Category Archives: Theatre

Review The King and I, New Theatre Cardiff by Jane Bissett.

 out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

This is the first time I have been to the theatre since lockdown and this was a most wonderful reintroduction. There is nothing that compares to live theatre and this opportunity did not disappoint and I would certainly recommend this musical to everyone.

When composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein teamed up they became the greatest musical partnership of all time. Their influence and innovation to theatre musicals has been celebrated the globe over.

This production of The King and I comes to Cardiff following a critically-acclaimed season at The London Palladium where it was no surprise that it was a sell out!
 

From curtain up the audience was transported and transfixed to another world far from the mundane. For many the bench mark for this elaborate musical is the 1956 film with screen performances of Deborah Kerr (Anna) and Yul Brynner (King Mongkut).

The West End’s Annalene Beechey and Broadway’s Darren Lee did not disappoint with their interpretation and performances that transported us to the Siam of Margaret Landon’s novel Anna and the King of Siam on which the musical is based.

The story follows Anna, a widow, and her son as they travel to Bangkok, where Anna has been assigned as a tutor to the King’s children. Anna soon finds herself having cultural clashes and differences with the King whilst endearing herself to both the children and the king’s many wives.

The Royal children were a delight, completing the illusion of being in a far country at a different time.

There are also the side stories of star crossed lovers and references to slavery. These must be viewed in context but the female narrative cannot be ignored and gives additional depth to the story as a whole.

The stand out actor for me was Caleb Lagayan, who excelled as a truly believable Prince Chulalongkorn. His voice was powerful, captivating and commanded the stage.

From the golden age of musicals, The King and I is one of the greatest, with what many would consider one of the finest scores ever written.

Many in the audience seemed to genuinely find it difficult not to sing along to the familiar songs including Whistle a Happy Tune and Shall We Dance.
 
Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher and his internationally renowned creative team created the atmosphere of old Siam. The wonderful full-scale orchestra led by Christoper Munday, must be given credit for keeping us spell bound all evening, even before the curtain rose.

A truly memorable evening I would recommend to everyone.

Review Queer Collision, RWCMD by Rhys Payne

 out of 5 stars (5 / 5)

In recent times we have seen a rise in the number of productions that have leaned into the idea of an experience rather than simply watching and passively enjoying a performance. Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama recently was home to such a production titled “Queer Collision.” 

Before the main auditorium opened for the staged production, the team behind this project decided to facilitate a cabaret show. One of the main headliners of this pre-show cabaret was Ebony Rose Dark who is a visually impaired singer who delivered a wonderful collection of spoken word style performances. During one point in this performance, Ebony burst into a fabulous dance break complete with audio descriptions of what she was doing throughout. Their energy throughout this performance was infectious which was the perfect way to get the audience ready for the main show later! One of my favourite quotes of the evening came from Ebony as she described being a VIP guest at this event but instead of the classic very important person, she was a visually impaired person! It was not only entertainment that Ebony was interested in delivering this evening however, they also managed to sprinkle in the perfect amount of education as they talked about the importance/purpose of a cane for visually impaired people.

I have to say that I was totally captivated by the mesmerising Rajan as they strutted across down the staircase at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Shifting the focus from the front of the stage to the rafters meant that from the first second the audience’s gaze didn’t not leave the performer. They gracefully strutted down the stairs in the most gorgeous pair of stiletto heels which came with a perfect exclamation point of tear-away trousers! The fact that Rajan was able to keep a firm grasp on the audience’s attention throughout their performance (without the need to excessive extravagance or unnecessary theatrics) was simply incredible! They are clearly a very talented dancer as their body moved in such an effortless and gorgeous way that had the audience in awe from the moments they began their spoken word piece instructing everyone essence of the performer was absolutely incredible to watch! The performer worked every inch of the performance area, even interacting with certain members of the audience! At the end of the number, Rajan instructed the audience to follow them into the auditorium which helped to transform this performance into a theatrical experience rather than the typical two-person biography I was expecting!

The main portion of Queer Collision saw two fabulous performers take to the stage to share their experience of growing up queer. This included key milestone moments including their first relationship, moments of intense bullying, gay awakenings and dating in later life. The character Willie was clearly the more natural and experience storyteller as they weaved dramatic accounts of meeting someone online, a public toilet experience and an eccentric plan of their future funeral while his co-star was clearly a much more gifted dancer. The latter took the audience on a journey of him and his boyfriend being attacked after a night out which was wonderfully captured through powerful and moving choreography which had everyone in the audience extremely close to tears! We were however treated to a scattering of dancing from the former with a particular highlight being towards the end of the show when they led a performance of traditional Scottish dancing!

Each person used their talents to share heart-warming to devastating stories which made for a very entertaining narrative from the audience.  It was incredibly clear that these two performers had wonderful chemistry both on and off-stage as they bounced off each other flawlessly. At times it even felt like the performance was simply two friends catching-up and sharing stories which the audience were invited to observe. I found it particularly inspiring that these two mature performers were able to deliver an honest and real retrospective of their retrospective lives as we often forget that it was a mere couple of years ago when times were incredibly different!

After the main show had finished the audience were invited to go back to the cabaret area where we were treated to a performance by the wonderful Venetia Blind. I don’t know about everyone else but when a show finishes all I usually want to do is head home and get into bed. However, Venetia was able to re-ignite the audience as she launched into a series of original parody numbers. She graced the stage wearing a gorgeous pink ball gown with wonderful purple/pink ombré hair that looked absolutely stunning! Her set started with her making a joke about the fact that when she first heard the title of the main production “Queer Collision” she thought that Elton John and Ru Paul were in a car crash which the audience found hysterical. One of my favourite jokes of the evening was that Venica had said that she had actually applied to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama but was rejected so now she is back with a vengeance. Not only were her vocals an absolute treat for the ears throughout but she was able to create unique and hilarious parody including a song about how many people view her as an inspirational porn star and how so people over-praise blind people for simply existing. She told the story of being hungover on the side of the road and a woman grabbing her (without consent) as she spotted Venetia is visually impaired. As a non-visually impaired person, I cannot imagine someone forcing unnecessary help onto to at any time never mind when hungover so I can totally imagine the frustration this event would have caused!

Overall, Queer Collision was a beautifully moving and powerful exploration of what it is like to grow up queer. The two styles of performance contrasted beautifully with the two performers showcasing incredible chemistry as they shared powerful and moving stories throughout their lives! I do not think I have ever seen a production that is so inclusive and accessible with constant sign language interpreters, audio descriptions throughout and showcasing absolutely fantastic and visually impaired talent! I would rate this production 5 out of 5 stars!

Review Baba Joon, Grand Theatre Swansea by Kevin Johnson

19/10/23

 out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

“When I first heard someone from Swansea speak, I thought they were singing to me.” That’s a great tagline for a play, when you see it you really want to know more. 

Based on her own life, this was written by Lisa Zahra during lockdown, a time many of us spent reflecting on our lives. Born to a Welsh mother and an Iranian father, the Baba Joon (Dear Father) of the title. She grew up in Swansea and found it difficult to relate to her father’s heritage, despite the love she held for him, maybe because she was swamped by British culture. 

Her father arrived in the 1970’s and at first he was enamoured by his new country, thinking it “the greatest country in the world”, but he gradually became disillusioned, by Britain, by his success, and perhaps he also felt the Iranian version of ‘hiraeth’. Lisa was torn, always trying to be a good daughter while fitting in with the local community, at one point even using makeup to appear whiter than she was. It is difficult to be a child of two worlds when both compete for your love, and in a culture where even dancing can be a rebellion, it’s hard to know the right steps. 

There is poetry here, in the words and the rhythm of the languages, English, Welsh and Farsi. An influence of Dylan Thomas is unsurprising, and Zahra uses it to point out similarities between the Welsh and Iranian cultures, both famous for their poets, and she doesn’t stop there: Family, dance, music, even food, are all used evocatively. It’s been said that ‘food is memories’, because it brings back remembrance of such things as our childhoods.

The staging is like a 1990’s disco, with dry-ice fog, and an old portable TV set that is cleverly used to show switches between scenes in Iran and Wales. Zahra does not just focus on national differences, but also gender ones. Growing up in Wales she experienced racism, sexism and the double standards that come with being a daughter, and in Iran she found it the same, compounded by her being even more of a foreigner as she couldn’t speak the language fluently.

Voiceovers and music are used throughout, which I thought a flaw as I found it off putting sometimes. For me it broke the contact between actress and audience, which is so important in a show like this, and which she establishes so well. This minor quibble aside, I was enthralled by her semi-secret world, growing up in a Swansea where there were always eyes on her, British and Iranian, ready to criticise her every move. No wonder she felt relief at moving to Cardiff to study, finding the simple freedom of getting lost in a crowd. The scenes in the airport in Iran serve to highlight this.

I found the ending of the play annoying at first because there is no real end per se, no conclusion, and then I realised that this is by design. Life is messy, there are rarely easy solutions and not all questions are answered. We never find out why her father left his family, or why he left Britain, but perhaps that’s because she doesn’t know either.

I’ve always thought that good theatre should make you think, make you feel, or both. Lisa Zahra more than accomplishes that here. I was left with so many questions afterwards, and not just the clichéd ones, such as ‘who am I? Why am I here?’, but more difficult ones such as ‘where do I belong?’, or in the case of this play: ‘who are you, Baba?’  Thanks to Izzy Rabey’s excellent direction, the play moves at a good pace, and it sometimes feels like so much is coming at you in a short time, but then life itself is like that. In the end, it seemed to me to be about accepting who you are and being happy with it, and to Hell with anyone who says different. I don’t know about Iran, but that describes Swansea, Wales and I think Lisa herself in a nut-shell

Review “Headset” Victoria Melody by Tiago Gambogi


“Why walk when you could tölt?”

Victoria Melody’s beautiful, brave and bonkers show will inspire you to discover your own outlandish passions and accept yourself

 out of 5 stars (5 / 5)

@tiagogambogi, Dance Theatre Artist, https://linktr.ee/tiagogambogi

“Headset” is an intricate and original piece of documentary theatre, combined with stand-up and live art that ignites your enthusiasm and lust for life with Victoria’s own rituals of self-discovery.

Following a successful run at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, “Headset” has a 22-venue tour this Autumn across the UK. That in itself is a huge achievement, considering the challenging times for the small-scale theatre touring circuit and current funding cuts. Now in her 40s and originally from Chester (“I’m from a working-class family with Tory parents”, she jokes in an interview), Victoria graduated in Fine Art at Newcastle and developed a very unique path as theatre maker and performance artist. Melody is a powerful female voice in the stand-up circuit – blending documentary theatre and video and embedding in her work peculiar approaches in search for authenticity, connection with audiences and, ultimately, herself!

Dressed as a funeral director (the subject of one of her previous shows), Victoria starts the piece by talking about her work. “I make and perform theatre shows about Britain’s enthusiasts. I am passionate about other people’s passions”, she says. She works like an anthropologist, immersing herself into communities over three or four years and then makes a show about them; “Demographics of a Pigeon Fancier” (2009) is a study of the British pigeon fanciers racing season. “Northern Soul” (2012) explores the dancing style. “Major Tom” (2013) combines dog shows and beauty pageants, highlighting the absurdity and impact of conforming to beauty standards. “Hair Peace” (2015) delves into the ethics of the human hair industry, “Ugly Chief” (2017) emerges as a response to her father’s terminal illness misdiagnosis, using humour and heart to confront the taboo surrounding death. She points out that she fell out with her dad during the tour of “Ugly Chief” …so…she needed a big change…what was she going to do now?

The origin of the word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek enthousiasmos: “divine inspiration, be inspired or possessed by a god, a goddess, be rapt, in ecstasy”. Victoria comes across “just like that” (as Tommy Cooper would say): a true Goddess in her own right – curious about people with the inventiveness to express her discoveries. She reminds us of extraordinary performance artist Bobby Baker, with her charm and quirky view of life.

Having worked as a video artist, Melody uses video the medium in an uncluttered and gentle way connecting the live action with images of her past, with quirky graphics to great comedic and plot development effect.

Tired of her theatre career she declares: “Enough was enough. I was tired of just being poor and feeling useless. Enough was enough. My life would fall apart if I didn’t change something…So f*** theatre. I’m going to become a well-paid, famous mortgage worthy stand-up comedian!”. We all laugh.

The piece follows trials and tribulations on her path to becoming a “mortgage worthy” stand-up comedian (she’s currently selling her boat by the way, she jokes). She reveals the inner works of the technique: “Set up, punch, exaggerations. Set up. Massive, giant punch. Rule of three. Set up, punch, punch, punch. Pull back and reveal…I was sh**”, she declares.

The teacher character plays an important role, representing “the establishment” as well as “her critical inner voice”. “How is this going to go down in Hull or Derby? the teacher challenges. Later, Victoria says: “Stop stereotyping nights out in different places”.

She recounts one of her first routines: “Icelandic horses are my favourite breed of horse. They’re small and hairy and best of all, they have five gears. Normal horses have four gears. They walk, they trot, they canter, and they gallop. Icelandic horses do all that and they also tölt. Tölt is Icelandic for “a gliding gait”. She then demonstrates. “Oh. Ow. It’s very uncomfortable on the crotch”. Then “This is a tölt. Wow. It’s so smooth. It’s like the horse is ice skating.” With her big, surprising eyes she delivers: “It doesn’t hurt the crotch at all. Why walk when you can tölt? That’s Iceland’s catch phrase”. Pause. Silence. Audience cracks up.

Victoria plays numerous characters besides the teacher: a funny “Hull Hoola Balloon” man, David Attenborough, (which, she jokes, comes out more like Margaret Thatcher), a barista, and others. The soundscape for the show is detailed and audios of her mum weave the narrative, describing how “little Vic” was as a child, in ballet, dropping keys in post boxes, and being herself – “I wouldn’t change it for the world. I think what you’ve got is very unique, but I wouldn’t even call it a problem. Vic, it’s not a problem, is it?”. With that question in mind, our heroine continues her quest.

The set has four chairs, a big plastic box, cables and props: a tambourine the teacher bangs when she disapproves of her behaviour, a beautifully crafted wheel with 5 masks that is spun to choose different personas”. She jokes “I shouldn’t use props, you see!”, as she gets tangled up in them and the microphone. She shares that her technical manager takes the mask wheel to the hotel as it won’t fit into the camper van, she sleeps in.

Melody encounters numerous challenges and as she experiences difficulties with words, visits a speech therapist and is diagnosed with ADHD. “Oh no!”, she thinks. “I’m Vic. I’m thick”, full of inner doubt, she feels incompetent and a failure.

In a previous interview, Melody has expressed her ADHD diagnosis as a profoundly liberating experience and that the show is a grand celebration of her newfound authenticity. “absolutely freeing…. This is my brain. I’m not masking anymore. This show is a big celebration of that…. And my performance on stage now is the best performance that I’ve ever been able to give”.

I dare to say that Melody has found her “clown’s intelligence”, as the great clown Angela de Castro would describe it. Clowns have their own intelligence, guided by their sense of curiosity, openness and naivety for the world. Melody exhibits all those clown-like qualities.

Even though she says the show is not “meta” (a stand-up show about stand-up), the piece is a reflection on the genre and plays with it expertly. At one point she jokes: “Are you going to do performance art now and alienate your audience?”, she says no…but she does. Melody is playing with the relationship with the real, with personal history, representation / non-representation and use of new technologies – aspects that performance art has always dealt with and that are embedded deeply in her practice as an artist.

Clowns fail, get up and do it again. And again. And again…never losing their enthusiasm. And so does Victoria. She decides to talk to a neuroscientist, her friend Silvana de Pirro. Melody starts wearing a portable electroencephalography headset that tracks her brain activity during her stand-up performances. Previous audiences found this hilarious, and we’re shown accompanying video footage.

Victoria continuously fails as a standup comedian and the show culminates with a magical scene where she is due to perform in an important stand-up gig, with headlining comedians and she appears on stage with a homemade Faraday cage and a laptop held close to her head. This is an amazing scene where time freezes, and our attention is totally focused on Victoria. She talks to “little Vic” again and again. It’s as if the actual headset device “dives” inside her feeling and emotions – the piece meets therapy, self-help in a light and playful way. “I’m Vic. I’m thick”. No more of that. It’s about acceptance. She looks at “Little Vic” and says, “I imagine little Vic, how desperate she was for someone to tell her that she wasn’t lazy or stupid or defective, that she wasn’t a baby.”

In a touching and insightful moment, she tells us: “I stopped measuring success using somebody else’s measure. Like I was a kid who just got comfort from putting jar labels, so they all face the same way and who got overwhelmed at injustice…”

She goes on to tell us with glee about her next passion and project: “I’m a musketeer in an English Civil War reenactment society”. We laugh and are genuinely curious about this new project.

Melody concludes the show with charm and eccentric flair… “and if you think of me as an Icelandic horse, then this all makes sense, because we should all get to choose the horse we want to be. Because I could walk off stage, but why walk when I could tölt?”

Beautiful, brave and bonkers “Headset” will inspire you to find your own outlandish passions and accept yourself.

Credits:

Director John Gordillo

Writer Victoria Melody               

Set and costume designer David Curtis-Ring

Lighting designer Sean Phillips                        

Updated and restaged with Bryony Kimmings

Musical director and composer Tom Parkinson

Cast

Victoria Melody

Video appearances from Dr De Pirro and Mitch Mitchinson

“Headset”, 2023 Autumn Tour

03/10/23 – Chipping Norton, The Theatre

05/10/23 – Guildford, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre

06/10/23 – Birmingham, mac

07/10/23 – Harrogate Theatre

10/10/23 – Hexham, Queen’s Hall Arts Centre

11/10/23 – Kendal, Brewery Arts

12/10/23 – Leeds, The Old Woollen

13/10/23 – Barnsley, The Civic

17/10/23 – Norwich, The Garage

19/10/23 – Manchester, The Edge Theatre & Arts Centres

20/10/23 – Wolverhampton, Arena Theatre

24/10/23 – Brighton, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts

25/10/23 – Brighton, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts

30/10/23 – Cardiff, Chapter Arts Centre

31/10/23 – Bristol, Watershed

01/11/23 – Havant, The Spring Arts & Heritage Centre

02/11/23 – London, Jackson’s Lane

03/11/23 – Reading, South Street

07/11/23 – Exeter Phoenix

08/11/23 – Weston-Super-Mare, Front Room

09/11/23 – Ilfracombe, Landmark Theatre

10/11/23 – Barbican, Plymouth

For more details: www.victoriamelody.com

Photography by: Steve Ullathorne

Review, Rhinoceros, Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, at Pontio, by Gareth Williams

 out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

In contrast to NTW, Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru goes from strength to strength. Rhinoceros is the latest in a series of shows and commissions to offer fresh, bold and imaginative theatre. In fact, Manon Steffan Ros’s adaptation of the classic text by Eugène Ionesco is the first Welsh-language production that feels not just national but international in scope. This, in spite of the fact that pop cultural references populate the dialogue.

I say this as a Welsh learner who had to sit and listen to the play without audio description or captions. A problem with the Sibrwd app meant that I was forced to engage with it on its own terms. It is testament to not only the actors but the whole creative team that I became immersed very quickly in this increasingly-apocalyptic world. Set in an unknown location in Wales, friends Bérenger (Rhodri Meilir) and Sian (Bethan Ellis Owen) are enjoying tea outside the local grocer’s shop when a rhinoceros runs in front of them across town. The small but effective skill of the actors to shake the furniture to create the vibrations of its movement is but one of several parts that make this a spellbinding watch. Everything from the placement and use of props to the physical manifestation of the creature within each of the characters makes Rhinoceros a captivating commentary on social conformity.

Bethan Ellis Owen perfectly embodies the absurdity that underscores the whole production. For in her transformation, we witness the destructive, dramatic and the ridiculous. Her hysterical movement and exaggerated speech causes laughter among the audience even as it contains a nervous quality that points to a more serious tone. For Meilir presents an increasingly distraught and tortured soul as he fights desperately against the change, from person to creature, that friends and colleagues succumb to. This is no linear tale however: horror is always punctuated with the comic; fairy dust is often laced with fatalism; and the funereal contains a certain cultural irony. It is a melting pot of genres and emotions, expertly crafted and directed by Steffan Donnelly and his team.

What ratchets up the drama and emotion of Rhinoceros is the absence of an interval. It allows the momentum to build to an epic proportion, making its conclusion all-the-more powerful and demanding. It is, at its best, a warning: do not allow the light to be infected by the dark. And this speaks not only to its distinctly Welsh culture but to a Western world in danger of doing just that.

Click here for show dates.

Reviewed by
Gareth Williams

Review, Machinal, Ustinov Studio, Bath by James Ellis

Photo credit: Foteini Christofilopoulou

 out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

The unassuming Ustinov Studio in Bath sees a season with acclaimed director Deborah Warner for what should prove to be a highlight of the theatre calendar. Tackling Sophie Treadwell’s blazing play, a guest appearance from another titan Richard Jones directs in his fashionable and sharp way.

Jones’ work I know best through his time with Welsh National Opera and English National Opera, the former’s Olivier winning take on Alban Berg’s Wozzeck fittingly mirrors Machinal. The Yellow Wallpaper of Charlotte Perkins Gilman permeates the space in Hyemi Shin’s angular and claustrophobic set. The hectic ensemble of actors plays multiple roles as commuters, workers, medical staff, drinkers in a bar and more. The energy here is affirming, Treadwell’s musical and punchy lines are tight and in moments are profoundly abstract and true.

Jones knows what he’s doing. Sat in the front row makes for an incredibly heightend encounter. The patter of conversations, arguments, clatter of dishes, screaming and a pounding bulldozer never quite leave your ears, sound design by Benjamin Grant wonderfully also adds to the absolute din of the whole thing. The futility of the whole thing, the sadness seen with this Young Woman who is bludgeoned by all, forced into a marrige she doesnt want, a child she can’t look after and a tragic decision leads to her execution. Loosley based on the real life story of Ruth Brown Snyder, who murdered her husband, begin was the first woman in the US to get the electric chair. One wonders just how many people now and in the past find solace in story, in the play the leading lady stutters, has panic attacks and other anxious bouts.

Rosie Sheehy has given an unforgettable performance in what is not an easy character in anyones eyes. Her spasms, tics, pounding, flinching all add to a well crafted offering. I found it hard not to hear Lois Griffin in her accent, the play capturing the spirt of New York frenzies. Tim Frances as Husband feels compasionate, if complicit in his misogyny, in well acted form. Buffy Davis is the despondent, Irish Mother, some great humour and maternal blathering. The Young Man, whom our lady has a passionate affiar with, is a lovely Pierro Niel-Mee. The character has some flippently racist remarks of the era (1920s), though this one night stand proves a toxic trait, if it saved our lady even just for a few hours. Pierro works as this sort of sexy saviour, chemistry between both actors faired well. Though his betrayal is all to much.

The troupe of actors mesh around the tight stage, accents strong and a well placed aura is in the air. I spoke of energy and their passion, this must be a cracking play to be part of. The framing of each part, sees an actor place a wooden relief of each scenes name to be hung above all, the shadow of which almost mimicking the wings of freedom our lady yearns for.

Machinal runs at the Ustinov Studio till 18th November 2023

Review: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie by Gemma Treharne-Foose

 out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

Press Night 23 October 2023

“A riotously upbeat tale for our times….” 

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (playing at the WMC until the 28th October) has had a meteoric success since the original documentary about 16 year old Jamie New (who wants to be a drag queen) was introduced to us on our TV screens in 2011. Since then, we’ve seen a musical, an award-winning world tour and a movie starring Richard E Grant and Sharon Horgan. Attending the opening night in Cardiff with my teenage daughter, I wondered if the setting of much of the play (in a typically grim British state school) would chime with her or potentially be shot down as a sad attempt by Millennials to capture Gen Z culture…never an easy line to tread!

It’s the kind of premise that would make a Daily Mail reader’s head explode. We have a gloriously camp 16 year old Jamie New who daydreams of stardom as the next big thing in the Drag scene. His accomplice, a Muslim, hijab-wearing Pritti Pasha (Talia Palamathanan) is his best friend and wing-woman. Supporting his bold and some might say outrageous career aspirations while maintaining her own moral and religious code, the friendship represents the kind of unity and integration that we all wish for. This is never too forced, or too jarring in its earnestness. Talia Palamathanan’s voice is absolutely sensational and her solo number ‘It means beautiful’ (by Dan Gillespie Sells) is stunningly delivered and I saw multiple folks around me wiping away the tears at the end of the number.

Huge credit for first-class character work and rapport with the audience must go to Shobna Gulati as Ray and stand-in Georgina Hagan (who was replacing Rebecca McKinnis as Jamie’s Mum Margaret New the night I attended). Georgina’s two solo tracks “If I met Myself Again” in Act 1 and “My Boy” in Act 2 were truly some of the best numbers in the show. Georgina’s vocals gave me goosebumps and although I’m not usually a fan of sequences with contemporary dance peppered into some scenes, Georgina’s emotional delivery took the whole scene to the next level. The dancers accompanying her were superb – it helped to tell the story and made Georgina’s incredible vocals even greater.

Some of the set-up for Jamie’s big reveal may remind you of Billy Elliott (young Northern lad overcomes toxic and stifling masculinity and a troubled father-Son relationship to follow his dreams, plucky ‘Diamond in the rough’ family members will rally around to support him when it really counts, etc etc). But this show, though perhaps formulaic in places, manages to simultaneously pack in a great story, outstanding choreography, quality songs and a great set. I wasn’t a huge fan of the visuals on the screens behind the stage set – it made the overall look and feel a little ‘commercial-like’ or trying to be like MTV or a swishy campaign when the action and performance on stage really is enough to carry the show…no glossy brand-like photography needed!

Hot on the heels of the incredible Layton Williams who played Jamie New in 2019 (and is now fox-trotting across our screens in BBC’s Strictly), is Ivano Turco. Ivano’s performance as Jamie is spectacular. Sometimes when you listen to the original soundtrack to popular musicals, it can feel like it’s not possible to improve on this ‘original recipe’ – and no disrespect to anyone on the original soundtrack but Ivano’s silky smooth voice is like honey. His approach to the songs is beautifully soulful and his relationship and interaction with Georgina Hagan as his Mum was lovely.

My daughter and I LOVED this show. We listened to all the songs again on the drive back home and we’ll be closely following Ivano’s career – he’s destined for a glittering future. This is a gloriously upbeat tale for modern times and it’s a dopamine booster. Highly recommend it!

Review Carwyn Presented by Bale and Thomas in Association with Theatr Felinfach, Torch Theatre and RCT Theatres by Ella Fay

Credit Drew Buckley

Not many plays start with the actor already onstage, but this production of Carwyn makes you feel immersed from the very start as the audience is taken on a journey of a man that is sadly often forgotten, but he’s one worthy of being celebrated and remembered in Welsh culture.

The play begins and ends with the passing of Carwyn James but throughout the piece, the audience is hooked by the outstanding performance of Simon Nehan . Nehan tells a story of Carwyn reflecting on the good and bad of his life that is well worth knowing. We see two sides of Carwyn, one in which the whole world got to see, the way he felt how he had to be perceived on the outside, and the raw and real side of Carwyn, who spent his life hiding his true self from a brutal society as he was a man, simply living ahead of his time.

Showing both sides of Carwyn through the talented writing of Owen Thomas and the brilliant directing from Gareth John Bale, was something so impactful to watch as his eye-opening story is a story that is heartbreaking, relevant and necessary. I can say without hesitation that Carwyn the play is a production deserving of a standing ovation and if I was to watch it again, I know I would be moved and feel a little more impacted each time.

Review The Night Woman, Julene Robinson, Barbican Centre by Tanica Psalmist

The Night Woman is directed and unapologetically performed by Julene Robinson. Embodying an electrifying, eloquent vibrancy expressed through dance, singing, live music and themes revolving around self-love, as well as the true essence of blackness navigating through life’s metaphysical journey, essentially as a black phenotype, inevitably encountering difficultly, challenging and disempowering experiences due to nuances, biases, prejudices, discrimination, lack of sovereignty and an identity crises due to a lack representation of dark pigmentation, coarse hair and society’s sensitive triggers to discomfort and negative conscious biases from foreign lands, within your own family and inner community.

Julene’s poetical and metaphorical expression of her exploration of darkness to discover inner beauty, magic, Godliness and purity, is mystical and impactful. Leaving you exploring the depths of the starry, moonlit sky using dazzling twinkling fairy lights and robes to represent tree branches, glowing in the low dim illuminance. This play speaks loud volumes of spirituality, trance and ancestral reconnection to reach places of true acceptance, embrace darkness no matter your linage or background, and to do so both internally and externally in every capacity, to avoid escapism of the fear of the unknown, due to colonial biases around darkness, distributing worldwide ignorances.

Watching Julene Robinson performing without an interval was a phenomenal experience, she’s not only an enchantingly performer who effortlessly takes audiences on a complex phenomena, but her use of characterisation in humorous and unapologetic ways to highlight the day in the life of Caribbean girls, born of a darker hue, living in the West Indies, and the general inadequacies faced by woman within the diaspora is magnifying.

The Night Woman, is an eye-opening fusion of loss, grief, femininity, unlearning to learn sequel; reflective stories told in an educative and playful way; with non-stop metaphors, depth and Jamaican humour all in one to re-live, restore, re-imagine and re-ignite all to come alive in the darkness by closing their eyes, whilst simultaneously appreciating dark skinned beauty by remembering darkness birthed light, and the gentle reminders of how life, including human life grows in the darkness where a God dwelled comfortably and humbly before colonial negative connotations of the word black and society’s conflicting interpretation, hatred and detest for darkness, dark matter and the night woman that birthed light lovingly.

Review Carwyn Presented by Bale and Thomas in Association with Theatr Felinfach, Torch Theatre and RCT Theatres by Holly Ford.

Carwyn the play grants the audience an intimate view into Carwyn James’ private life, revealing a side of himself that he spent his life hiding from a judgmental and unaccepting society. This is a story, often heartbreakingly forgotten, but one that deserves to be celebrated in Welsh culture.

“People shouldn’t fear death, they should fear they didn’t live their best life”- Carwyn.

As he passes, Carwyn’s life flashes before the eyes of the audience. From his triumphs to tragedies, Carwyn’s story is one that must be told. We see Carwyn as who he was to the outside world; who he felt he had to present himself as, because he felt that the time he lived in was not a place for his true self. This play shows us this version of Carwyn, but also, who he was in his solitude. As a result of this, there is something so heart-rending, poetic, and beautiful about this piece. The skillful writing of Owen Thomas, powerful performance from Simon Nehan and the impactful directing from Gareth John Bale put together capture Carwyn’s story in a poignant and moving way; that was undoubtedly deserving of a standing ovation. This is one of the few pieces I have ever seen that I can confidently say that if I watched it many more times, I would be in tears at the end of each and every one.

Credit Drew Buckley