(4.5 / 5)

Christmas 2018, Banksy gives a unique present to the town of Port Talbot; Seasons Greetings, an artwork painted onto the garage belonging to local, Ian Lewis. The image, poignant in its positioning, location and ability to stir up the emotions of the inhabitants of the town, literally takes centre stage in this new production from Theatr3. In the weeks following the gifting of the artwork, Theatr3 spoke to the people of the town about their thoughts and feelings on the piece and the wider implications of it being in the industrial landscape of Port Talbot.

Writer and Director, Paul Jenkins and writer, Tracy Harris, have taken over 150 hours of audio and created a piece which is truly reflective of the voices of the people of Port Talbot, because it is literally their voices and their words which have been fully integrated into the piece. The play feels like a conversation with the people of Port Talbot; the audience are truly involved in the piece because of the brilliance of the delivery and the truthfulness of the lines. I have not seen a play before which captures the Welsh voice so well; the naturalism of the speech, including the pauses, the ‘umms,’ lines punctuated by the inhalation of a cigarette with no concern to the listener, it’s all so true and reflective of the community it is representing, without being condescending or belittling.

Design, sound and video blend seamlessly here to create an audio and visual landscape of the steel town (Design by Cai Dyfan, Video by Andy Pike and Ethan Lloyd of Apel Studios, sound by Georgina Nobbs and additional composition by Dai Griffiths). I loved the ever present ‘towers’ complete with lights, changing colours and twinkling throughout, creating the industrial beauty of Port Talbot. The main visual of the ‘garage’ in the centre is used to great effect, first bearing the image of the ‘Port Talbot Banksy,’ but changing throughout to the local greasy spoon, the Marie Curie charity shop and even at one point bearing the mantra, ‘Cofiwch Dryweyn.’ Simple but effective was the ‘removal’ of the artpiece, the image slowly rising upwards as smoke billowed, sounds echoed around the theatre and Time To Say Goodbye resonated, as the residents stood silently by and watched their Banksy being taken away. 

With inspiration drawn from Brecht, the actors change roles in the blink of an eye. Two rails of costumes and props line stage right and stage left, and they leave stage as one character only to, almost immediately, appear as another. The physicality of every performer is brilliant, never leaving you in any doubt as to the transition to another role. Clearly hours of work have been put in here to faithfully recreate the voices of the people of Port Talbot, it is eerily accurate, even stammers and incorrectly chosen words are copied and presented here, with my personal favourite being ‘muriel’ instead of ‘mural. The cast are, without exception, phenomenal. Matthew Bulgo, Holly Carpenter, Ioan Hefin, Simon Nehan, Jalisa Phoenix-Roberts and Kerry Joy Stewart multi role throughout the play; ever changing accents, voices, physicality, social backgrounds and life experiences.

There is much comedy to the piece, moments where the audience are rolling with laughter, rapidly juxtaposed with being brought close to tears. Port Talbot Gotta Banksy pulls you through a whirlwind of emotions as ever changing and flighty as the emotions of the town itself. The human experience of the show is starkly set against the experiences and shared history of the whole town. Act One deals with the artwork, yes, but Act Two dives deeper into the wider issues enveloping Port Talbot; the precarious balance of wanting the furnaces to stay for employment contradicted by the lived experiences of the residents; the soot lining their windowsills, the clothes on the line turning orange, the 33 year old dying of asthma and COPD. As an audience member, you feel torn between the steel worker, who’s worked at the furnaces for his whole life, who cries ‘in front of his butties’ and the council worker who urges us that we should be looking to the future. The uncertainty for the future, the fear of change, a town scared that it’s being left unnoticed and uncared for, is palpable, it grips you and doesn’t let go.

With the recent support from the Government for Scunthorpe Steel, the timing of this production could not be better. The loss of so many jobs in Port Talbot whilst Labour steps in to help with potential nationalisation across the border must truly be a bitter pill to swallow for the residents of the Welsh town. The play that starts with an artwork but that goes so much further is one that you really need to see if you possibly can. It gives all sides and perspectives room to breathe and opens the debate further; allows an audience to see perspectives they may never have considered previously. Finally, the voices of the people recorded are truly heard; the actors remove their earpieces and the words they’ve replicated in the performance are spoken by the residents; the original recordings echo around the space and the voices of Port Talbot are given the ‘last word’ of the play.  

In the words of Derek Davies, whose poem features in the final scenes of the piece.   

‘Now the town has suffered dearly,

In that town that’s made from steel;

But you cannot take away their lives,

 it’s how the people feel.’