sure to be another success. Additionally the academies which are now running pan Wales are a real example of the kind of training that we need to have in place to nurture the next generation of learning disabled performers. We would love to have the capacity to run an ongoing training forum for D/deaf/HOH and disabled performers and are in conversations with a number of organisations about this.
Ramps on the Moon – an amazing initiative in England which is placing disabled performers and accessible productions on main stages and in producing houses across the UK.
Stopgap Dance – they have been so generous to us over the last year, giving us advice and putting us in touch with like minded organisations and really are the leading lights in inclusive dance. Love their work. www.stopgapdance.com
WMC – Jenny Sturt is making massive changes and embracing access and inclusion in a huge way. Her drive and passions is infectious!
Yvonne Murphy – has produced some excellent all female work and is enthusiastic and determined to challenge any inequality which may lead to people being excluded from the arts.
Bath Spa and The Atrium – I’ve worked with both these organisations as a creative access consultant and have worked to integrate a BSL interpreter ( the wonderful Julie Doyle and Tony Evans) into their shows and to integrate audio description. It’s great that the Universities that are training the next generation of actors feel so strongly about making accessible work. The students have loved the process and have been inspired to think more creatively about access as a result. Long may it continue!
Creu Cymru and hynt – Still doing fab work with venues via the hynt card scheme. It’s also been great to host our 4th access symposium Wales – a diverse nation? at Theatr Clywd with Creu Cymru in Feb, such a great bunch of people attended and so many ideas were generated and will hopefully start to be put into play. As a result we are hosting free access meeting – practical access solutions at WMC once a month and the first one sold out in 12hrs! So there is obviously a want to be more diverse and a desire to be part of the conversation, we all just need to be a tiny bit braver and not worry so much about getting it wrong!
Ucan go! app – also needs a mention here – an app to help orientate blind or partially sighted visitors at theatres, it’s so great it would be wonderful to see more venues investing in this.
Adeola Dewis
Can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
My name is Adeola and I am an artist and researcher working across visual arts and performance. My practice engages conceptual, performative and aesthetic notions on Carnival, ritual, folk and emancipatory performances.
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
I highlight Carnival as an area that exemplifies good practice in terms of inclusion, diversity and access.
Jacob Gough
Hi can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
My name is Jacob Gough, I’m Production Manager for National Theatre Wales, which in a nutshell involves the logistical planning for productions.
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
I would like to highlight the amazing work of companies that don’t just champion but incorporate access into their shows; companies like Taking Flight, UCAN Arts, Hijinx, Llanarth Group and artists like Jonny Cotsen amongst others. Companies and artists are doing a lot more work now to provide captioning, BSL and audio-described performances, which is great to see. Access forums are a fantastic mechanism to help organisations and artists share knowledge and learning, and a lot of new technologies are being developed that help accessibility; all of which helps develop this all-important feature of the arts.
Jafar Iqbal
Hi can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
I’m a freelance artist and arts critic. I’ve written for publications such as The Stage, WhatsOnStage and Wales Arts Review, as well as regional and online publications over the course of my career. I’m also a scriptwriter and storyteller.
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
I’d like to raise awareness about Where I’m Coming From, a monthly Open Mic event hosted by writers Durre Shahwar and Hanan Issa. Currently at the Tramshed in Cardiff every month, the spoken word event is aimed predominantly at the BAME population. Going to one of these events is an enlightening experience, as its attended by people who you usually wouldn’t see at other such events. It’s become a safe space for writers to express themselves in a welcoming environment and, for many of these people, the first time they’ve ever shared their creativity to an audience. A fantastic event.
Rachel Pedley Miller
Hi can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
I run Avant Cymru. At Avant we aim to be acceptable creating work with audiences and delivering projects that are accessible to many individuals. In the past we have used apps such as swipe to caption our performances and we have worked in venues which are acceptable to those with mobility issues. We work with the community into raise our awareness of the needs. We also look to highlight a range of needs especially through our continual drama Rhondda Road, which is directed by Shane Anderson. Rhondda Road will be starting again in May 2019 and we would love to have a character in the show who would want to raise further awareness of the difficulties people who have a disability have accessing the arts. As a dyslexic person living with a chronic illness, I refuse to let my conditions prevent me from trying new things and will always work with audience and cast members to make the shows as accessible as possible. To date Avant have not produced one show without BAME cast members, we have also employed LBGT cast members on various projects. This has not been something that we have shouted about as we have seen our staff as the best people for the job, the fact that they identify as disabled, LBGT, disabled or from a BAME background is for them. We just see everyone that is hired as the best person for their role and we are proud that we see diverse people as equals.
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
I think that it is important to look at each project, Consider if it is relevant to 2018. What I mean is if there is a pre-written script is it possible to make it appealing or relevant to audiences now. Because if it isn’t then Avant are not interested in producing that show.
When we have established a compelling idea we look to hire someone who has the correct skills, energy and enthusiasm to create the work. Looking for a cast member who can ply the role with the right drive, rather than worrying if they can tick a diversity box. Seeing each individual on their own merit and supporting them to make a career in the arts, or to participate in the arts should be considered on a person by person basis and implementing various tools to make work and audience opportunities accessible to all should be considered. We always evaluate after each show, so far our audiences have been happy that they have been able to access Avants work. We need to keep evolving to have more tools in place so we are able to cater for different individuals.
Yvonne Murphy
Hi can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
I run Omidaze Productions. I set it up back in 2008 specifically to use drama and theatre to shake stuff up, entertain new audiences and inspire change. We make politically grounded theatre, run workshops in schools and produce annual Summer Schools for young people which give full scholarship places to those for whom economics make the arts harder to reach. Our first production and tour (Things Beginning With M) examined how women learn from each other about everything from Motherhood to the Menopause, Miscarriages, Menstruation, Masturbation, Men, Money, Marriage, Mysogyny, Media Images and Maturity. Everthing begins with M!
I am really interested in smashing down boundaries between different art forms and exploring the difference between for example a visual art installation and set design or dance and movement/physical theatre. I love to smash the fourth wall and explore how audiences behave when you break the rules, or even have none at all. I like theatre to break beyond the confines of the designated space and like using unusual public spaces to entice and spark curiousity in those who might not otherwise enter a theatre.
I use visual artists, stand-up comedians, circus choreograhers and aerialists and movement directors to help me discover what will entice new audiences into the theatre and allow text to become relevant, accessible and visceral.
I created, directed and produced the Shakespeare Trilogy (co-productions with the Wales Millennium Centre) which consisted of two all-female productions immersive site specific productions in the WMC roof void (Richard III 2015 & Henry VI 2016) a ‘gateway’ Shakespeare production which strived to reach younger audiences and used a BAME strong and gender balanced cast.
I am deeply concerned by the inequality within our society and within the theatre industry where we tell and share our stories which help us to connect and make sense of our world and what it is to be human. I therefore strive to make work which challenges myself and the status quo and attempt to raise awareness of that deeply ingrained inequality, issues of social injustice, conflict and stuff which I believe needs to shift and change through my work.
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
The Young Vic did some good work on how we should think and act differently as cultural organisations when recruiting. Where and how we recruit for positions at all levels is key. Recruitment processes could be so much more creative and reach people from different sectors and walks of life. They have walked the talk with the recruitment of their new Artistic Director, Kwame Kwei-Armah.
Taking Flight have taught me so much about inclusivity in theatre and I would love to see the day when they no longer need to call themselves an inclusive theatre company because EVERY theatre company should be an inclusive theatre company.
The Clore Leadership Programme gave me phenomenal training in so many areas including governance and is striving to change the face of cultural leadership within the UK and make it more equally representative. It made me realise how key governance is and if the board of an organisation is not leading the way in challenging systemic inequality then the organisation most likely won’t be either. Any board which is truly diverse and ensures that trustees step down after a set period of 5-6 years is good practice.
Kaite O’Reilly
Hi can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
Hi of course, please find some information on myself below,
Kaite O’Reilly is an award winning Playwright who works both in the so-called mainstream and disability arts and culture. Awarded the Peggy Ramsay award & Ted Hughes award for new works in poetry for ‘Persians’ with National Theatre Wales (NTW). A leading figure in disability arts and culture internationally, she received three Cultural Olympiad commissions and her Unlimited commission production with NTW of ‘In Water I’m Weightless’ was part of the official festival celebrating the 2012 London olympics/Paralympic and created an important political and cultural precedent – the first production written from a disability perspective with an all Deaf and disabled cast performing on such a high profile national platform. She is currently touring ‘Richard iii redux’ – reclaiming Richard iii as a disabled icon and her 2018 Unlimited international commission ‘and suddenly I disappear – the Singapore ‘d’ monologues’ premieres in Singapore in May and comes to U.K. to tour in September. Her acclaimed collected ‘Atypical Plays for Atypical Actors’ are published by Oberon. She is patron of Disability Arts Cymru and DaDaFest and publishes widely about diversity, inclusion and disability.
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
I think it’s about changing the whole way performance is made, how, about, and with whom, it’s the content and material as much as including innovative use of the aesthetics of access. Theatre is supposed to be the study of what it is to be human and yet it still has a very narrow perspective – we need to broaden this in the stories we tell, the protagonists we create and the theatre languages we use (integrated Sign interpretation, captioning, audio description, etc).
I have written widely about what I call ‘alternative dramaturgies informed by a Deaf and disability perspective’ when AHRC creative fellow 2003-06 and 2010-2017 when fellow at International Research Centre in Berlin. We could be far more inventive – and work, like mine, had been going on for decades but is still marginalised. We need to make this central . But not just access as add-on – we need disabled and Deaf writers, makers, directors, designers, performers etc and this should be mainstream not ‘inclusive’ for brownie points.
You can read more from Kaite on this subject matter at the links below,
Hi can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
I’m Chloë Clarke, a visually impaired actor, director and theatre maker and cofounder of Elbow Room Theatre Company in Cardiff. I have been working as a performer for 8 years and now focus on making my own work, both as an individual and with ERT partner Sami Thorpe, which champions creative access and truthfully representing disabled people within the arts. ERT is committed to producing new writing that does the same while showcasing relevant and cutting edge work.
I also work as an audio description consultant, which means I work with companies, venues and artists to integrate AD into their work through joining their devising and R&D process, or find creative ways to add it to existing work in a way that is inherent to the piece’s unique style.
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
The recent discussions and debates surrounding diversity in the arts, within Cardiff and on a global scale through events like the Oscars and the promotion of the inclusion rider, are vital and long overdue. If you’re not from a minority it may not seem relevant, it may in fact feel quite uncomfortable, but we all have a responsibility to ensure that we, as artists, provide fair representation of our society through all facets of our practice, and to date we have fallen worryingly short of this. However, the very fact that these debates are taking place in our industry is a very positive sign. Now it’s time to act.
I, for one, can only speak from my own experience as a female disabled artist. As well as stipulating the need for wider and truer representation of people like me in the arts, I’d also like to highlight the importance of considering access from the outset of any project – namely the writing of a script or the start of R&D wherein a piece is being devised. Once we start committing to this idea across the board the arts will become fairer.
I will always advocate for creative, integrated access rather than ‘traditional’ methods (an attitude that I have encouraged and nurtured within many companies I have worked with over the years to great effect), as this is the best means by which access can become relevant to every audience member and not just those with access requirements. It’s wonderful that the collective consciousness is growing in this regard and that more creatives are becoming aware of the opportunities afforded them by considering access as inherent to their work – we just need more. More awareness, more action, more choice.
We still have quite a way to go to overcome a lot of the barriers faced by audiences, performers and companies, but as long as we talk AND act (and start engaging diverse people in these conversations rather than just listening to white, straight, middle class, non-disabled people talking about what ‘they’ need) the positive changes we’ve started to notice happening will gain momentum.
So, no one shut up! Let’s keep this going and hear from the diverse array of people we actually have in this industry.
Good practice (very generally speaking) is to openly discuss issues surrounding diversity rather than shying away from them because they’re awkward. In more specific terms, Graeae are the obvious UK trailblazers with regard to best practice surrounding access, particularly for d/Deaf audiences and performers. As everyone who works in disability arts knows, nobody ever gets it 100% right all the time, that’s where open dialogue needs to be continual. It never hurts to ask questions.
Gagglebabble really impressed me with their commitment to having a VI consultant involved from the outset on one of their latest of projects and their commitment to auditioning VI performers for at least one role in the show. They have taken a very natural approach to it without any hint of wanting to tick a box, and their high standards can only help to improve general perceptions of what a quietly integrated cast can do.
If all ‘mainstream’ companies could adopt the same attitude – very openly and naturally deferring to those with lived experience to guide them on best practice and having the intention of also representing this on stage, while not making a big song and dance (sorry, couldn’t resist) about it – things would move forward much more smoothly and there would be little need for drum-banging from those of us who are marginalised.
Elena Schmitz, Head of Programmes at Literature Wales.
Hi can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
My name is Elena Schmitz and I am the Head of Programmes at Literature Wales. In this role, I am responsible for the development, effective management and operational delivery of Literature Wales’ varied programmes including high-profile projects in Community Participation; Arts & Health; International Development and Writer Development. So quite a varied role. I am particularly interested in collaboration, co-production, interdisciplinary work and in achieving social change through arts provision.
We have been running many inclusive literature community projects for a number of years, most notably the South Wales Literature Development Initiative (SWLDI) which is now called Lit Reach and has been extended further to areas in North Wales. We are also currently facilitating a number of health and wellbeing projects, including the delivery in Wales of the UK-wide Reading Friends Project, as well as our new Health & Wellbeing Funding Scheme.
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
I think many arts organisations in Wales are exemplary in this and others can learn a lot from their approaches. Some of them have focused on access, inclusion and diversity for years and this is absolutely part of the raison d’être of the work that they do. For example, Hijinx Theatre is brilliant at co-producing high quality theatre with disabled and non-disabled artists, while Valleys Kids focuses on providing opportunities for disadvantaged families. Head4Arts has worked tirelessly in providing meaningful, empowering arts experiences to the disadvantaged communities of the heads of the valleys. NTW’s TEAM is a great model of widening access for larger arts organisations and allowing for more shared decision-making and wider reach of the organisation’s work. The new BAME community-led Where I’m Coming From collective organises regular literature events in Grangetown in Cardiff, arising from the need for more diversity in the literature sector.
Across the UK there are a number of really inspiring projects. One that I find very powerful is the Fun Palaces initiative, conceived by writer and activist Stella Duffy. At the heart of this growing and influential project lies the believe that everyone is an artist and everyone a scientist, and that creativity in the community can change the world for the better. Fun Palaces is an ongoing campaign for cultural democracy, with an annual weekend of action every October. The campaign promotes culture at the heart of community and community at the heart of culture.
I think the model of co-producing work with (rather than for) communities and shaping things together is increasingly important for all arts organisations. Arts and culture that truly matters and changes minds needs to be shaped by all, not just by an elite minority.
Sami Thorpe
Hi can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
Hi, I’m Sami, I work as a performer and also as a qualified British Sign Language/English Interpreter. I am also a cofounder of Elbow Room Theatre Company. I have a longstanding passion for inclusion and accessibility in the Arts ever since training at a unique degree course at the University of Reading; Theatre Arts, Education and Deaf Studies.
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
I thought it might help to share the dates for the British Sign Language Interpretation for the productions below over the next few months which I am providing.
Fleabag – Wales Millennium Centre
8pm, 27/04/2018 (Friday)
The Effect – The Other Room Theatre
7:30pm, 03/05/2018 (Thursday)
Rhiannon White
Hi can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
I’m a Cardiff born, Cardiff based theatre director. I mainly work with my theatre company Common Wealth but I also work on freelance stuff which has ranged from taking a circus to Gaza to making a show on a beach.
I think it was growing up in St.Mellons, Cardiff that got me into theatre. We didn’t have very much growing up but what we did have is loads of kids to play with. I spent my childhood playing in the street, dressing kids up in my mums old clothes and on plays on in the garden. I think that’s where my DIY spirit came from in those early lessons of making the most of what you’ve got.
My company Common Wealth grew out of those roots – we were a group of people that came together to make theatre. We started with nothing, making shows in large empty buildings, without funding and with the generosity of people who wanted to get involved.
Over the years Common Wealth has grown, we’ve made work in many different places, with incredible groups of people and have worked on shows in places like Neath, Chicago and Germany.
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
Last year I completed a report called CLASS ‘The Elephant in the Room’s it was researched, written and performed as part of my Arts Council Wales supported Clore Fellowship (2015 – 2016) and was funded by the Arts Humanities and Research Council. The purpose of CLASS The Elephant in the room is to investigate the inherent social conditions that exist in the creative industries today; social conditions such as social class and geographic location that can influence and determine a career in the arts. It pays attention to the contradictions that play out where class is considered, and how these contradictions continue to reproduce and reinforce class divisions.
It is an auto-ethnographic study that draws from my own personal experience and combines it with interviews with others who share a similar position. It provides a personal testimony on working in a sector that is dominated by white, middle-class, males.
This report was first and foremost delivered as a live performance debate that provides a resource for theatres, artists and institutions to use if they would like to form their own discussions around the themes of diversity and class.
Common Wealth are also starting a Youth Theatre Lab in Cardiff. The aim of this youth theatre is not to play games or train to become an actor (although this might happen too.) The Youth Theatre Lab is about developing the skills to make theatre that has something to say. The YTL will be a place of experimentation – we will collaborate with highly experienced theatre practitioners, choreographers, visual artists and composers to develop important work by and for young people. The Youth Theatre Lab is FREE but booking is required. Its or ages 13-18 6pm-8pm and starts on Wednesday 4 April.
Nickie Miles-Wildin
Hi can you please tell us a little about yourself and your practice?
My name is Nickie Miles-Wildin and I’m a theatre maker. I’m currently Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme, Resident Assistant Director based at The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. I am also Artistic Director of TwoCan Theatre Company based in Gloucestershire, where I’m originally from. Alongside my colleagues Becky Andrews and Louise Partridge we set up TwoCan to promote diversity in the arts and enable D/deaf and disabled people access to the arts, something that was lacking in the county. We have a successful youth theatre and have produced work made by professional disabled actors, writers and directors.
Which area/s of good practice in the arts relating to the themes of access, inclusion and diversity would you like to highlight?
I would highlight the work of Graeae as they have been going for 30+years and continue to push the barriers of access. They have taught me what I know and I continue to admire their work. Ramps On The Moon builds on the Graeae model and will hopefully change the views of directors and audiences as it progresses. In Wales I admire the work of Elbow Room who are challenging us all about creative use of audio description. We all fall in love with sign language (have our epiphanies) and Elbow Room are making us do the same abut audio description.
Get the Chance values the role Welsh or Wales based playwrights bring to the cultural life of our nation. Here is the latest interview in this series with actor and playwright Matthew Trevannion.
Hi Matthew great to meet you, can you give our readers some background information on yourself please?
Hi, my name is Matthew Trevannion I am a Welsh playwright and actor living in London. I’ve been acting professionally for 13 years (When given the opportunity) and writing for around 8. All But Gone is my third full production in a Welsh theatre, following Bruised at Theatre Clwyd and Leviathan for the Sherman.
Bruised
Leviathan
So what got you interested in the arts?
When introduced to Shakespeare in school something shifted. I won’t embellish and say that I went straight out and devoured the whole canon but I recognized something miraculous was being offered when reading it. I wanted to understand how someone could take the same letters that you might find on the back of a cereal box and organize them in a way that offered the whole world.
Your latest play All But Gone will premier at The Other Room this month. The production information states “What use is love when the mind fractures and fades? Is it our vice, or our only remedy?” Can you tell us more about the back ground to this new production?
I wouldn’t want to offer too much in the way of plot but I can say in retrospect that the play is for my grandparents. It’s about the madness of enduring love and the price of that. That said this play is anything but a maudlin tale of decay.
All But Gone rehearsals, credit Kieran Cudlip
You are an actor as well as a playwright. I wonder if your knowledge of both disciplines cross-pollinates when you are working in both different disciplines?
Yes, in the sense that my three years at drama school was a great education in what it takes to structure a play. It has flowed back the other way into my acting in that I recognise the amount of work that goes into writing. It’s fostered a real respect for the craft of others. It is a long and arduous process full of joy and doubt, but one that’s always worth persevering with. You start the process in a room by yourself and wind up in an audience surrounded by others.
Get the Chance works to support a diverse range of members of the public to access cultural provision Are you aware of any barriers to equality and diversity for either Welsh or Wales based artists or specifically writers?
Living in London I can’t pretend to be a voice of authority on such things. I’ve been lucky in that I’ve received support from an early stage in my writing career. I’m afraid I just don’t have enough knowledge on that front to make comment.
There are a range of organisations supporting Welsh and Wales based writers, I wonder if you feel the current support network and career opportunities feel ‘healthy’ to you?
Again, anything I write here would be a guess. I don’t possess an intimate understanding of the writing network in Wales. Even though I’ve worked within it. All I can say is that there should always be support for people at all stages of their career. If someone is rolling out of bed each day with their head full of ideas then there must be avenues for them. Avenues designed to support them through to the very end of the process too.
If you were able to fund an area of the arts in Wales what would this be and why?
By “area” I would think in a geographic sense. National Theatre Wales has made inroads into communities and offered world-class theatre to people in their hometowns. That is deeply commendable but we have to be careful that we don’t know set up shop in these places only because there is media interest in the events surrounding the area or that it is home to a famous son. We should be taking theatre to communities that are starved of it because that is our responsibility.
What excites you about the arts in Wales? What was the last really great thing that you experienced that you would like to share with our readers?
Gary Owen is still as lively as ever. I saw his Killology at the Royal Court and thought it was a thrilling piece of writing, beautifully performed. That’s really exciting. Welsh based productions finding audiences further afield. Let’s hope it continues.
Wales for Peace a 4-year Heritage Lottery funded project, based at the Welsh Centre for International Affairs. According to their website their vision is “To inspire a new generation of internationalists through learning from Wales’ peace heritage… the individuals, communities and movements who have championed Wales’ peacebuilding role in the world, from the First World War to today”.
This event marked the second event of this type this week, because, due to the amount of travelling involved, this year’s awards were divided between venues in North and South Wales. On the 14th March 2018, the ceremony took place at Ysgol David Hughes in Menai Bridge, Anglesey, with the Cardiff event taking place a couple of days later.
A project that particularly interested me was that undertaken by Ysgol Dyffryn Aman from Ammanford in Carmarthenshire. Teacher Rachel Evans and pupils Catrin Brodrick (13) and Mason McKenzie (14) tell you about it.
I left this event greatly heartened by the energy and interest on display by young Welsh people and feel that the efforts of Wales for Peace, particularly with what is going on in the world today, should be supported and encouraged, as it spotlights Wales, (in what we should all be focused on), and that is a concerted effort in maintaining a peaceful existence on this planet.
My grateful thanks to all participants who assisted me in producing this report, andin particular, to Jane Harries who under great pressure as organiser of the event, maintained a pacific attitude suitable for the place and occasion.
A production exploring the Inner self that tells us to just – Do it!
Betty Bruiser lives inside of Liz but is projected as a character completely outside the norms of Liz Clarke. Betty is a person of complete contradiction to Liz, who is an insider living in the comforts of motherhood and home. The show creates a sense of grief and the trauma that has engulfed her from the loss of her sister. Growing from this is Betty Bruiser, the electric blue superhero alter ego.
Betty is tough, Loud and electric . Betty captivated the entire audience with her incredible mix of live art, music and burlesque.
Cannonballista explores grief in a completely new light, losing someone who is close to you and the ways in which we escape from bereavement. For Liz, Betty is a powerhouse who brings Liz out of herself and into a complete sense of invincibility even in the moments that Liz wants her gone, Betty is there fighting for Liz and her need to cope. The audiences were given the opportunity to form a bond with Betty and understand Liz when we delve into the character.
It is show worth the watch if you are exploring yourself and your womanhood. You may find your own inner superhero such as Betty Bruiser. Cannonballista is an explosive performance that will stick with you in times of love and times of loss.
Of all the countless dance shows produced by Strictly pros over the years, Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace’s are by far the finest I’ve seen (and I’ve seen quite a few). I even reviewed Natalie Lowe, Jay McGuinness and Louis Smith’s superb 50s spectacular Rip it Up for Get the Chance last year (which you can find here). However, what little the latter show lacked, Tango Moderno possessed in spades.
Vincent and Flavia’s dancefloor magic has captivated Strictly audiences for years, but where they truly shine is incorporating stories through which the dancing is rendered not only enjoyable, but also emotionally rewarding. Ultimately, it’s the evolving and varied stories of the shows – interwoven with the incomparable dancing – which make them stand out, and they never tell the same story twice. This time around, the dance spectacular is framed as a sort of Greek drama, with Tom Parsons’ charismatic narrator acting as Chorus and chanteur as he doles out gems of romantic wisdom like a Shakespearean slam poet. The Shakespearean elements don’t end there – Vincent and Flavia portray ethereal love gurus; supernatural muses who play cupid to the lonely hearts of the modern era, much as Puck meddles with the hearts of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
As the title suggests, the tango in its literal and abstract form is brought into the modern era, juxtaposing the classic with the contemporary, the magic with the mundane. In that way, it makes dance feel accessible even to us mere mortals, even as Vincent, Flavia and co. transcend the bounds of your traditional dance show with bold staging, relatable concepts and beautifully innovative ways of conveying emotional truths through music and movement.
The modern setting started out as intriguing and grew more effective and affecting as the drama and dancing played out; not only is it beautifully choreographed and lovingly crafted, it also has a lot to say about modern life and specifically modern love, even featuring a sequence entitled the Blah Blah Blah Cha Cha Cha in which modern lovers embrace whilst still being attached to their iPhones (other brands are available), as well as an incredibly amusing online dating number in which the crazy people you swipe left on Tinder were hilariously recreated by the dancers posing inside a massive phone screen prop.
Vincent and Flavia’s unparalleled talents have been better expressed by more eloquent and informed people than me over the years, so what can I add that hasn’t already been said? Only that I’m deeply grateful that Vincent and Flavia continue to grace us with their time, skill and generosity year after year. I was surprised to see them take somewhat of a backseat in their own show, but found it to be an innovative and welcome choice in showcasing the talents of their wonderful co-stars, as much as demonstrating their own transcendent talents.
Every single dancer was sublime, and every number was a winner, but I have to shout out specifically to George Hodson and Mary Lynn Tiep whose dancing – both individually and as a partnership – was by far my favourite in the show; their dance ability, comedic timing and chemistry shone even among an already superb cast. They led one of the outstanding numbers of the night in which Vincent and Flavia’s cupids inspired their bickering couple to get back together and reconcile in let’s say a rather energetic way. Other standouts in the ensemble include Simon Campbell as a lovelorn millennial mourning his lonely nights to the tune of Luther Vandross’ ‘A House is Not a Home’, and Bryony Whitfield and Tom Woollaston who made for a sweet couple as well as sensational solo artists.
I was consistently impressed by the fluidity and ease in which each dance number flowed into the next. Adding to this was the idea of recurring characters – the eight ensemble dancers, despite playing multiple roles, each formed four distinct recurring would-be couples in matching outfits of distinctive shades who appeared regularly in between the group numbers. The presence of a narrative through-line, and recurring characters, really helps to elevate the dancing and give it an emotional impact as well as a visual spectacle.
There are too many incredible sequences to describe, but here are a few highlights. One of the most beautiful segments of the night was an affecting number set to Lukas Graham’s ‘7 Years’, in which the male dancers really captured the melancholy journey from youth to maturity. One of the funniest group dances was a combative Spring Cleaning-off, in which the dancers fought mundane battles in the domestic setting with lawnmowers and wheelbarrows for chariots and kitchen implements for weapons; a laddish soft-shoe to Bruno Mars’ ‘Lazy Song’, and a haunting, spiky Argentine to Rag ‘n’ Bone Man’s ‘Human’. There was also a spotlight for violinist extraordinaire Oliver Lewis whose rendition of Flight of the Bumblebee was so exciting and energetic a rendition that it left the audience simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated. The live band were utterly amazing and gave a vibrant backdrop to the onstage antics.
However I have to note one of the rare troubling aspects I have with mainstream dancing culture, and that’s that it remains deeply heteronormative. Vincent and Flavia’s classy cupids kept matchmaking a veritable conveyor belt of straight couple after straight couple; however, there was an admittedly brief, but very welcome openly queer moment near the end of the show in which two women shared a romantic kiss and decided to start a relationship with each other, much to the surprise and chagrin of their respective male exes. It’s a pretty big leap for the dance community, framed as it was as a celebratory, romantic moment for the two women in question (though it was played as comedic for their shocked exes). But as the only openly queer moment in the show, and a brief one at that, I found it to be comparable to Lefou’s much-discussed ‘explicitly gay moment’ in Disney’s 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast; a moment which ended up as all-too brief, and though it might have been a huge step for the historically conservative Disney, was not the representation the LGBT community was promised, or the much-needed representation it deserved. However, I was grateful for its inclusion, and hope that it paves the way for more queer representation in the dance community.
Tango Moderno proves once again – if proof was needed – that Vincent and Flavia are unmissable, unbeatable and unforgettable even while affording every member of their tireless yet effortless cast and crew a moment to shine. And of course, the world champions graced us with their incomparable Argentine Tango skill with a truly breath-taking, heart-stopping finale the likes of which I’d never seen. This is truly a show that everyone can enjoy, and if you can make it, I promise you’ll be tango’ing all the way home.
*Sorry I couldn’t resist. Dance puns, I’ve got ‘em.
Hi Matt, can you give our readers some background on this new production?
In 2012 I became a father and, it might be a bit of a cliché but, it changed the way I saw the world. It changed the kind of work I want to make and who I wanted to make it for. As our daughter grew we took her to see lots of different types of children’s theatre from Theatr Iolo’s baby show, Out of the Blue to Peppa Pig, Mr Tumble to pantomime; and it started me thinking about what kind of work I’d make for children. When we were making Light Waves Dark Skies in 2016 my partner Jacqui (production manager), Nia (producer) and me were having a conversation about the bedtime stories we read our children, and their traditional view of the world.
It surprised us that in the 21st century the majority of children’s books still have a very stereotypical view of gender roles. How many stories have a Princess waiting to be saved by Prince or a girl who likes sparkly dresses and a boy who gets muddy? There are of course great exceptions to this and a growing range of literature that tries to redress the balance.
ThanksMatt, how did this then lead into the development of this new show?
Over the course of our conversations an idea started to form, so when we began to discuss what our next project would be I had my pitch ready. “I think we should develop a show for young audiences based on Rapunzel, where she doesn’t need saving by the prince” – and from these little seeds Last autumn we spent three weeks researching and developing the show at Blackwood Miners Institute and WMC, who came on board as partners in the project. We started to play with ideas for narrative, images, songs and worked with a parenting group in Caerphilly to help us understand what works for children and what they (and their adults) want. We’re now in the exciting / nervous part, where set designs are being finalised, marketing materials agreed and I’ve just got an email confirming all the cast have accepted; so now we just have to make the show!
All rehersal photographic credits Kirsten McTernan
As a company how do you create and develop your work?
The company’s name, We Made This, tries to make explicit that making theatre is a collaborative act. So whilst I’m the director the best ideas might (and often do) come from someone else – be that a performer, stage manager or audience member. I’m in the process of distilling what we learnt in the R&D into a rehearsal script, it’ll be more fluid than if we’d commissioned a writer, and will have big gaps in it for us to fill in during rehearsals – but that’s part of the excitement.
It sounds like you embrace the risk?
For me making theatre is a live process – which should surprise me. So it might have been my idea, but if it turned out exactly as I’d imagined it I’d be disappointed – as I wouldn’t have allowed all the other brilliant ideas and minds in the room to shape the work and make it the best it can be. It’s undoubtedly riskier than a more traditional process, and each time we make a new piece we try to refine the process, and learn from our previous mistakes, but for me the end result is so much richer for it.
Family productions are often many audience members first points of access to live theatre. Is this something you ever consider when developing new work?
Yeah, absolutely. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to make a show for children and families. I want there to be people in the audience who haven’t been to the theatre before, and we’re working with our partners to make that happen. I still remember my first experience at the theatre as a child – panto at Loughborough town hall. And I want the work we’re making to have a lasting impact on the audience – the experience will be memorable and sensory, complex not simplistic.
The marketing materials for the production reference lots of popular fairy tales. With increased competition for live performances from on demand TV like Netflix. Do you think theatre can offers something different for audiences from film and TV?
There’s a massive difference between being in a room and sharing an experience with an audience and sitting at home watching something on iPlayer. I will happily spend an evening in front of the TV, catch up on something I’ve missed or watch an old series on All4, but being in a space with a group of other people, watching the same thing is different. Theatre is an ephemeral experience. It’s about what happens there and then. You can’t see it again the same way. What I see, is a different view to you – we direct what you see but can’t control it in the same way – it’s a very much more sensory and immediate experience.
The production has BSL/Relaxed performances and a Touch Tour can you please tell us more about these and why you feel these are an important part of your offer for audiences?
I think providing these performances should be the norm, particularly in work for families and young audiences. If we want to ensure that children grow up with access to quality work we need to ensure that family work is accessible. Watching Cbeebies, you see makaton and BSL used, so why not in live performance?
It’s also important to say that these are the more visible ways in which access is supported. We’ve worked hard through the development of the project to try and make the show accessible to as wide a group as possible. So that means working with groups who might not normally consider going to the theatre and asking their opinions, it means making the ticket price accessible, and it means writing about the show in a way which is including rather than full of arts speak and buzz words.
Thanks Matt and finally can you sum up the production for anyone interested in attending?
I can try! This Easter join us with Rapunzel, her Mam, and her new friend Daf in the forest as they set off on an adventure, for which they’ll need your help. The Girl with Incredibly Long Hair is a new family show from We Made This which reimagines the story of Rapunzel for our times. You can catch the production on the dates and times below:
Blackwood Miners’ Institute
4 April, 4pm
5 April, 11am & 3pm
6 April, 11am (Relaxed Performance and Touch Tour)
Weston Studio, Wales Millennium Centre
10 – 15 April, 11am & 3pm
13 April, 11am & 3pm (BSL Interpreted Performances)
14 & 15 April, 11am (Relaxed Performance and Touch Tour)
It’s common practise to begin a theatre review with a plot summary. This was not a normal theatre trip for me. This was more of a pilgrimage to see four of my favourite Deaf actors. So for the purposes of this review, I need to introduce my own plot first.
“A forty-six year old British Sign language student travels from North Wales to Manchester to see a play which has Deaf and hearing actors and British Sign Language. Whilst feeling very excited, she is also completely terrified as she will finally get to meet her favourite actors who also happen to be prominent members of the Deaf community. As far as she is concerned, she is off to meet royalty….will it be the stuff of dreams or the stuff of nightmares???”
Three of the actors have previously starred in Small World, which is a sitcom about Deaf people living together. Think ‘Friends’ but with the BSL march, Paddy Ladd and Doug Alker references.
There are four Deaf actors in the production. I first saw Matthew Gurney in ‘Deaf Mugger’ which is old but is still timeless to me (it’s still available on YouTube). If you are a BSL student check it out because I don’t think they will ever show you that in class.
He’s also not to be missed as Mitch the plumber in Small World, for which he quite rightly won an award. Secondly, we have Adam Bassett. I know Adam as the pedantic BSL teacher, also in Small World. There’s a scene in Small World where he tries to correct Mitch (Matthew Gurney) on the sign for Leeds. Any BSL student will recognise this situation. Being corrected by your tutor and other Deaf people is part and parcel of learning BSL.
Third in this ensemble is Nadeem Islam, who played Omar in Small world and is also the affable, Tigger like children’s presenter on ‘Up For It’ which is also available on BSL Zone.
What all of these actors don’t know is that I’ve watched them all in Small World countless times…and regularly in 0.5 slow motion to check their incredibly fast hand movements and facial expressions out. As a BSL learner; I am completely in love with British Sign Language. I watch everything I possibly can to improve my reception skills and handshapes. So up to now I have regularly scrutinised all of the actors I’m going to see on my 48” TV in slow motion. Can you see why I’d be feeling a tad nervous! With all this creepy stalker activity in mind and as I set off from the snowy mountains of North Wales to Manchester to meet these three men, I consider the fourth.
Last but not least…the production (I will get there) also stars Stephen Collins. I know of Stephen because of his work with DH Ensemble,Graeae Theatre Company and Ramps on The Moon. I became particularly fond of Stephen when I saw him in Found (BSL Zone) talking to Emily Howlett about how she found her Deaf identity and began to learn to sign.
It really moved me and I remember thinking how amazing it must have been for Emily to have had the support of Stephen at an incredibly crucial time in her life.
Upon arrival in Salford there was a chance encounter with the cast outside the venue. I know what you’re thinking; strategically planned stalker moves. No – it literally was serendipity. On seeing Adam Bassett…and feeling little BSL student star struck – I instantly start signing Leeds to him, thinking he’ll appreciate the Small World reference. He was courteous and polite and never questioned it, but probably wondered what I was rambling on about. I did manage to briefly talk to him after the show and I think I tried to explain, but being a little giddy from the performance maybe he just still thinks I’m a massive Leeds fan.
Grabbing a photo opportunity with Matthew Gurney, I remember trying to ask him if it was okay to Facebook these photos, but I’m sure I signed hotel to him…which could have appeared slightly dubious and I’m glad I had already booked my ticket – because mixing the signs for ‘hotel’ and ‘book’ up at that crucial moment could have been disastrous!
Equally as embarrassing after the performance, having recently been shown a ‘Deaf Hope’ video about the importance of sexual health checks which Nadeem had acted in, I found myself talking to him about condoms. Probably not wise as a 46 year and him a young man. I always wondered why people say “Never meet you heroes” now I know why. We often say the wrong thing when we are nervous…. those weren’t my normal conversational signs. Lucky me…. I can now appear idiotic in two languages.
Back to the actual performance…and all joking aside. Fully accessible theatre. An impossibility. Nope – not when it comes from Jeni Draper and the Fingersmiths Theatre Company. The clever use of captioning, voice over and BSL means that this play is literally accessible to all.
Up ‘N’ Under
“Set up in a bet with his arch rival Reg, our hero Arthur discovers he has 5 weeks to train The Wheatsheaf Arms who are bottom of the amateur rugby league, have never won a game, don’t have 7 players and spend more time in the pub than on the pitch. They are up against The Cobblers Arms, trained by Reg, who are top of the league, train weekly, are physically enormous and terrify every team they play.
Arthur is most worried however about how he is going to communicate with his new team.
They are Deaf and he doesn’t sign……!”
The three hearing actors. Wayne Pickles Norman (Arthur), Willie Elliot (Reg), and Tanya Vital (Hazel) deliver a stunning rhetoric throughout the performance. Reg disappearing often to voice over the audio description. As Hazel, Tanya delivers a powerful Yorkshire narration throughout the performance as she tries to kick the boys into shape, ready for the big game. To keep the Deaf audiences informed; the four Deaf actors take it in turn to deliver the narration in BSL. As I seem to be spending a lot of time watching terps deliver BSL to Deaf audiences at BSL interpreted theatre performances; this had an extra dimension. Knowing that both the English and the BSL had been rehearsed and this wasn’t an interpretation of the words but both languages being performed together gave me an incredible feeling. True equality. It can be done. Kudos. I can only humbly apologise that the three hearing actors don’t feature more prominently in my writing as they were superb but I literally couldn’t peel my eyes away from the BSL. I wanted to write more about the hearing actors but I literally didn’t watch them; but let it be known that it’s no reflection of their work.
Matthew Gurney plays Frank. At one point we see him leaning on an imaginary oxygen tank and acting a scene which was reminiscent of the old black and white silent films. Matthew’s ability to morph his face into what can only be described as grotesque features is a skill I believe only accessible to him and Jim Carey. Throw in Buster Keaton with some good old fashioned slapstick and visual vernacular (which I think can only be perfected by pure BSL users) and we have a character profile for his acting. He also provided plenty of sly jokes for the Deaf community directed at hearing people which the untrained eye would have missed. Being able to understand all these subtle nuances is yet another reason I love knowing BSL.
Adam Bassett (Phil) also didn’t disappoint. His dream sequence was mesmerising. Deaf storytelling is something I know I will ironically only ever be able to dream about.. Deaf storytelling is an art in itself and my companions and I lapped it up. There was no need to sign that we were gobsmacked to each other; our mouths agape, we literally were.
There were too many highlights to mention from both Stephen Collins and Nadeem Islam, who were both visually stunning. Lookout for Tony’s (Nadeem) explanation of how someone procured a broken wrist and the clever use of Reg’s sign name. At times during the production I was genuinely worried about the amount of alcohol that Stephen Collins (Steve) drank and wondered if his character’s name had been given to him as he’d taken method acting too far.
I didn’t expect all the dancing. Those boys can throw some shapes between them and I didn’t expect it; maybe the boys will pop up in Swan Lake next. My BSL tutor has often told me that he’s accused of pretending to be Deaf by hearing people when he goes clubbing and dances. Again, if you hang around with Deaf people and spend time in the Deaf community you will know this to be a ridiculous statement; it just highlights a lack of Deaf awareness.
The build up to it and the penultimate rugby match itself was a sight to behold. I go to the theatre with the hope that I can suspend my disbelief. Crafty use of acting and shrewd use of costumes during these penultimate scenes meant that I was able to do just that. I genuinely felt like I was at the match; I was terrified of the mighty Cobblers and rooting for the underdogs – The Wheatsheaf Arms.
There is unlimited scope for this kind of theatre. It should have happened years ago. Unfortunately for various political and historical reasons, it hasn’t. However, collaboration between us all is paramount to moving forwards. This play highlights not only the divide, but the endless possibilities of us all working together. I honestly can’t see any other way forwards. I especially implore BSL students to go and see this; put down put down your 2D BSL files, stop anything else you are doing and go and watch Up ‘N’ Under in glorious 3D…I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
Janine Hall with Adam Basset, Up and Under cast member.
Creating opportunities for a diverse range of people to experience and respond to sport, arts, culture and live events. / Lleisiau amrywiol o Gymru yn ymateb i'r celfyddydau a digwyddiadau byw
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