Get the Chance values the role playwrights living and working in Wales bring to the cultural life of our nation. Here is our third interview in this series with playwright Mark Williams. Hi Mark great to meet you, so what got you interested in writing? I’ve always loved stories, and was a big reader of … Continue reading An Interview with playwright Mark Williams
To begin, Mark, unlike other comedians, does not have a warm-up act; he takes on the role himself as he likes to use this time to get the feel for his audience. Mister Watson is not your usual joke-a-minute comedian, instead he takes a more subtle approach; his gags disguised along the way in what … Continue reading Review Mark Watson, Theatr Clwyd by Russell Williams
Those who are lucky enough to get over to Theatr Clwyd in Mold over the next week or so to witness Kill Thy Neighbour will be surprised to learn that this is writer Lucie Lovatt’s first full-length play. It has been a long time since I saw a play that captured my full attention and … Continue reading Review Kill Thy Neighbour, Theatr Clwyd By Donna Williams
Its title is perhaps deceiving. For there are many ways to describe The Way. Realist, certainly, but both magic and social. Incorporating documentary-style shots with archive footage. Alluding constantly to myth and legend. And that fine line between the supernatural and the imagined. All such elements contribute to what feels like something that wants to … Continue reading Review, The Way, BBC Wales, by Gareth Williams
Bariau is the latest series to enter the realm of prison drama. With Time and Screw already making a mark in their respective ways, it is the turn of S4C to put a Welsh spin on the subgenre. Bariau follows the blueprint of the other two insofar as real-life stories inform the onscreen narratives. Verisimilitude … Continue reading Series Review, Bariau, S4C by Gareth Williams
Celia Cruwys-Finnigan as Muddles, Phylip Harries as Nurse Nellie and Dan Bottomley as King Dom in Sleeping Beauty at Theatr Clwyd. Picture by Andrew AB Photography Theatr Clwyd is currently undergoing lots of exciting changes including the refurbishment of the Anthony Hopkins theatre in which their annual rock ‘n’ roll panto usually takes place. Therefore, … Continue reading Review Sleeping Beauty, Theatr Clwyd by Donna Williams
A turning point? Branwen: Dadeni certainly feels like it. This “epic new Welsh language musical” heralds a potentially exciting new era for the nation’s theatre. Why? Because it is by far the most ambitious, large-scale theatre production in the Welsh language yet. Testament to what can be achieved when the might of Wales Millennium Centre … Continue reading Review, Branwen: Dadeni, A Wales Millennium Centre & Frân Wen Production, by Gareth Williams
What is striking about Welsh play Imrie is its richness. Rich in language. Rich in description. Rich in lighting. Rich in characterisation. This coming-of-age story is like a rainbow bursting into life, pouring its colour out on stage with a vibrancy that reverberates throughout the whole production. Each element resembles a charged particle which, in … Continue reading Review, Imrie, A Sherman/Fran Wen co-production, at Theatr Clwyd, by Gareth Williams
Three weeks in the Arctic Circle has certainly left its mark on Jodie Marie. The Welsh singer-songwriter’s new EP shivers with the cold fjord breeze and echoes the icy terrain of Norway’s northern tip. Yet there is also a log-fire intimacy and crunching of soft snow in its sound. It evokes a wild landscape of … Continue reading Polar Night, Jodie Marie, by Gareth Williams
Following two hugely successful seasons in London’s West End and a WhatsOnStage award for Best New Musical, Heathers is back for a new UK and Ireland tour this year. Music, lyrics and book by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy, this high octane, dark-comedy, smash-hit is based on the 1989 cult movie of the same name, … Continue reading Review Heathers the Musical, Theatr Clwyd By Donna Williams
