Let me tell you, if you like boundary breaking, the plain and simple truth and interesting physicality to name but a few, then you need Mr and Mrs Clark in your life.
A long-time fan, I have always admired their work, their
concepts and how they bring these to the stage. They are never similar, never
the same but always ground breaking and perfectly formed.
Louder Is Not Always Clearer draws upon the performance artist Jonny Cotsen and his life as a deaf person. The show Is autobiographical to an extent, but also makes you really see yourself. Using a range of media, physical theatre techniques, theatrical techniques and fine art, Cotsen brings us into his world, his difficulties but poses it in a way to create slight difficulty for us. Almost acting as if we are those who may not be as open minded and accommodating, we feel similar to how Cotsen has felt during his life – wanting to participate but being discriminated for something he cannot control.
An example of this is with use of sign language. I can
imagine not every performance goes this way, depending on who is in the
audience, but he begins a conversation with someone who can sign, finding them
by openly asking through this communication who can indeed sign. And to this
day, I still have no idea the conversation. This made me feel isolated,
confused and this was very clever. As to an extent, this is what he himself has
experienced on the other end.
He, with use of props, physicality and vocalisation makes
fun of those who are ignorant. Those who are surprised by how he can drive a
car, have children, those who almost shout at him to ‘hear’ them, normal things
that everyone can do – and through these, they are comical, sometimes heart
warming, sometimes astonishing at the ignorance and completely understandable.
Cotsen commands the stage. Unlike some of Mr and Mrs Clark’s
pieces which are abundant with physical theatre, there are times of peace, of
silence, of contemplation, and even at these points you cannot take your eyes
off Cotsen – he is simply a fantastic performer.
Louder Not Always Clearer is honest, it has no fear, it has no bullsh*t. It is unashamed, unapologetic and something fully needed in the forefront of society. Feel seen, feel informed but ultimately, come away feeling Cotsen’s emotions and with anger at those who are ignorant.
Think back to the Agatha Christies. Miss Marple, Poirot.
Think even to the extent of Sherlock Holmes. These crime stories, full of
mystery and far fetched narratives. Number Please felt very reminiscent of these.
When a telephone operator hears a murder on the telephone,
she is dragged into a world of secrecy, double crossing and spies. Enter train
chases, over the top character’s, and London (because a murder always happens
in London and alien invasion, but that is Doctor Who and off topic).
This female lead company came to bring us fun, frivolities
and intrigue. And they execute some of this. I am glad that it was meant to be ‘hammed
up’ as the characters seemed quite one dimensional, and my worry was for the
stereotyping of women. Saving this, the 1950’s styled era saw a strong female
lead, solving the murder and uncovering the mystery.
While I had a lot of fun and enjoyed their performance, I
could not help but wonder whether it was meant to be unintentionally of an
amateur persuasion or whether this was the point; a metta/ironic take on the absurdity
and predictability of these genres.
What cannot be argued is that the performers put their all
into their performances. Every facial expression was executed, every pun and
the fact they high-kneed ran for a good 5 minutes non stop is something to be
admired.
Number Please is a fun, easy going, easy watching show. If you want to just sit back and have a little giggle, this is for you.
The last thing you would expect in a city like Edinburgh is
to be swept away to the ocean.
But swept away, we were.
Ned and the Whale is the story of a nervous boy, obsessed
with facts to keep him safe who gets taken into a magical and fanciful world
inside a book, meeting exciting and interesting characters, helping each of
them along the way, and in turn, they help him to overcome his fears.
Flossy and Boo bring this story to us in the form of
puppetry, recycled props and costumes, musical interludes and comedy. Now, anyone
who knows me, knows I am obsessed with puppets and Ned and The Whale are no
exception. They are little things of beauty, and Anja Conti, (Flossy) and Laura
Jeffs-White (Boo) manage to move them with ease and such perfection, that we
even forget that there are real humans behind them.
But do not take that as they forget where they are – their facial
expressions mimic the character’s and shows that they are really invested in
their work and the story.
When not handling puppets, they are either other interesting
and hilarious characters such as the twins in a cave obsessed with slime and
parties with rocks, or a stranded pirate, missing his disappeared crew. Each
character I fully formed, well thought out and with their own clever unique qualities.
This isn’t Flossy and Boo, this IS the pirate, this IS the twins.
And then added to this, another dimension as Laura and Anja –
those who know this group will know how well a relationship they have on and
off stage, and how they play on this; calling out each other’s silliness, being
other funny and likeable characters. Usually these are as Flossy and Boo as we
know it, but this time around we know them as Anja and Laura, and love them just
the same.
Audience interaction is key for children’s shows, and this
is no exception. Child or adult, we all are given eye contact, smiles, no one
is excluded; we all get ‘slime’ put on our heads, we are all asked for
suggestions and we all love the whimsy and comedy.
Musical interludes are delightful, simple with acoustic guitars
or banjos, with beautiful harmonies and funny concepts. Personally, I could
happily sit with an album of just their music and walk away happy.
Ned and The Whale is a triumph of a production; fun, comical and magical, it still manages to teach us vital lessons of life and we leave the tent they are in, smiling and elated.
‘Soviet’ and ‘Musical’ are two words you would not necessarily
put together. So imagine my intrigue of being invited to this show.
Space Junk is the biographical and musical-styled hammed up
story of the first man into space. Once he reaches his fame, he faces a harder
life back on earth and faces losing his love for space, his love for his family
and his love for himself.
The production itself has a full band on stage – I love
this. I personally think that live music really adds an extra tier to
performances and it was nice to have this option in this production. The music
was all based on David Bowie – another tick in the box, another great way to
interact with the audience (who doesn’t know Star Man? Space Oddity?) and well
themed – a great choice for Slipshod.
Now whether it was the room, the heat therefore the need for
a fan make noise or a tweak the company need to make, a lot of the speech was
missed. Projection was excellent from our main man, but the rest seemed to get
lost to the space, and this was a shame to miss some of the narrative.
However, the main character is played by a brilliant actor.
His projection is on point, he executes the right emotions and the right time,
and really makes his presence known on stage. He somehow salvages where the
sound goes missing and brings you back to date. But also makes you feel
heartbreak when needed and really throws his all into this production.
The production itself is full of humour, typical musical theatre over the top nature and some kick-ass music to boot. Space Junk is a lot of fun, and something recommended to see if you fancy sitting back, having a sing a long and not needing to decipher too much of a storyline.
With the current climate, and the news of a new, and not
much wanted Prime Minister, a political play is just what we need.
Twice Over compares the political climate when our only two
women Prime Minister’s have be in office; with the use of two women, both in
their 20’s but at different time points (the 80’s and 2017) we see how ideals
have changed, how attitudes have changed yet the confidence in politics
remaining the same.
This production is very simple; two performers, a guitar,
basic lighting and basic set. For something with intricate and complex issues
in its narrative, this simplicity is all that is really needed to bring the
concept across.
Part poetry, part scripted, part verbatim, I found it
difficult to follow. The writing was
interesting and I loved the approach taken, but I couldn’t define the
difference in these writing styles and suddenly we would be hearing rhyming
couplets, the next an almost political speech. If there was an added dramatic
change to these, whether this was performative or even a lighting change, it would have complimented it more and gave
more complexity.
The music was beautiful – again, simple but really effective
and gave a nice break to the very hard going narration.
I really applaud the Twice Over production for taking on such an important subject, triumphing women and feminism. There is a way to go with this production, with a little tweaking, it could be a really hard-hitting production. Never the less, with politics in the current times, it is definitely worth seeing.
Ollie Horn, a young comedian by chance decides to move to
Japan. He has no experience in TV, as an actor or presenter, but almost
overnight, becomes semi famous on Japanese television.
Horn brings his comic styling as well as evidence in the
form of video to tell us about his time in Japan, why he went, what he
experienced and why he was on their tele.
Horn is energetic, in good timing and definitely funny. He
does well to explain Japanese culture but is admittedly still slightly clueless
after admittingly not integrating as much as he should. His antics are nothing
short of what you would expect from the hyper realistic and unusual Japan.
If you have been to Japan, the jokes land a little funnier –
true statements about how clean the country is and the polite interactions of
the Japanese is a general ‘stereotype’ but also rings true; comedy based on
these observations just jumps a little further for the experienced traveller.
His comic timing is on point – bringing a statement to us,
this is often accompanied by a short video clip, sometimes rewound, zoomed in
to emphasise, adding meaning, a purpose and additional laughter; we do not have
to imagine, we plainly see – seeing is definitely believing.
Lastly, Horn interacts with us well – his confidence illuminates his story telling, and while not every gag gets a laugh, he continues a momentum that never stops. Laughter or not, Horn can put on an honest and funny performance.
Sometimes it’s quite nice to see a celebrity on stage. In Wales, they feel like they are in abundance on the Welsh Theatre scene, with the pool of the industry in this country being small. So it was a surprise to watch For All I Care, and not realising until after that the performer was Hannah Daniel of Keeping Faith fame.
This surprise is a good surprise. I entered the performance
and found myself so engrossed that it was not until I read later on that day of
who she was; a performer who I (only too recently) had just seen in a huge
binge of Keeping Faith series 1 and 2.
For All I Care is a one woman show looking at mental
health, Wales and the magic that is the NHS. Daniel takes on around 6
characters in total – we see majority of the play focussing on the relationship
between Clara and Nyri; two very different women leading very different lives.
Clara is a young woman suffering with her mental health, and attempted suicide.
Nyri is a mental health nurse who tries to help Clara, but she is not totally
altogether herself. Daniel also takes on other intermittent characters such as
Marco, the mental health Doctor, Nyri’s son, Alex the younger man Nyri sleeps
with and ‘The Devil’; Clara’s controlling crime boss.
Daniel does a brilliant job of chopping and changing these
characters – to help with this the basic staging has 3 microphones hanging from
the ceiling. She picks these up when another character comes in to the scene,
into the main character’s story. This creates a barrier; it is so disassociated
and almost hyper-real that it works; it suspends our disbelief and we see that
other person, almost as if another actor had walked in. My only criticism is
that we know Daniel is capable of more, and for me, it felt like there needed
to be more definition of each character, whether this meant more of a physical
change, more pronounced vocal differences or both.
The narrative itself is a fresh take on mental health; with
this once taboo subject being encouraged more into main media and society,
there’s many a play I have seen where the medical professional is clean nosed
and almost angelic. Clara has real problems; real psychological issues. And while
Nyri may not be to this level, her life is not perfect; she still makes
mistakes, she has her own issues and her own past. She is more relatable and
more likeable than other productions that make us almost shake our head at the
lack of realism to a medical character.
For All I Care is a lovely piece; it provides a fresh narrative, and really has the ability to showcase a performer as a solo talent, with some minor tweaking.
Music echoed around the valley, the time had come. Radio Rhondda had come to the Rhondda Fach with its supporters and volunteers. The hills surrounding the area, nestled between the villages of Tylorstown and Ferndale were alive with the sounds of people enjoying themselves as the music reached out on the airwaves. Community radio had come to the communities of the Rhondda Fach.
A beautiful sunny day, the pleasant and atmospheric venue of the Scoops & Smiles Diner/Parlour in Oakland Terrace which had been the premises of the former Lockyer and Pacey Garage and forecourt. How many cars had been bought or stopped to refuel there over the years? Present day traffic hooted as they drove past; water fountains were available to all (as were toilet facilities) plus a cool area inside the Diner or at the rear of the building.
Colourful balloons adorned the area provided by ‘Just for you’ of Ferndale, there were stalls offering information on Cancer Research and Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water as they continue their essential work throughout the area renewing water pipes. Representatives from the Police were also present. The central part of the programme was the Official launch of Radio Rhondda in the Rhondda Fach, which was performed by the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Susan Morgans (Ferndale Ward) and Councillor Jack Harries (Maerdy Ward). The diner offered all the delights and descriptive flavours of ice cream in cones and tubs – marshmallows on crepes – plus their usual food fare. Children dug deep into sweet bottles that were offered to them, finding themselves lucky to receive various extra goodies. Face painting with the logo of the station was available. Free key rings and notices promoted the event. A Raffle was held with prizes donated by local businesses.
Commentators promoted the Radio station, introducing their main
programme holders and interviewing local people. There was a miscellany of
music provided by their own presenters, including Lorraine Jones and a chat
about gardening from Terry Walton. Musical compositions were provided by the
group Fiddlers Elbow (where were you, Gerhard Kress?) The Arts Factory Ferndale
duo of Ben and Louise provided a melody of songs which received phone calls
from people who knew them having tuned into the station. Thanks and appreciation
to Louise for mentioning our group RCT Creative Writers.
It was a warm day, which offered entertainment and
conversations with people who soon became friends. Sun cream and Sunhats were
the essential requirements on this day.
Thank you to Radio Rhondda and all who supported and
volunteered for this event. Please come again.
Perhaps like WAM (Mike Church) and Voices from the Bridge
(Rob Cullen) you should go “On Tour” People
in the Rhondda Fach are friendly and creative persons although we often feel forgotten!
Focus Wales in one of the nation’s premier music showcase festivals. Held in Wrexham, it brings together some of the best people in the music industry for three days of talks, meetings, and, of course, musical sets. The best of both emerging and more established talent from Wales and beyond featured on various stages around the town centre. Headliners on Friday night, 9Bach were excellent, as per usual. But apart from these giants of the Welsh folk scene, who else stood out? Here are my personal ‘ones to watch’ from this year’s festival:
Hannah Willwood
Hailing from Snowdonia and currently studying in Leeds,
Hannah Willwood and her band created the most incredible sound during their
set. Blending jazz, folk and indie, her music is at once familiar yet fresh and
unique. With resonances of an earlier era, it is a sound that intrigues,
mesmerises, and captivates. This girl is going places.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HWV9zkb3gg
Katie Mac
If I had to pick a winner for Best Performance at this
year’s festival, I would award it to Katie Mac. The singer-songwriter from
Huyton played an absolute blinder from start to finish. She delivered such an
enthralling set that I became completely absorbed in the experience. Here was a
prime example of quality songwriting overlaid with some incredibly accomplished
musicianship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfJA0Pep42o
Albert Jones
He proved popular with the Old Bar No.7 crowd. And it wasn’t
just his interaction with the audience that made this performer standout. Take
a listen to Albert Jones and you will find a vocal that is incredibly soulful and
wonderfully versatile. Comparisons with James Morrison are inevitable. But to
try and pin down his sound is much more difficult. Whether blues, country, folk
or pop, it seems that Jones can turn his hand to anything. A really engaging
performer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umPZ2oXymks
The Dunwells
What a stonker of a set from The Dunwells. Full of energy, enthusiasm and real excitement, every
song seemed to be a crowd-pleasing anthem. They not only succeeded in winning
over a raucous, increasingly drink-fuelled crowd. They managed to encourage
some well-judged audience participation that only added to the feel-good
factor, rounding off the festival (for me at least) in style.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSGZPAClZgM
If God Were a Woman / Beta Test
The inaugural Focus Wales Short Film Festival had an excellent shortlist of eight films. All independent, all made to a high standard, my personal front-runners were If God Were a Woman and Beta Test. The former is a provocative and thought-provoking spoken word from Evrah Rose, made all the more so by the choice of director Joe Edwards to film in a derelict Church. The latter is an American production that is very much in the mould of Black Mirror. It sees Eric Holt enter into a simulated world to relive some of his favourite memories. But then a glitch in the programme leaves him facing much darker stuff.
The Young
Artist’s Festival (YAF) is a week-long, annual event run by The Other Room,
Cardiff’s only pub theatre. For the festival, the theatre invites between 35-50
participants from Wales’ emerging creative scene into their doors to gain
invaluable experience working with their peers.
The
initiative is open to actors, writers, directors and stage managers and aims to
provide an opportunity to explore their chosen discipline, encourage
collaboration and artistic risk-taking. The participants are shown the value of
hard work with an intense, but rewarding, week. They’re given the opportunity
to work with new, contemporary work. But the ultimate aim is for participants
to gain confidence, grow and keep creating beyond YAF.
The week
starts with various workshops and talks from The Other Room’s staff and
industry professionals from a broad range of backgrounds. These workshops
include casting, starting and maintaining a company, arts council applications,
marketing, community theatre as well as sessions for skill-sharing and
networking. They also have specific workshops within their respective
disciplines with industry professionals.
The participants are then introduced to their companies, comprised of a group of actors, one director and one writer, and start working towards their end-of-week goals. Actors and directors present a performance of a given commissioned script and a dramatic rehearsed reading of their writer’s script. Writers write that ten-minute play whilst stage managers make it all happen.
Actors
The actors workshop this year was with Keiron Self and had a
specific focus on how an actor interprets text. The actors from YAF tell me
this was vital for the short rehearsal period they had. You don’t have long to
get to know your character, and it’s especially important in shorter pieces
where characters rely more on performance for characterisation.
Once the actors are in the
rehearsal room they have a couple of days to get off book before their first
performance. Something some saw as a somewhat daunting task, having never done
it in such a short space of time before. However, they realise it’s perfectly
possible and that the experience is vital for them moving forward. Especially
when preparing for auditions or working in the fringe environment where time to
learn lines is limited.
The performances at the end of the week come and go, but it’s
really about the experience of the week, of putting yourself out there and on
stage that seems to last beyond the week for the actors.
Directors
The directors had a workshop with Simon Harris, who focused
on doing text work before rehearsals and working with new writing. The
directors tell me this was great experience going in. Often their teaching has
focused on working in the room and once again, the workshop complimented the
direction process for the week.
The directors also have a production meeting with stage
managers where they set out their vision and discuss the possibilities. This is
something few of the directors had done before and again, it’s something that
really helps with their personal growth.
Directors also expressed the experience of being able to work
with a writer and have them in the room. Directing for rehearsed reading is something
that kept coming up also. Directing with a specific focus on displaying the
writing, which is different from directing the commissioned piece. Directing
both during the week is a valuable experience to take away.
The trust and support given to directors to control not one,
but two pieces of theatre, be placed in a room full of actors and deliver their
own vision is something the directors also spoke highly of. The support from
The Other Room’s artistic director Dan Jones and YAF producer Claire Bottomly was
a big part of the director’s experience.
Stage
Managers
As previously mentioned, the directors and stage managers
have a production meeting near the start of the week. For the stage managers
this is something none of them had done in this way before and is extremely
helpful moving into YAF.
The stage managers are very hands-on during the week. With the
support of a professional stage manager, in 2019 being Kristian Rhodes, they
effectively make the shows happen. Bringing the director’s visions to life by
sorting set, sourcing props and arranging lighting and sound. They’re present
in some of the rehearsal process and get to tech a run of the final
performances.
Overall, the experience is positive for the stage managers.
They’re constantly busy and feel like they’re just on the job. But, crucially,
have that support from a senior stage manager and The Other Room staff.
Writers
The writers start their week in a writing workshop with a
professional playwright. This year, and the year I did it in 2017, it was with
Matthew Bulgo. Bulgo is an excellent playwright and I can say from experience, very
good at leading a workshop. He focuses this one on structure and writing for
short-form, which is key for the week moving forward. All writers expressed how
helpful this was on many levels.
Bulgo also returns to offer feedback, which is also offered
by The Other Room’s staff throughout the week.
The writers spend the first half of the festival writing a
ten-minute play. Something that sounds quite scary at first, but from watching
the scripts performed at the end, easily possible to a good standard.
Writers then go into the rehearsal room on the Friday and Saturday
to see their scripts rehearsed. This is a new experience for some, as is what
happens in the afternoon on the Saturday when their scripts are performed in a
dramatic rehearsed reading.
The writers seem to be the most stressed during the week, but as a result the most relieved and happiest at the end when they see their work. It’s an intense but rewarding week and in some cases the writers take their scripts and develop them further.
Speaking to participants from all disciplines, it’s clear
they’re there for similar reasons. To make connections and friends, learn,
explore, grow, reignite a passion, re-motivate, progress ideas, bounce off
others, practice professionalism and a collaborative process in a supportive
environment.
By the end it’s clear the week has been valuable, often in
more ways than they realise. It gives participants a sense of pride if they
need it or helps to ground them if they’re more critical. To realise that not
everything has to be a masterpiece, and anything produced within a week won’t
be perfect. But that it can be done. It shows them that this can be done and
all it takes is a bit of hard work and the knowledge, which YAF provides, to do
it.
When I did the Young Artists Festival in 2017, it didn’t seem
much different. The main difference is it seems more focused on creating an
environment of collaboration. Not that it wasn’t there in 2017. It’s hard to
really progress YAF every year, because it’s always been a really great week
for anyone involved. They’ve always been aware that people are different and
always tried to cater to everyone, making young artists feel comfortable in an
environment that, for many, is fairly alien – the world of professional theatre
making.
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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