Mametz
National Theatre Wales
Great Llancayo Upper Wood, Usk
In the heart of Monmouthshire, donned in my favourite pac a mac and waterproof footwear, I entered Mametz, by National Theatre Wales, amongst the trees and rolling hills of Great Llancayo Upper Wood, Usk.
This awe inspiring production was based upon a memoir by Llewelyn Wyn Griffiths of his time in WWI with the attempt of taking over the Mametz wood. The writer of the play, Owen Sheers stumbled upon a grave on 20 british soldiers in the Mametz woods and wrote a poem based upon this image. The combination of these two ideas created this production – Mametz woods soon reconstructed in Usk.
With a star infused cast including the Welsh comedy drama, Stella’s actors Catrin Stewart and Michael Elwyn , the performers were all on top form. Evoking every reaction, from fear to joy, sadness and grief to brief comedy and much more, we were brought through a rollercoaster of emotion felt by the soldiers and families of the time. This natural yet surreal production gave opportunities for the performers to stretch their talents. This ranged from double upped acting, to movement and freeze frames, showing that between the well established to the relatively new performers, there was no comparison through the sheer professional nature and inspiring acting skills.
The staging of this show was absolutely magnificent. When reading the press release, a 2 hour show with no interval originally seemed daunting and accompanied by the warning of footwear, I feared that this promenade performance would be more of a trek. Oh how I was wrong. With four separate staging areas that we were welcomed into, there were opportunities to sit , stand, some under cover and others in the woods. The one day so far in this beginning of Summer, we had rain but this gave more atmosphere and more of an experience of trench life; it almost seemed difficult to imagine such a hard-hitting piece to be covered in anything but a rain pour.
Walking to the first area, the large grass hill showed us two soldiers passing messages. By running over the hill and out of sight, we felt amongst the war land and wondering if we would ever see this boy again. And they were just boys. A cast of young faced actors put in perspective the reality of the age of the WWI soldiers. We were forced between iron walls, imitating a trench and with performers dressed from current soldier attire and through the eras to our new time frame, giving a feeling of time travel.

Photograph: Dimitris Legakis
Two barns were converted into, firstly, a French pub which brought a sense of location to the piece, and then a longer set amongst a trench. Here we saw the lives of each soldier, with the side of an old brick barn lit up through the windows, illustrating time back home. Behind the trench that we were faced to, the walls opened up to show the wood behind, where many images were created to , at times, give a surreal nature such as the injections of memory of an older soldier, reminiscing on the scene, to the warfare itself. We, ourselves were forced into a soldier’s nature, eventually walking through this to an amazing lightened field, where we followed the soldiers into battle; the commanding officer shouting at us like one of the men. Fear was felt like the soldiers from this interaction but was a fantastic way to move the audience.

The final scenes were carried out in the wood with giant portrait photos on the trees and staging of the soldiers. Forced to walk through the soldiers that just opened up to us in the barn being murdered and writhing in pain was thought-provoking and a shock to the system. NTW did not spare any risk in this production and that was a breath of fresh air.

I couldn’t help but give a standing ovation to this piece and through my tears, be in such awe. As a performer and theatre creator myself, it can be difficult at times to really become struck by a piece. War Horse last week gave me this feeling, but Mametz escalated this feeling for me. Productions such as this are why I love the theatre and why I perform and create my own theatre which aspires to be as inspiring and beautiful as this.

War Horse
National Theatre
Wales Millennium Centre
19/06/2014
Please note as an employee of the Wales Millennium Centre, the following review is my critical response as a member of Young Critics.
In modern day Wales, we became transported to pre First World War Devon on the Donald Gordon Stage at the Wales Millennium Centre. The story of War Horse sees the relationship between a boy and a horse his poor farmer father buys, landing the family struggling for money. The show sees the progression of both Joey the horse from young to old, with his love and devotion to his rearer, young boy Albert and the struggling life they both encounter when war breaks out. Joey is sold and transported throughout the lands during war and Albert strives to find him and bring him back home.
The stage professed a simplistic staging, beginning with only a large screen in the shape of a ripped piece of paper, hanging across the stage. This screen shows animations throughout the piece, from setting scenes including a Devon village to trench life to dates and places to put the scenes in context. Additional staging including door and window frames and bunting added a subtle element. The production is given a earthly and rural colour through lighting and costume, adding to the time setting. Folk music with fantastic solo and ensemble work is used throughout, with accompanied music for crescendos, helping to set the scenes and atmosphere.
This subtleness is soon evident as to its use when a beautiful folk song climaxes to the change of Joey from a baby to a grown horse, leaping from the back darkness of the stage and lit up in all its glory. The puppetry alone is astounding. The Puppeteers have caught every movement and inflection that these creatures posses. At times of crucial narrative, small glances at the horses throughout the show can show that even small movements such as their breath and small twitches are performed fantastically. Puppetry does not only stop here – the use of flying birds, large crows, a comical and purposefully annoying geese and even people are all executed with great knowledge of how these creatures move and react, as well as how the puppets of humans react well at the appropriate moments, such as being blown off a horse to the ground. How these puppets have been put together is also mind boggling – the urge to create horses with hair and other elements have been completely ignored and this is fantastic – this adds to the overall aesthetics of the piece but also give a wordless impact on the audience.
As if this wasn’t amazing enough, as, it could be possible just to watch the puppets for an entire show, the acting is also fantastic. The contrast of the Devon folk to the soldiers, even to other human encounters such as a French mother and daughter and the German army are all executed well and with obvious differences. These differences help the characters in their emotions and situations, at points even bringing an element of sympathy to the German side, arguing with our own historical background and what we see in British and American movies. Each characters interaction with the horses shows human compassion and lets you also fall in love with these creatures. However, Albert and other characters with significant changes of accent were, at times, difficult to decipher. Whether this is due to trouble with articulation through accents, the theatre space or both, some sound and vocality was lost, leaving gaps in the storyline.
Favourite parts (a part from the puppets) of the show were created with sound, music and lighting at amazing moments. Slow motion, freeze frames and such were complimented by these elements and gave the piece a sense of grandeur and the feeling of something really special. With not a single dry eye in the house (including my sobbing self!) at the (good) rollercoaster of emotion that is War Horse and ending with a standing ovation, this production is everything and more you want from such a fantastic storyline and theatrical piece.

As You Like It
Taking Flight Theatre Company
Thompson Park
18/06/2014
In this beautiful weather that Cardiff has been blessed with recently, the beginning of outdoor theatrical activity is very much welcomed. The first example of this so far sees Taking Flight Theatre Company taking over Thompson Park to bring us a Shakespearian favourite.
In the sun spots of the park, we are treated to a story about the daughter (Rosalind) of a banished Duke and her love at first site meeting with a gentleman called Orlando. The Duke’s brother has a sudden change of heart and banishes Rosalind, soon with her cousin Celia in toe. The women decide to run away to the forest where Rosalind’s father lives in exile. In the meantime, Rosalind dresses as a man and Celia takes on a new persona also. In a chance meeting, Orlando and Rosalind meet, and still dressed as a man, Rosalind plots to help Orlando with his intentions to woo her. Many encounters of confusion arise in this comical plot and Rosalind can be the only one to rectifies the situations.
Taking Flight began the show with audience interaction. Throughout, this was used but in subtle ways, whether this be a glance or use of audience for prop or even referrals to them. In this promenade performance, these subtle actions worked well to compliment the audience in the action and invited us to be involved. This even began with pre-show interaction in what was set out as a shabby circular staging area. Minimal set and props were used through the show, which was very appropriate as the acting was given space to stand out. The surrounding park area was effectively used as the stage, with a great use of levels in the trees and upon valley parts, pathways and hills.
The company brought a bit of personalisation to the piece with the actors use of musical abilities – the performers played a range of instruments and performed their own written songs for the production. This helped to break scenes and move the audience as well as provide elements of comedy. The folksy sounds also gave the performance a lovely summer feeling as well, especially in such a lovely setting.
For a substantial sized company, the use of doubled up characters was still effectively possible. Those who played more than one part were given a change of costumes, all costumes of which were of fantastic, bohemian quality, and easily managed to change characters. At times, it was a mystery to whether the actor was the same as the change of performances were so convincing. For a Shakespearian comedy, the facial expressions, gestures and movements were conducted in exaggerated fashion as would have been in the writers age, but not too much as they would have had to compensate for lack of light – all actors managed this with enough emphasis to bring comedy and to put across the narrative well.
Hijinx theatre company also had a fantastic involvement in the production. The joining of the two companies involved performers from Hijinx in both performative ways as well as ushering. This involvement evidently meant a great deal to those involved who enjoyed the comedy and to share a piece of the music and dance elements. A sign interpreter was also used which was great to see, opening many more possibilities; she was also integrated into the performance itself rather than a separate entity, including the final song’s dance moves, elegantly gesturing sign language to illustrate the song, and this was taught to the performers to create a lovely, happy and comical crescendo.
Overall, this show is fun filled and a great way to introduce Shakespeare to the young. In such great weather, Thompson Park is a great place to see this production and the company use this well to also introduce you to this great space. If wishing to attend, I would only say to not bring a lot (including deck chairs and such) as this promenade performance will move you quite a bit and did see a few audience members carrying much around with them, but plenty of safe access is possible for wheelchairs, despite this.
 
 
 

Rock Pool
Inspector Sands and China Plate
Sherman Theatre
30/05/14
In the Sherman’s second theatre, we delved under the sea where we were treated to a blown up version of sea life. The blue light and sound of bubbles and water immersed us into a tranquil and yet excited state; urged to sit as close to the action as possible, children were sat on cushions on the floor and a mixture of adults and children further back, in usual seats in this modernised amphitheatre.
Rock Pool is a tale of Crab and Prawn, who, through a freak storm are thrown together from the ocean to a small rock pool where they are forced to bond together. In this small space, Crab becomes hungry very often, resulting in trying to eat Prawn who reluctantly shares her lunch with Crab to salvage herself. Through this, they play games and live life, waiting for another wave to take them back home.
The production used basic lighting in the form of white washes and this becoming dimmed for night-time – spotlights were also used along with a big splash sound and the use of stools to climb upon to signify when they both look out the top of the rock pool towards the sea. This simplicity was really effective for a children’s show, focussing of the animated acting in front of us instead of fancy light effects.
The characters of Prawn and Crab were very well executed – Prawn (Lucinka Eisler) a tall, well postured character, came across as a geeky, intelligent and pristine figure, dressed in a combination of stripy pink, grey and white clothing, a see through rain mac and a fun, pink head-piece. Eisler kept her posture very strong and upright, with small arms with fiddly fingers to emphasise a Prawns legs. Crab (Giulia Innocenti) was in smaller statue and contorted herself into a ball-like figure. Wearing a red helmet which she banged when talking about how hard she was, this was nicely followed with a comical ‘ouch’ in return and red gillet to beef her out. In comparison to Prawn, she was a less intelligent and less knowledgeable creature. Innocenti’s movements were squat, sideways, with crab like hands, a posture which she managed to keep throughout. With this contrast, they were able to bond with teaching one another and having fun through the process. Both actors worked well as a team, with over exaggerated facial expressions and almost melodramatic movements, they brought the piece to life. They also professed very good improv skills to interact with the audience and play upon suggestions given.
Comedy was provided throughout for both adults and children. Examples of these being, Crab’s attempts to eat Prawn with BBQ tongs – the moment when water is desperately needed to stop Prawn from cooking in the shrinking rock pool, resulting in lots of water play, splashing the nearby audience with this as well as the constant use of human objects and items to bring more understanding to the audience, helping with a comical moment of Crab’s boredom where she dresses and acts like a ‘lady’.
The bitter-sweet ending where Crab and Prawn return to the sea, yet whose friendship is now torn apart by reality gave us a sense of sadness and but hope with knowing that anyone can bond for even a split second. We are revived after this by a song and dance at the end; a technique we were also treated throughout with the lovely singing voices of both actors, showing their collaboration and budding friendship again in their own small ‘rock group.’
For a children’s show, I found myself laughing and enjoying every moment, along with many other adults whose, perhaps, like myself, childhood’s were revisited.

University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, Swansea
Unknown Pleasure’s Symposium and 3^rd year final show ‘Ignorance’
Townhill Campus and Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea.
18/05/2014
As a graduate from the performing arts course in Swansea, I was invited along to a symposium with the final project title, Unknown Pleasures. My encounter with the project was a practical exploration in the marketing and events management field the year before for the children’s show Skellig
Unknown Pleasures is a final project idea for the last year students of the course originally designed by Volcano Theatre Company. The concept of the project is to team up with a Welsh based practitioner to create an explorative piece, in joint venture with the Taliesin Arts Centre. The pieces have ranged from site specific, to campus based and this year, based at the centre itself.
The symposium took a look at many research factors that are being divulged in the performing arts industry. Papers from academics such as Dr Sarah Evans, a lecturer at University of Wales, Trinity Saint David on a women’s based event and the engagement of the participants and the facilitators duty and effort to overcome this; Martin Johnson, also a lecturer at UWTSD on the educational system and the challenges this faces for being a creative practitioner; Jason Benson, another lecturer at UWTSD on his PhD of disturbance in theatre, based on Volcano theatre company and it’s ability to seek individual freedom of expression and Kris Darby from Liverpool Hope on technology based performances explored in schools. We were also treated to talks from Mess up the Mess and Theatr Fforwm Cymru on their projects and endeavours in the community, Zoe Jarvis on the community aspect of my Swansea based project, Creative Bubble of which I conceived and continue working on from over a year ago and the director Gerard Tyler on the production of Ignorance.
These speakers all gave interesting and very creative outlooks on different subjects, raising many questions, rhetorical and answerable as well as, personally, gave inspiration to myself as a performer.
This was accompanied by two performances by academics, Declan Patrick from Liverpool Hope and Daniel Hunt from University of Lincoln. Both very different performances; Patrick showed the desire and pain that dancers experience and the concept of the desired and desiring body of the student. Using contemporary dance moves, contrasted with a vulnerability his balance, Patrick opened himself as a performer, questioning the student/teacher relationship in the creative world and how vulnerable this should be. Using only a chair and his own body, the minimalistic nature of this performance was interesting in the sense that nothing was needed – Patrick was the performance, the props and the set.
Hunt began his piece in an energetic and elevated way. As audience members, we entered and stood in the space in silence, waiting for the show to unfold, with only a table of wine and orange juice and further into the space a lit table and chairs facing one another – however, this was not the case. Hunt encouraged us to bring an energy sensed upstairs during a coffee break, encouraging chat and drinking to ensue. This on a non-performance level was interesting in order to meet and speak new people, soon becoming aware that two of our audience members had become participants in the corner in what seemed a personal moment of light contact and hugs. To look felt intrusive yet awareness of what was happening was, for me, at a high. However, other audience members felt different or didn’t notice at all, not even when some were taken to help lift the participants at intervals along the room. One member of the audience decided to involve themselves and felt, on reflection, a sense of community from this – being able to make contact with another human that we normally avoid. This difference of community and ignorance was an interesting concept for creative’s such as ourselves to evaluate the audience as human’s and that the performance is still just, even if being ignored.
 
Ignorance
‘I wanted to make a sci-fi theatre show that wasn’t a parody… and wasn’t shit’ – Gerard Tyler
Making my way to the Taliesin, I was already aware from Gerard Tyler’s talk earlier in the day that this was unlike any other Taliesin show – sight specific despite using a stage, there would be an element of performance beginning in the foyer/area surrounding.
Awareness of the show beginning was evident in several performers walking around us in the coffee area holding envelopes and giving them to bystanders waiting for the show. Immediately, this began a conversation between us of curiosity and somewhat, need for an envelope just to satisfy this. I felt that these performers ranged in ability – some seemed in a character from the moment they entered the space and didn’t break this till the very end of the entire show and others seemed to drift in and out, leaving myself feeling as if this was half-hearted. This also was supported by the, from what later was revealed as the ‘ranger’ characters sitting in what looked like discussion in character form, to actually discussion about what they were about to do as performers as well as performers panicking about the amount of participants, then breaking character to ask audience members to help with this, breaking the illusion that they had seemed to originally convey.
Split into groups, we were given warnings and spoken to in a careful manner, showing that we were entering into a world of risk. Taken outside to the back of the building, we waited, looking at a man with a hose splashing an outer door. On reflection, the wait made sense with different groups and the different communication; what we entered into being played over several times and effectively, we were waiting for this to finish for previous groups. On entering the building through the water and being dried by large fans, we were aware that our entrance was as much a performance as the performers were; coming onto the back of the stage, performers ran up to us and began speaking and touching us, despite ourselves being on strict instructions not to do the same, with the awareness that previous audience members were sat on the stage or in the seats, looking at us. This voyeuristic nature was also supported by large television screens with a CCTV aspect, where these audience members had been watching us during their own encounters with the performers.
We had entered, what would seem as an apocalyptic safe house – CCTV, brick o brack making up the interior of the safe house, a small garden and these creatures in human form and human clothing, who’s abilities ranged from simple, almost child-like husks of humans to a normal intelligence. For myself, I wasn’t sure about this change in ability, as it seemed at times the most simple of aspects were hard to grasp but at others, their knowledge was intelligent.
The set itself, dim lighting and extra terrestrial sound was spectacular – the feeling that you see in horror and sci-fi films where they choose to save themselves in something known yet desolate was executed well – a theatre that we know or can at least sympathise with being changed to house these simple beings and us. The element of fear was still given to us in the form of not going outside, the harm that the rain [hose] could give us and the outsiders that were spoken of getting in or following was conveyed by the rangers who seemed to believe in the story with other rangers still lacking in this execution and the group of creatures who’s response to these aspects was of terror. Then the contrast of this, knowing the door was locked and that we were safe, the serenity of the creatures after fearful moments, gave a rollercoaster feeling that you would have in such a dangerous, alien world.
Eventually, the rangers made hiccups. There was someone new looking at the CCTV, when the creatures were enjoying their sunlight to keep their pigment at a normal consistency and stuck in a trance from this that they could not wake from, the rangers breaks and allowance of going outside with no fear, began to confuse us – was this still a safe house and if so, how come they had no fear of the outside world? A rogue creature and their love for DVD’s during the break when she wasn’t tranced by the sunlight and the rangers away from the scene, was comical and gave a nice interlude to the heavy nature of this world, until she sees herself outside… why is she outside in the fearful world? Chaos ensues, doors are open and the reality is revealed – the hose of rain is an illusion for these creatures, they are in fact copies.
We are finally greeted by a man in a new suit, entering in an authoritative manner – a contrast to the uncoordinated clothing and submissive manner of the creatures. His manner would make him seem as if he is the bad guy, keeping this group in this place and not allowing them to be in the real world. But his explanation was to look after these ‘copies’ of other humans and the cruelty of the outside world, and now with police on the way, we could no longer buy these copies, which is the reason we were meant to be there, but take them home for free – an uneasy feeling of being given a human as a form of slavery or like a pet.
Leaving the theatre, this specific actors performance left you questionable as to whether his actions were of good intentions or cruel to these creatures. Performers continued their performance into the surrounding area for another 20 minutes, never breaking this illusion which was a nice contrast to the beginning.
The momentary confusion, the fear and relief we felt such as the creatures and realisation of reality at the end provoked interesting concepts about the future if we were to enter these fictional Sci fi worlds and while, as already said, this is only fiction, I must give credit to the community of creatures for their undeniable conveyance of this, making us as audience members feel the same thoughts and emotions throughout.