The Silent Volunteer, featuring Hiraeth by Sue Bevan.

Do YOU remember 1966?

Ah yes, England won the Soccer World Cup – lest we forget!

WE REMEMBER 1966

A terraced community aligned on a mountain slope. Aberfan, a South Wales mining village facing the ravages of time, when despite the warnings a darkness of coal sped downwards as a generation slipped into eternal slumber as heavy rain mixed with wind and an encompassing mist descended on the village that very morning

The date was the twenty-first day of October 1966.

Avant Cymru – Rhondda’s very own forward thinking theatre company – had been preparing the play “Hiraeth” producing the Valley Voices for playwright Sue Bevan’s portrayal of her experience as a young First Aider who attended the avoidable tragedy that struck that village community. Like so many others from the mining communities, alongside essential workers, local T. A.s (Territorial Army cadets) and including a newly trained nurse who in the future would become the mother of actor Richard Harrington.

Their memories linger long

Two venues presented “The Silent Volunteer” Two performances were at St Elvan’s Church, Aberdare on Thursday,11 April followed by two performances at the Tylorstown Welfare Hall and Miners’ Institute on Friday, 12 April.

Devante Fleming distributed the Meeting Agenda as people gathered at the Welfare Hall in Tylorstown. Matthew John Bool and Rachel Pedley joined Devante as Adam Vaughn addressed the audience to begin the play. They entered an exchange of conversations on the state of the past, discussing the present situation as Cler Stephens approached the audience. Cler’s monologue was both eloquent and poignant interpreting the playwright Sue Bevan’s very words

“Have you ever washed a child’s hand?” cleaning the bodies in an attempt to rinse the blackness of slurry and the turmoil that arose from within the deep blackened thoughts.

“Were you, as a parent, asked to prove how close you were to your child?” The audience remained visibly shaken

I would challenge anyone not to be moved by these powerful words. Cler was in front of the audience pleading for them to think of the future of their children and grandchildren. Their faces told her that they were listening. It was a genuine voice its message ran true.

The cast assembled on the stage dressed as of the sixties, mini dress, high platform white boots, the shirt and cardigan the dad who worked in the pit and the Mam in an office or factory. The Bopas (honorary name for the Valleys female neighbours as Aunts who would look out for the children in their street.)

A time when the children could play safely in the streets no heavy traffic, the boys perhaps wishing to be a Bobby Charlton (playing for Wales of course!), the girl who would perhaps become a teacher or for them to be grandparents to a family that would cherish them.

“You watch my windows boyo!” Bopas would shout as the opposing teams shifted the football from one side of the street to the other.

The Secretary who would take notes taken from the Engineering Official expressing concern about the tip overlooking the Pantglas School adjacent farm and village. Letters were sent throughout the 1950s and 1960s highlighting the danger and anxiety of the community as the coal tip loomed larger and larger. Urgent requests for investigations to be conducted answered stating that the “pipe” or “culvert” problem had been rectified.

Suddenly there was an almighty Roar that exploded within the Hall leaving us all slightly shocked as the cast remained rigidly still on the stage. The cauldron of neglect reverberated the terror of it all. The silence was deafening

It was around a quarter past nine in the morning when a catastrophic collapse of colliery spoil (around 140,000 cubic yards) engulfed the school and surrounding area.

School assembly had finished, attendance records were being taken as the children looked forward to the Half Term holidays No one would hear the distressing screams, the adults clasping the children close to their bodies, for they must have known what was coming and could not do more than cover the children in a quilt of love and comfort. 28 Adults and 116 children lost their lives that day. Do you remember?

Adam Vaughn sang Ar Hyd y Nos an emotional Farewell to innocence. Later the cast came down from the stage and asked the audience what they could have learnt from that time. Rachel portraying a Mam who was unconsciously wringing her hands in torment as she rinsed the school clothes of a beloved lost child. The World claimed Aberfan as its own with a warning that other tragedies could and would occur with no accountability

Tears were visible in the eyes of all the cast and audience, emotionally drained and moved by this brilliant performance highlighting the obscenity of such a disaster.

There were Guests at both venues. At Aberdare, the Lewis Merthyr Band played their Requiem to Aberfan. The Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Rocio Cifuentes viewed the assessment for compensation as “appalling”. It was a performance that left the audience in tears and still angry as it is relevant today as the village of Aberfan may lose its Community Centre

The Guest at the Welfare Hall in Tylorstown (the only such Miners Institute that remains in the Rhondda Fach and is the heartbeat of the community) was Natalie Sargent, Development, Manager Wales, of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, who in a Question and Answer Session alongside members of Avant Cymru believed that we should all share a community of voices for future generations. Let the message be that the coal tips of South Wales are NOT SAFE. Coal may well have empowered the UK and yet, with a cry, the Valleys are raped repeatedly.

On a personal note, across from my house I saw the landslide of slurry slide like a tsunami one February day in 2020 I screamed inwardly and groaned “Not again!” No one heard me. We were lucky there were no fatalities. My village lies beneath the Tylorstown Tip aka Old Smokey (as it once did) below it is a farm and at the valley bed stands the Junior School (sound familiar?).

Aberfan is sometimes referred to as a “unique catastrophe” Not in the eyes of the communities of the South Wales valleys. It grew from the past capitalist greed and gross contemporary official negligence for which no one was punished. A standing ovation was received by the cast members and playwright. They had told, presented and produced the story in a superbly thought-provoking way. This play should be shared across the UK

To end thus

To misquote an Agatha Christie novel

Why didn’t they ask the people or community /

There are some wounds that apologies can never heal

All photographs courtesy of

TRACEY PADDISON PHOTOGRAPHY

Adam Vaughn

Matthew John Bool

Devante Fleming

Rachel Pedley

7 Words 1135

Devante Fleming

Adam Vaughn

8 Words 1135

Matthew John Bool

Devante Fleming

9 Words 1135

Cler Stephens

Ann Davies

Jess Morgan

10 Words 1135

Appreciation from the audience at the Tylorstown Welfare Hall and Miners Institute 12 April 2024

11 Words 1135

Cler Stephens

“Have you ever washed a child’s hand?”

Monologue from “The Silent Volunteer” by Sue Bevan

(5 / 5)

For Black Boys, Written & directed by Ryan Calais executes several delicate themes within this production successfully, serving blacks boys worldwide unapologetically. Justice is performed intrinsically as the black boy experience gets relived & told through the lens of six black men, who speak on behalf of black boys prohibited from speaking their truth out of fear, incarceration, elimination or self-destruction.

This production deeply reveals roots of oblivion, shame, guilt and suppression; depicting the multiple shades & textures of black boy’s strengths, weaknesses, femininity and masculinity which inevitably get covered by layers of pain, denial, toxicity, fragility, conflicting thoughts, emotions and feelings as a response to feeling emasculated, oppressed, subjugated; as well as belittled from police brutality, high unemployment rates, pre-judgements and discrimination.

From family complications to what it means to then become the man of the house once dad walks out, especially when all your life you’ve been stigmatised, misunderstood, marginalised, disfranchised, economically stagnant and secluded. For Black Boys highlights raw truth, distasteful secrets and unshaken ancestral knowledge, depths of supreme black history to reverse disempowerment to empowerment, victory, breakthroughs, self-discipline and mastery to prevent gang affiliations, knife crime, lack of positive male influences and internal suffering leading to sorrow, despair & suicide.

Each personal experience, whether love, homosexuality, exclusion, mental health or hyper-sexuality was magically expressed through dance, freedom of expression movement and singing, belting from the depths of their soul to demonstrate liberation, vulnerability, livelihood and desire to escape judgment, to just be, to be seen and acknowledged in the midst of white supremacy and conflicting institutional spaces.

Each cast member brought to life characterisation that’s individualistic and unique, infused with variety, personality types and how being grouped to fit into one box label ‘black’ is detrimental, pressuring black boys to put on a front, suppress their emotional side and refrain from making wise decisions in the name of being a man that should act tough, insensitive, prideful & egotistical. This powerful dynamic reflected the difficulties affiliated with feeling a sense of belonging, community and purpose when you don’t fit the narrative of being black within social settings but may neatly fit into white groups until they state the obvious.

For Black Boys who have considered suicide when the hue gets too heavy takes you on rollercoaster of black boy’s highs & lows. Witnessing blackness being diminished and dehumanised leading to vulnerability to then becoming fully black conscious, fully present in this world and confidently outspoken as the foundation to a hopeful future, living with purpose, no longer just existing due to knowing you have the protection of ancestors, a legacy infused with powerful African genetics and success stories rewritten in your name if only you are willing to fight that good fight and not give up no matter how heavy your hue gets. This play touches on the significance of black boys removing the negative residue that the world had ignorantly smudged on black boys from childhood, & how irrespective of how much residue & scars visibly remain, black boys, you are and always will be special.

Highly recommended! For Black Boys will be running until June 2024.

CAST:

Tobi King Bakare, Shakeel Haakim, Fela Lufadeju, Albert Magasi, mohammed Mansaray, Poshi Morakinyo

(5 / 5)

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 imagination throughout, as this one did. Lovatt had been inspired by an article about Cwm-Yr-Eglwys and the fact that only two of the fifty properties there currently had permanent residents: the political backdrop of the second-home crisis being current and resonating with, not just Welsh communities, but communities across the globe.

The play opens with the audience looking in on a family home in a little Welsh coastal village abandoned by its former residents and now overrun with wealthy folk from the cities buying properties as holidays home or weekend getaways. The house in front of us could belong to any of us- there’s washing up in the sink, dozens of coats hanging on hooks near the door, most probably not worn anymore, a couch that’s seen better days, a table and four chairs donning a cork board and a door that creaks open with the slightest breeze. This is no Instagram home, but a home that has seen generations of the same family living under its roof, a home that is loved, a home that has seen more than we first realise. The phrase ‘if walls could talk’ certainly comes to the forefront as the action progresses. And there is so much action despite the play not moving from these four walls. The characters, the setting, the plot keep the audience completely hooked throughout- a real mix of hilarity and darkness and yet everything believable despite the explosive secrets that are unearthed.

We meet long-married couple Caryl (Victoria John) and Meirion (Dafydd Emyr) who appear to be at odds- Caryl has called in camp-as-a-row-of-tents estate agent, Gareth (Jamie Redford), to value the house even as Meirion insists he is never moving; this is where generations of his family grew up and he never intends to sell the house. Later we learn there may be more to his decision that first meets the eye, Lovatt consistently dropping hints and clues of the drama that is about to unfold. Nothing is predictable but we are left frequently wondering.

The outsider invasion is represented by Max (Gus Gordon), a Bristol-based marketing consultant who has just bought the property next door, which Meirion has agreed to keep an eye on while Max is still commuting back for work at the same time as attempting to salvage his relationship with his girlfriend who doesn’t seem all too keen on the move.

The drama continues to unravel as Caryl and Meirion’s thirty-something daughter, Seren (Catrin Stewart) arrives on the scene with a few secrets of her own. She escaped the village years ago, much to the disappointment of her mother. Arguments and revelations ensue and there is a constant undercurrent of something like the bubbling of a volcano ready to erupt at any moment. We hang on every word of each character, all of whom we can relate to in one way or another; the near retired wife who doesn’t feel wanted, the downtrodden father who has always worked hard but isn’t satisfied with his lot, the happy go-lucky guy next door who just wants to please everyone, the local estate agent who wants his next sale but who also has a heart and the daughter who moved away and wants a family of her own.

The cast are simply superb and play every word and emotion perfectly- it is impossible to single out one player. The comedic elements are skilfully balanced against the raw issues arising in this production and has certainly left me wanting to see more of what this writer has to offer in the future. From the set to the direction, the casting to the interweaving lives of these characters before us- this is a must-see piece of theatre!

Kill Thy Neighbour completes its run at Theatr Clwyd on April 20^th.

Kill Thy Neighbour | Theatr Clwyd

Cast:

Gareth- Jamie Redford

Caryl- Victoria John

Max- Gus Gordon

Meirion- Dafydd Emyr

Seren- Catrin Stewart

Company:

Writer- Lucie Lovatt

Director- Chelsey Gillard

Set & Costume Design- Elin Steele

Lighting Designer- Lucia Sánchez Roldán

Composer & Sound Designer- Tic Ashfield

Assistant Director- Ellie Rose

Intimacy Director- Bethan Eleri

Casting Director- Polly Jerrold

Wellbeing Facilitator- Hester Evans

Company Manager- Alec Reece

Deputy Stage Manager- Tyla Thomas

Assistant Stage Manager- Emma Hardwick

(5 / 5)

Love Steps playing until the 20th April at Omnibus Theatre, is written, co-produced and directed by Anastasia Osei-Kuffour. The play features two cast members, Sharon Rose; who plays Anna. Anna is young, black, gifted, driven and ambitious. Reece Richards, plays multiple male prototypes and well executes the variety of qualities, traits, mixed messages and nuances woman experience from various types of men of different races, cultures and diverse backgrounds in reality as well as via online-dating.

Love Steps delves deeply into each step required to experience to eventually reach the final destination ‘Love’. Whilst simultaneously highlighting the difficulties black woman especially tend to experience in the name of pursuing, attracting and feeling desired to tap into love within England. Starting off with Hinge, the dating app designed to be deleted (as the branding states) metaphorically depicted ping gaming sound effects, as we witness Anna swiping away until she matches with a potential, however, how much potential is there when there is a match? how truthful does one need to be initially? and is asking for openness, honesty & vulnerability too much once the signs are there that you’re both into each other, willing to give the dating experience a fair shot? if so, is it the guys fault by default preventing the love petals from blossoming out of fear, anxiety, lack of emotional intelligence and subconscious detachments from femininity, feelings and fate. This play smartly sparks a lot of gentle curiosities… even once you’ve left.

Poetry was nicely incorporated throughout the play to showcase various episodes of love such as the honey moon phase, initial stages of chemistry, romantically consumed with passion, excitement, butterflies, chances, openness, shared memories, realness, affection, hope, dedication, purpose & warmth… slowly wittering away to coldness, emotional distancing, suppressed feelings, talking less, loose usage of “I love you”, loss of interest, deceit, non-confronted deception, loneliness, mixed emotions, emotional distress; leaving a woman broken, numb and hurt; all in the name of love which inevitably conflicts back to a broken heart, a heart broken from love when you never saw it coming.

Captivating expressions were revealed to manifest the underlying feelings and states women are left with and how men spiritually channel regret, pain, remorse, disrespect and oblivion to their wrongdoings through physical theatre movement, which nicely complimented the space with the dimmed lit illuminance.

Love Steps speaks volumes of how much importance females can place on relationships during adulthood. How lost the mind can get, how healing/self soothing balms and recovery steps will always be unique to an individual, & how much that stage gets overlooked forgetting it needs to be nourished frequently, valued and prioritised during and long after a break up until someone possibly captures your heart next.

There are several fundamental messages to be taken away from this play. Anna being the first generation born in the UK gave her a lot to ponder on when making comparisons on whether her feeling undesirable, unwanted and second best would be her fate back home in Africa, therefore, finding self acceptance & comfort to ground self when caught up in waves of being seen as a fetish, sexualised, objectified, an option and a non-beauty standard within western society whilst dating all types of men, is the antidote to providing true sanity, tranquility & female empowerment when recuperating from heartbreak to give love another shot!

A highly recommended play that explores many crucial themes such as cultural dynamics and variations of dating styles that people worldwide are bound to experience from all walks of life striving to search, find & intimately connect with the next chance encounter to experience love at least once in their lifetime.

The Death & life of All of Us explores themes of identity, self-judgement, sexuality, acceptance, loss, growth, transformation. Whilst touching on indifferences when born into families with long-standing cultural traditions and morally influenced cultural beliefs that no longer serve us, therefore, battling internal-conflict to rebuild identify through adaptations and changes as we navigate through our destined life path.

From video recordings projected onto three different screens set like a cubicle around the stage to a live sound mixer joined with Victor on the stage, the audience were taken into the mysterious yet curious enchanting world of Victor, who from young wanted to escape from the confinements of his politically correct world where he could feel truly liberated and be honest with himself and his loved ones without feeling guilty as a heterosexual man from both Jewish & Arab descent.

The Death & Life of us All; initiates up close and personal incentives as we dive into his world of trust, love, intimacy, family secrecy and privacy. Victor’s preserved footage documented the openly loving yet securely enclosed connection he shared with his self-disciplined great aunt Marcella, the more she shared during the short clips about her past affiliations, left you hungry and eager to know and hear more! Due to the highlights of political powers intervening due to her past love interests working in elite jobs, and harassment/stalking from officials within governmental affairs and more – we could only sympathise and emotionally connect with her to gain sufficient support & protection during the rest of her chosen secluded life.

This play explores the unknown emotional turbulences we can all experience as a result of what we are made to identify as due to cultural/traditional beliefs and upbringing, confrontation of self as we mature due to no longer wanting to identify or follow what we have been indoctrinated or conditioned into from birth. Death and life serves as a metaphor where we are consciously taken through the maze of our own lives to acknowledge the concept of our past, present and future to simultaneously remind us that time is not linear and that the past is constantly flowing into now back & fourth.

Towards the end of the play we see how Victor gets lost in dance and rhythm as the music genres Dub mixed with Lebanese traditional sounds combine. The ambience increased as Victor’s dancing became exaggerated, eventually wearing him out. How our energy can slowly deflate as we reveal our heart, release personal stories, unleash nuances and strive to maintain the newly found sequences to our much preferred routine, structure and lifestyle choices with or without our family approval.

The melody of this play is packed with Victor’s humour, sarcasm and wittiness as you simultaneously ponder the duality and the significance of death & life.

Andrew Bovell is a world renowned Australian playwright with whose work A48 Theatre Company founder Ray Thomas became familiar when he toured a collaborative Welsh and Australian production of “Do Not Go Gentle”, starting at Chapter Arts Centre and finishing at The Drill Hall Theatre in New South Wales in 2017.

After the success of “When The Rain Stops Falling” at Chapter in 2022, A48 Theatre Company chose “Things I Know To Be True”, another of Andrew Bovell’s plays, for the current production which runs from March 25-30th at Llanover hall arts centre, Romilly Road, Cardiff .

The play is bookended by night-time scenes at the Price family home when the ringing living-room phone wakes up the household. There is speculation among the younger members of the family before father Bob lifts the receiver and answers ‘hello’. Before we know the significance of the call which comes at the close, action then proceeds to the front of the stage where the youngest, Rosie, gives the first monologue.

If you were thinking that the play’s title suggested a catalogue of didactic rants according to one or other characters, it wasn’t going to be this one. Rosie is telling us how she went travelling to discover love and life. Thinking she had got a result, we are shocked to hear the outcome of her encounter with Spanish heart-throb Immanuel in Berlin. When the scene cuts to her arrival at the family home to find solace, we are then diverted from the expectation she will receive a sympathetic hearing as her family appear and pepper us with quick-fire banter relating to past behaviours, some fond memories, others more resentful (e.g “I spend good cash on buying you a coffee-machine, Dad, but you never use it!”) that all but side-lines poor Rosie whose tale of loss and romantic disappointment is ignored.

The play explores the tensions created in the family relationships as each of Fran and Bob’s offspring reveal the singular deep and personal crises in their young adult lives. Bob is a prematurely retired car-worker while Fran still works as a hospital nurse, both have always been scrupulous about raising their children well and morally, to be able to leave the nest one day to create careers and family life of their own. The drama lies in how the revelations put a strain on the prospect of a happy dotage for the parents as their children reach adulthood. Such revelations force Fran to admit she has put small portions of her earnings aside in case she felt she had to leave Bob, to his consternation, while Bob has retired to grow his roses but finds it difficult to spent all his hours usefully satisfying as he had hoped.

The set is simple, tables and chairs behind the house-frame viewed from the garden area with a display of Bob’s beloved roses. Much is made of the tree beyond the fourth wall to illustrate character. Against it Fran beats her head out of frustration; Mark climbs it to observe the life around him, detached as he is from any sense of ease with norms of family and society. His brother Ben skits into view and out again to establish himself as a character evading the focus of others as he masquerades behind a facade of being as well-heeled as the privileged crowd he is trying to impress at work. Status and the value of wealth are hereby explored to a satisfying extent. Financial settlement at career end often results in a paltry amount considering the years of service someone like Fran has given.

When Ben confesses to mounting debt due to false accounting practices to fund his lifestyle, one parent is predictably outraged, the other unpredictably pragmatic. Ben’s brother Mark has decided he identifies as a woman and has booked gender-change surgery. Their sister Pip, a successful corporate career woman, is giving up the intimate care of her children in favour of leaving her husband for another man (also married). All these crises of the young adults throw the stability and hopeful expectations of their unprepared conventional parents into disarray.

The outcome is not surprising but still comes as a shock. Rosie’s second monologue is an inspired piece. Bovell writes it as if Rosie is imagining the thoughts in the overburdened mind of her mother as she leaves her hospital shift in the early morning hours for the last time, not for the first time her absorption in the case of a patient she has cared for being pertinent to her fate. The finale concludes with a wonderful silent episode where the children are dressing their father when all had been in nightwear moments earlier. Mark is now Mia and convincingly dressed and styled as such.

If the intensity of family dynamics is appropriately tense, the script is leavened with humour for some relief. The actors were admirably up to the challenges of some long speeches and fast repartee, if in monologue their voices dropped on occasion, making it hard to hear. A satisfying if unsettling drama, “Things I Know To Be True” is well produced in set and action, and recommended viewing if you can get tickets via a48theatrecompany.com

(4 / 5)

A pair of muddy trainers, a tan rucksack and jumper are the only items that sit upon the stage of Theatr Soar. The atmosphere was set by soaring Welsh anthems such as Green Green Grass of Home and Yma O Hyd filling the eaves of the converted chapel.

Liam Holmes as Stephen Jones, enters, in a square of light. His natural cadence and natural ability mean he instantly won over the audience’s hearts. Asking where his rugby boots are to an off stage unknown person, the moments of silence and glances towards this unknown character are poignant and we are immediately aware of something unspoken. The entreaty to ‘talk about it,’ leading to the awkward admittance of this ‘being a bit weird’ sets the scene perfectly for this moving piece about the pain of the Aberfan Disaster for families of the village and that inability to fully express the pain and trauma of that traumatic event.

The simple stage and lighting transports us from house in Aberfan to the waterlogged rugby pitch where Stephen is practising his kicks after his winning penalty against Dowlais in the semi-finals. The stage is used ably, the space filled by Liam and Tanwen Stokes as Angharad. The ‘in the round’ space allows Liam and Tanwen to fully immerse us in the story; Angharad watching from the audience, berating Stephen for being on the pitch rather than at home with dad or entertaining his younger brother, Dafydd. Throughout the play the space is used to great effect, bringing the audience truly into the action.

The sound is also excellent. From the soaring sounds of the crowd as Stephen steps up to take his winning kick, the rumbling of the ‘thunder’ that turns out to be the starting of the waste coal sliding down the mountainside, to the haunting spoken records of Dafydd and the parents of the lost children from the school. In particular, I enjoyed the use of Owen Sheers’ ‘The Green Hollow,’ echoing throughout the space and reminding us of the very human loss of this disaster.

I especially enjoyed the use of Welsh phrases throughout, which were used particularly evocatively during the description of the coal duff slipping down the side of the mountain. Hearing the Welsh then echoed with the English, or vice versa ensured that the script was still accessible to all. I would have liked to hear even more as I thought that this was an excellent device used in an innovative way by the writer.

The pair are ably directed by Michael Neri, clearly they have been told to not be afraid of weighted silences which leave the audience breathlessly waiting for the next line. The humour peppered throughout captures the essence of the valleys village, that easy natured way of speaking to each other which is balanced with what is not said, the glances unseen and words unspoken. With barely any props or set, we are transported between the different scenes of the action; the pitch, the mountain top, the bustling hospital of St Tydfil’s and the dark home of Stephen, Dad and Gramps.

The final scenes perfectly counterbalance the earlier humour and playfulness between Stephen Angharad. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as Liam delivers the final lines to that unknown voice, his dad, as the two desperately struggle to come to terms with what they have lost. The final cry from Stephen of ‘I’m still here Dad!’ as the lights fade brings the story to its heartbreaking conclusion, leading to a well deserved standing ovation.

The piece was particularly poignant in Merthyr Tydfil but the themes of loss, family, friendship and unspoken love will be met with universal acclaim no matter where this is viewed. I highly recommend Mr Jones, but do make sure you take those tissues along with you!