(5 / 5)

Imagine a stormy night in a manor house on Tudor Close in 1968 and there you have it, the start of the murder mystery – Cluedo.

It all began in 1943, when Anthony Pratt challenged his wife, Elva, to create a board game. by way of alleviating the boredom between wartime air raids. Cluedo was born and subsequently turned into the internationally acclaimed murder mystery game we are still playing 75 years later in over 70 countries worldwide.

As a lover of female crime writers, Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers I enjoyed the challenge that Cluedo gave me. Although the two things remained a puzzle to me, what was the motive for murder? and why was Coronal Mustard always the killer? Maybe we were just bad at shuffling the cards.

Writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran are also fans of this great game and jointly they embarked on Cluedo 2. Clearly their love of playing the game throughout their childhoods was an inspiration. The characters felt familiar and updated and had a realness about them as they emerged from the game as fully formed personalities rather the more anonymous people on the cards.

Even if, by some remote chance, you have never played or aware of the game Cluedo you will enjoy the unfolding of this who done it.

This Murder/Mystery/Comedy is utter genius, expertly directed by Mark Bell you get a real sense of the scale of the manor and the dashing from room to room.

The set, designed by David Farley, is a triumph. It first appears to be simple and minimalistic but as the play unfolds you get a sense of size and scale of the manor with the ingenious props and moving doors. Farley also designed the first stage production of Cluedo. To come up with another original set that has the ability to allow you to move with the characters from room to room was brilliant I especially enjoyed the billiard room, it was clever and funny.

This was a play in which every cast member was equally important to the plot. The first half was a bit of a slow burn which for people not familiar with the game was invaluable. However, the second half was joyful. Quick, witty and full of fun with British ‘in’ jokes, it did not disappoint.

As Cluedo is an internationally acclaimed game so are the characters. In this production there are personalities from the British isles and across the pond. This led to the discovery that English is indeed the language that separates us rather than brings us together and this was played with great humour and at times almost had a slap stick feel.

The production team of Jason Taylor (lighting designer) Jon Fiber (sound designer) and Anna Healey (movement director) brought so much to the stage. The lighting during the scene changes holds you and then suddenly you are in a different room.

Thank you to an amazing cast of actors for bringing these much loved fictional characters from our imaginations to life. They did not disappoint and gave us an evening of fun and laughter and for the first time I discovered the motive(s).

Even if you are not Cluedo aware, this play will be a great introduction and a fabulous evening out.

(4 / 5)

It’s that time of year again, the Cardiff Open Air Theatre Festival has returned. To start, Everyman Theatre presents ‘The Tempest’, the timeless Shakespeare play with a modernised twist.

The play follows Prospero (Lewis Cook, who delivers one of the show’s standout performances), and his well-timed plan to get revenge on all of those who wronged him, who are now- by chance or by magic- stranded on this deserted island with him. Additionally, there are many intertwining plots and many characters. The audience’s favourite was the trio of Caliban (Luigi Challis), Trinculo (Elinor O’Leary), and Stephano (Daniel Ivor Jones). The laughs were consistent with these three’s antics, effortlessly translating Shakespeare’s dialogue into the universal language of comedy.

Other standouts are the young lovers, Miranda (Seren Vickers), and Ferdinand (Sean Rhys-James). Both actors are committed to selling their fledgling romance, and they too offer creative moments of comedy. Performances like these make ‘The Tempest’ an authentic and dedicated rendition of the Shakespeare classic. This- combined with interesting staging ideas and other, additional quirks added into the production, speaks to the ingenuity of director Rich Tunley.

The production design of the play is also rather impressive. The beach-like set- which held out well in the evening drizzle- has many cleverly-used quirks. A standout moment was when Ariel (Amanda Ataou), appears as a Harpy, brandishing wings that look like tattered paper, as the actors behind work to flap them menacingly. It makes for a great effect as the character as she terrifies the onlooking characters. The commitment to this stripped-back ‘beach’ aesthetic, as characters carry around dead logs, and wave worn, tattered flags, blends well with the magical element, which is portrayed through great physical comedy by the whole cast.

This modernisation plays to the production’s benefit, pushing the source material in unique directions. Aside from the obvious – a plane crashes onto the island, like something akin to the series ‘Lost’. But this modernisation also allows for some more modern humour, and for references to more recent songs. The audience was singing along and really enjoying themselves when the actors suddenly burst into a rendition of ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’. On paper, that sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it actually does.

This rendition of ‘The Tempest’ is impressively put together, and crowd-pleasing fun, one that is guaranteed to leave the audience satisfied. The festival can always be counted on to deliver when it comes to Shakespeare, and ‘The Tempest’ is a strong start on what looks to be a promising summer.

‘The Tempest’ is at the Cardiff Open Air Theatre Festival, June 22nd – June 28th.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Skylar has returned home to Port Talbot, disillusioned with life in London. Staying with her friend Meg, and meeting up with their other mates Jess & Courtney, all four try to deal with work, love, and life, while hiding behind a mix of drink, drugs and dancing. Meanwhile secrets are gradually revealed, old grudges resurface, and friendships are tested…

This play explodes with an intense energy, and a rhythm of language that is totally alien to me, yet is Port Talbot through and through. I’ve seen a lot of plays that were good, some even great, but not all had that special quality I’ve always looked for, the ‘wow factor’, and this play has it in spades. Written by Holly Carpenter, who also plays Skylar, the latest in our local production line of artists.

We’re famous for making steel here, but what’s not so well known is that we also make art. Burton, Hopkins, Sheen, and many more, we punch well above our weight, and although it might be early, I think we have another talent on our hands. As an actor Holly brings out the vulnerability of Skylar from behind her tough shell, a star turn, but her writing is just as impressive, and she is smart enough to give her fellow actors plenty of stage time.

The cast fully embody their characters, Meg, the calm eye in the middle of the hurricane, yet subtly knowing, especially about Skylar’s return. Jess, the career girl, manager of a travel agency yet with a wild side. Courtney, the ‘quiet’ girl with a secret of her own that might just change everything. And of course Skylar, the ‘hurricane’ itself, an equal mix of fury and doubt.

I found little in common with these four characters, but the fear of being a wage slave, a human hamster on the treadmill, rang a bell with me, as did the healing power of friendship.

For me the highlight was one character explaining their confusion over their sexuality through the medium of types of pie, which was funny, but also incredibly moving.

Jalisa Phoenix-Roberts gives Meg a hidden heart of gold, but with the strength to force Skylar to look at her true self.

Georgia Warlow shows Jess as someone with an anger born of desperation, yet remains a true friend.

Anna-Sophia Tutton portrays Courtney with a sweetness, but also with a subtle yearning.

The set is innovative and clever, a graffiti covered wall with hidden doors, cupboards and even a pull out bench. Director Samantha Alice Jones keeps the pace well, knowing when to ease the reins.

Although marketed as a comedy, and it is a very funny play, it’s also got hidden depths and important matters to discuss. Holly Carpenter has a lot of potential, I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.

I don’t want to call it a love letter to Port Talbot but there’s no doubt it captures something of the hope that the town feeds on and the strength of the community within.

And if this is anything to go by, I think I’ve seen a future star.

Dumpy Biscuit is at the Plaza Port Talbot until June 29th.

(4 / 5)

Beautiful Evil Things is performed over seventy-five minutes by Deborah Pugh on her own. She performs in a simple costume on a minimal set, mainly consisting of microphones on stands, but the lighting and sound effects backing up her performance are complex and continuous (including surtitles ). Pugh’s performance shows everything has been carefully considered – every sentence in the monologue weighed, every movement across the stage planned. All the people mentioned in the handout programme make their absence felt.

Hard work is also one thing you think of, watching and listening. You can’t help but wonder how taxing Pugh’s delivery must be on her voice. Her seventy-five minutes are a tour de force. I wasn’t worried she would be unable to sustain her energy level, but I did think she might have vocal problems if she ever had to perform six days running.

This led me on to consider how her material, drawn mainly from The Iliad, might have been delivered originally. The epic must have been declaimed and sung over an extended period because it is so long. Could a single poet have managed it?

– Which might seem a sideways consideration in a review but Beautiful Evil Things is intended to make audiences think. It reworks a small selection of stories from The Iliad to tell them from a female perspective. The narrator – Pugh’s main character – is the severed head of Medusa, the gorgon who would turn you to stone if you looked into her eyes. Medusa was there throughout the Trojan war, her head strapped to the shield of Athene. She comments on what took place, like a BBC front line reporter.

Pugh also incarnates a slew of other female characters including Athene, Hecuba, Cassandra, Penthesilea (the Amazon queen) and Clytemnestra. She does cameos of Achilles and Perseus and mimics the voices of Zeus, Poseidon and Apollo. She narrates, declaims, explains, wisecracks, mimes, gesticulates, poses, glares, smiles, laughs and cries. She takes her audience on a roller coaster ride and if she makes any slips or takes any wrong turnings, they are not noticeable. Like Medusa she becomes mesmerising. Her body is so essential I was not surprised to find out both she and her two co-artistic directors are graduates of Jacques Lecoq’s École Internationale.

Although Homer provided Western civilisation with one of its cornerstone narratives, we are not obliged to use the mythic material in the way he chose to do. Pugh and Ad Infinitum are free to present the interconnected stories as they want, although they run the risk of being overshadowed. Homer organised his material with a clear artistic purpose. He wanted to illustrate the beautiful tragedy of the warrior hero and the end of the era he personified. Hence, The Iliad is a macho story par excellence. Women are not irrelevant – the Trojan war is fought over a woman – but it was left to Racine, well over two thousand years later – to show them as tragic figures in their own right.

Ad Infinitum want their audience to think and cross reference like this. I wondered how interesting Beautiful Evil Things might be for those who had never read any Greek myths, for whom the background of the capricious gods and the wide range of historic characters had no resonance.

This is one problem the piece encounters. A second one is connected to it. To ensure that no-one is left wondering who a character might be, Pugh is obliged to step out of character to explain. This slows the imaginative momentum of the piece down, especially as the explanations have to be accompanied by modernistic reductio ad absurdums – ‘Life of Brian’ style.

And Pugh’s Medusa with snakes instead of hair, is scary but only in the way a pantomime villain is. So when Cassandra becomes increasingly important in the narrative, I was unsure if she was meant to be a pathetic, a bit funny in the head – or someone whose communication barrier anyone and everyone can identify with. The show’s purpose might have been better served if either Cassandra or Clytemnestra had been the focus – if the company had adopted Racine’s approach.

The overall impact, the success of the piece, is determined by the use of the varied material. Watching it being demonstrated and thinking about what it all means becomes a bit demanding. After an hour and a quarter, I felt I had been harangued, startled, prodded and amused but I didn’t feel entirely comfortable. Perhaps this was because there were no relaxed moments, no variation in the tempo. Pugh is fast and furious throughout her monologue and the semi happy ending simply finishes everything off. It’s not a very satisfying conclusion.

There could have been some softening, some stillness. Another dimension would have provided the show with more contrast and impact. This variation could have been provided by music and/or singing, i.e. in the way the original epic was delivered. More poetry, for want of a better word, and less rhetoric might have alleviated the strain of paying so much attention throughout.

Pugh does deserve the five-star accolades that she has been receiving for the effort she puts in, and the company also deserves congratulations for so carefully assembling a thought-provoking piece of theatre. I’d just prefer to see a play entirely of their own devising, with performances that didn’t require any running commentary for the audience’s benefit; a performance where an audience could be more confident of what their response to the work should be.

Theatr Clwyd also deserves recognition for programming Beautiful Evil Things. It was something different and well worth experiencing. Despite it being a cold windy Friday March night in North Wales, a good-sized audience was present on the night, filling over three quarters of the house. I’m sure they, like me, would be glad to see more work by Ad Infinitum in the future.