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Film & TV, Literature, Theatre

Review – Open Rehearsal, Les Misérables, August 012 By Eva Marloes

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Please note this is a review of an open rehearsal which took place at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff.

All images credit Jorge Lizalde

This fun and moving adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables by Cardiff-based theatre company August012 juxtaposes the battle of Waterloo and the Brexit Referendum. The intention behind the historical and literary parallel is to insert our daily lives into a wider perspective, to juggle the big and the small, the significant and insignificant, the past and the present. Les Mis, not the musical (thank God not the musical!), is a whirlpool of sound, words, and movement, from which emerge a sense of loss and futility, an awareness of something different beginning in a Britain still hangovered from the Referendum, and compassion.

The scene begins with an account of the battle of Waterloo, cut by the recollections of Brits on holiday in Greece before the Referendum, and by the disbelief and shock at the result on the night. Away from formulaic narrative structure, Les Mis embraces a multilayered performance where music, words, and movement intersect and converge all around us. The music is spell-binding and plays a prominent role in guiding the audience into this tragi-comedy. It is a seductive and immersive experience that stirs the senses and brings awareness of wider significance.

The smell of grass, the thumping on the ground of the soldiers’ feet, broken by holiday-makers’ easy-going chatter and banter to the tune of Brazilian music in the sun-kissed beaches of Greece make the play at once seductive and moving. The charged atmosphere evoked by the battle is countered by the fun and ordinariness of the Referendum night. The parallel is sustained by local references to Cardiff’s roads and neighbourhoods. Napoleon is in Grangetown. Brussels is Ponty. Yet, the playfulness of Les Mis accentuates the brutality of Waterloo conveying a sense of awe, of something bigger than ourselves.

This heartfelt, engaging, ironic and exciting production articulates the current confusion, exhaustion, and ridiculousness of the aftermath of the Referendum. We don’t know what is going on. There is no neat comforting thesis, no tidy narrative, no solution, but a deliberate intention to throw off course. Les Mis plays with our confusion and our Brexit fatigue.

At a time when over a million people have marched for a referendum on the deal, over five million have signed a petition to revoke Article 50, and when Parliament keeps voting down May’s deal, Les Mis captures the never-ending saga, the incomprehensible going around in circles, and the complexity of the present situation. Brexit has severe repercussions for peace in Northern Ireland, for EU citizens in Britain and British citizens in the EU, for Europe, and for Britain; yet its significance is drowned out in the daily drama deprived of substance. In all this, Les Mis wants its audience to wake up to the historical significance of our daily lives.

The play includes Nicola Sturgeon’s address to European nationals living in Scotland. In the endless noise produced by politicians on Brexit, European nationals in Britain are often forgotten and, at times, dismissed as ‘bargaining chips.’ Director Mathilde Lopez is a French-Spanish North African, who has lived and worked in Britain for 20 years and has a family with British composer John Norton. Matteo Marfoglia, who choreographs the dancers, is an Italian national who has worked in the Netherlands and has been living in Wales for the past six years. For both Mathilde and Matteo the result of the Referendum brought the pain of exclusion. All of a sudden, their identity, status, and very presence in Britain were questioned.

Les Mis gives a voice to that sense of disorienting loss Europeans felt. There is no anger, no preaching, no pedantic history lecture. The political and philosophical rhetoric at the end is perhaps not as punchy and inspirational as it could have been, but it is genuine and moving. There is an acceptance of defeat without despair, a search for strength in love, not distance. Les Mis appeals to faith, hope, and love. In opposition to the outside political message of exercising control and erecting borders, Les Mis, fruit of artists with diverse cultural backgrounds and political stances, celebrates friendship across divides. It calls on all of us to show compassion to one another.

What would Hugo make of this take on his work and, perhaps more crucially, what would he make of his own dream of a United States of Europe? He might be confused and excited to see that a Union of European countries has taken shape. He might feel inspired and hopeful that it is not just a philosophical, political, or religious idea, but a reality, clumsy and complex, but one that is increasingly in people’s hearts. This production of Les Mis, with its exuberant rhythms, poignant words, and passionate movements, lets us hear the heart of Europe beating.

Les Mis can be seen at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff.

Art, Dance, Film & TV, Literature, Theatre

Behind the Curtains of Les Misérables By Eva Marloes

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Up the ramps of steep metal stairs, in a room in the Loft, outside of the main building of Chaptert Arts Centre, the theatrical company August012 are rehearsing for their unique take on Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. The music begins. It’s a military tune. It’s 1815, the battle of Waterloo. The fighting, the casualties, the hollow victory. Then, at a stroke, it’s 2016, in Cardiff, the night of the EU Referendum. The battle of Waterloo and the battle of Brexit come together through a meeting and clashing of sounds, words, music, and dance making for an immersive sensory experience.

Rehearsal images credit Jorge Lizalde

The tragedy and horror of Waterloo is juxtaposed with the carefree and indulgent pleasure of holiday-makers in 2016 ahead of the Referendum and the comic coming to terms with the result. It is a kind of estrangement that seeks to bring awareness of the historical implications of Brexit through rhythm and fun. All the pieces, the description of the battle, the drums, the music, a man chocking on a Dorito, Farage, and soldier-dancers, come together with perfect timing. The creativity fuelling Les Mis comes from the collaboration of Director Mathilde Lopez, Choreographer Matteo Marfoglia, and Composers John Norton and Branwen Munn, the latter working from West Wales.

  • Mathilde Lopez
  • Matteo Marfoglia
  • John Norton
  • Branwen Munn

The coming together of French-Spanish, Italian, and Welsh talent with diverse national and cultural backgrounds makes gives an extra dimension to the careful multi-layered assembling of sound, words, and movement. It is the collaborative and supportive nature of these relationships that stands out as I watch the rehearsals. There is no hierarchy, no instructions, no neat division of labour, but a coming together to harness the talents and creativity of one another. Mathilde says, ‘We can do that,’ not ‘Can you do that?’ She is not imparting instructions, she listens to others and makes suggestions. The work emerges from this shared effort and fun. They’re working hard but they’re also having fun.

The atmosphere is so relaxed and friendly that I wonder how a comment from me might be received. I comment and I’m struck by Carwyn, one of the actors, turning to me and nodding. It is a listening environment, where each member of the company can make suggestions and is listened to. John Norton, the composer/DJ, is surprised I’m surprised. ‘This is theatre,’ he tells me, ‘If you want control, don’t do it.’ Unpredictable, brittle, never finished, theatre is always in the making. Precision is impossible, flexibility is key.

Mathilde likes the challenge that music and movement present to her as a theatrical director. She needs to limit herself to give space to John and Matteo. Her listening and collaborative frame of mind includes listening to actors and non-actors who participate in the production. When auditioning for the play, Mathilde asked them what they were doing on the night of the Referendum. The piecing together of different perspectives and experiences reinforces the nature of this production of Les Mis where different worlds coexist.

Choreographer Matteo Marfoglia tells me that the idea is to have two worlds side by side in the same space: the world of the actors and the world of the dancers. The two worlds do not interact. The dancers and the actors are on different journeys. The dancers, as soldiers, evoke with their movements and sounds the tragic sense of the historical dimension of both Waterloo and Brexit. Actors and dancers come in and out of the space interweaving the present with the past, connecting and disconnecting history with our daily lives.

Les Mis speaks to our own reality. It is this sense of the real and dance as a way to communicate real life that brought Matteo to Wales. Classically trained, Matteo first moved to Amsterdam and Rotterdam to become a contemporary dancer and, six years ago, he came to Wales to be part of the National Company Wales. He left classical ballet because it did not meet his thirst for something more authentic to human experience. He believes that contemporary dance allows the individual expression of emotions to come to the fore.

Matteo is training to become a ‘Gaga’ dance teacher. Gaga dance has been developed by Israeli dancer and choreographer Ohad Naharin. At its core, Gaga dance is about embodying the inward emotions of the dancer and how they connect with other dancers. The individuality of the dancer is expressed outward flowing into the shared consciousness of the group. ‘We feel the same emotions but we do so differently,’ Matteo explains, ‘We’re all connected through an emotion but this emotion is expressed in one’s unique and individual way.’

The emotional dimension of Les Mis is a pervasive sense of loss and futility contrasted with seductive pleasure and a hangovered awakening to the aftermath of the Referendum. As European nationals, Matteo and Mathilde experienced a deep sense of loss after the Referendum. They felt ‘under attack,’ as Matteo puts it. All of a sudden, they became foreigners, their presence questioned. Mathilde, who has been living in Britain for 20 years, is married to John and has British children who speak Welsh, felt the pain of exclusion, of being told to ‘go back home.’ She never needed to be formally British, she was part of British society, then Brexit struck.

Brexit has shown that being foreign is an identity that stays with you no matter how long you live in your ‘adoptive’ country, no matter of many changes you make, no matter how much you absorb of the local culture. The ‘in-betweeness’ that has characterised Mathilde’s life became problematic with Brexit. Europe allowed overlapping identities that don’t stop at national borders. Europe, for Mathilde, is the wider project of togetherness. It is complicated and Europe often does not live up to the dream. The way the EU functions right now doesn’t work for many countries, she tells me, but they don’t question being part of it. ‘It’s like moaning at your parents,’ Mathilde says, ‘you moan, you don’t kill them.’

The vote brought sadness to Mathilde and also anger. She found that anger was more ‘socially acceptable’ than sadness because it makes one look strong, but she found it tiring. She needed compassion. She plunged into reading classics, such as Steinbeck, Camus, and Hugo. Classics were her way to get her head around what had just happened and avoid a reductive perspective. ‘When you’re angry at the Americans, you read Steinbeck, when you’re angry at Italians, you read Dante,’ Mathilde explains. Literary classics allow her to go beyond the narrow contingencies of today’s events, put things in perspective, and nourish compassion.

For Mathilde, Les Mis is a personal journey from sadness and anger to compassion. Compassion is in the ability to listen to one another, work together, and produce a work that is accessible to all.‘Will my grandmother get it?’ Mathilde asks herself when writing. She wants something accessible, not limited to regular theatre-goers. She wants to be open to others, wherever they come from culturally, socially, and, of course, politically. Some members of the production voted Leave.

‘It is our duty to be compassionate,’ says Mathilde, ‘to find strength in accepting defeat, not despair.’ It is compassion that allows to overcome division, to appreciate human complexity, and find strength in togetherness. Mathilde finds compassion in being supported by Chapter Arts Centre, in working together with actors, non-actors, and dance students, getting inspiration from all.

Mathilde, Matteo, and John tell me working together requires humility, respect, and trust. As John tells me, ‘you need to sense the time when to follow someone else’s lead, when to defend one’s position, and when to let go of it.’ You need to abandon the need to take control. This deeply collaborative and inclusive production of Les Mis is fruit of mutual trust and compassion. It is what the UK needs now.

Theatre, Uncategorized

REVIEW: TURBINES at RWCMD by Gareth Ford-Elliott

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out of 5 stars (1 / 5)

Turbines by Sarah McDonald Hughes follows six students (aged around 15-16) in a unit-classroom as they deal with the stabbing of a schoolmate. This leads to Mia stabbing her teacher in the first scene as the play attempts to explain why this happened, exploring who these young people are.

The play suffers from the use of stereotypical characters who possess little depth and writing that feels lazy. As though students are chucked in a unit and that will justify the stabbing, but it doesn’t. Even within their backstories, their presence in the unit is not justified.

As it is, the play feels it would be more interesting placed in a standard classroom as the play currently comes across as a series of events that are mostly irrelevant or insignificant, particularly given the moral protection of the unit.

The flow is constantly interrupted, and it moves too fast without allowing time to explore the characters. There are a few breaks that offer potential such as Tina’s boyfriend breaking up with her or a flashback to the start of Mia and Grace’s early friendship. But even these scenes show very little emotional intrigue.

There is no overriding story, really, besides the two stabbings. The backstories cover most of the play, but these are stereotypical. Parents who argue, a young pregnancy, an ill mother, and so on. These backstories are not unique, offer little significance and just when you’re expecting something to tie it all together, they look at some turbines, say they feel calm, and nothing happens.

Moving onto the turbines, the title of the play and the key piece of symbolism provided. Trying my hardest to drag something out of this, I would say that the turbines are meant to represent serenity and persistence in a tough environment. A symbol that allows the students to express. The rotation of the blades also possibly referring back to the cyclical nature of knife crime. The symbolism is somewhat tacked in and unclear, with potential it’s just not reaching.

Turbines explores multiple possibilities that can happen when the major event, the stabbing, occurs and explores how that might affect their lives differently. It’s also unclear which of these is the ending or if the writer wants there to be one specific ending. Perhaps not an issue for where this piece was imagined to be but given that it appears to try to question why this stabbing might occur, the lack of a definitive ending is a problem.

I can see where this play goes wrong in the writing process, as it has a singular focus at its core and fitting that to a cast of seven is hard. It centres around Mia and everyone else is basically irrelevant. And if that is the aim, then why bother with 90% of the rest of the play? There is potential there for a good play about Mia. But it needs expanding, focusing and lots of cutting.

I just struggle to see how a play produced in collaboration with Paines Plough could be quite this underdeveloped. My guess is that the writer wasn’t afforded the time or support necessary for this piece to succeed. I don’t think you can pin the play’s failures solely on such a talented and promising writer.

Emily Ling Williams direction just falls a little flat. There are attempts at characterisation through the acting, some of which work, some don’t. The tone and pace are not handled particularly well, however this is quite hard as the story beats are all over the place. It’s a tough play to direct, but Williams stumbles to raise the bar for the production.

Rocky Hood’s lighting works well, very understated, but is one of few positives from this production. The sound design from Jack Lancelot Stewart is fine. It’s nothing exceptional and sometimes intruding, but decent overall.

Clare Johnson’s set is a little clunky and often gets in the way, although does a good job of establishing location. The fans, representing wind turbines, just look tacky and don’t work.

The performances from the cast of seven are all decent. But really, most of the actors don’t have much to play with. There are clearly attempts at characterisation made by the actors with the director. Amesh Edireweera’s mannerisms as Liam, Finnian Garbutt’s boyish immaturity as Reece and Nina Bloomgarden’s grace as Grace all stand out as expansions on the script.

Unfortunately, the school teacher, portrayed by Lilly Tukur, Jack (Harry Heap) and Tina (Julie Lamberton) are all pretty much unsavable. The performances are good for the most part, given what they had, but they really deserve better.

Abbie Hern stands out as Mia. Her character has the most substance and is the most explored. Hern rises to this and delivers a great performance which is one of few shining lights in this production.

Turbines examines young people and their actions in what is an underwhelming production that can’t be saved by its strong cast.

Turbines performed at The Bute Theatre, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
19 – 21 March 2019 in Cardiff
Transferring to The Gate Theatre, London, 2 – 5 April
Written by Sarah McDonald Hughes
Directed by Emily Ling Williams
In Collaboration with Paines Plough
As part of RWCMD’s ‘NEW’ Season
Starring:
Abbie Hern as Mia
Nina Bloomgarden as Grace
Finnian Garbutt as Reece
Amesh Edireweera as Liam
Julie Lamberton as Tina
Harry Heap as Jack
Lilly Tukur as School Teacher
Production Team:
Set & Costume Design: Clare Johnson
Lighting Design: Rocky Hood
Sound Designer: Jack Lancelot Stewart
Assistant Production Manager: Alexandra Drescher-Elphick
Stage Manager: Jessica Forella
Deputy Stage Manager: Cara-Megan Rees

Assistant Stage Manager: Amy Hales
Design Assistant: Rachel Merritt
Technicians: Ella Cunnison, Kitty Dunning, Jamie Holden  and Paul Kaiba
Venue Technician: Evie Oliver
Supervisors: Kristy Bowers, Rob Clarke and Laura Martin

Theatre

REVIEW: BETWEEN ETERNITY AND TIME at RWCMD by Gareth Ford-Elliott

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out of 5 stars (3 / 5)

Please note this review contains references to sexual violence and discusses the production’s plot in detail.

Between
Eternity and Time by Jacob Hodgkinson follows a 14-year-old girl, Maya, who is sent
as a drug-runner from Liverpool to Bangor by Dabs. As the play develops, it
becomes increasingly evident that she wasn’t meant for a life in the city, but
instead something freer. Between Eternity
and Time is about environment, coming of age and finding your place in the
world.

The writing by Jacob Hodgkinson is generally OK. The plot is straight-forward and the dialogue is realistic. There’s rarely a boring moment as the play moves at a good pace, mostly with purpose and with a good amount of humour.

However, characters are very stereotypical, underdeveloped
and in one case, Kitty, completely unnecessary. Other characters have no
redeeming qualities, especially Dabs, the main drug-dealer, who just seems to
be bad with no justification, even to himself. Maya similarly, has no negative
quality. She doesn’t seem vulnerable, as a fourteen-year-old in the drug-scene
would be, despite being taken advantage of, and never does anything wrong. This
makes her feel passive and hard to connect to through no-fault of Kate Jones
who performs well.

There are also a few moments of expositional speech that
really drag, ruining the rhythm of the piece. In particular when Maya explains
her half-brother, Tom’s, personal history and interest in Warhammer to Mush.
This goes on far too long and is too expositional to be interesting. It’s also irrelevant
to the rest of the play. It could be cut and we wouldn’t miss a thing. We
understand exactly who Tom was through William Kirk’s great performance.

A minor issue is that it’s not realistic for a drug-runner to
be forced to put drugs up their bottom to transport on a train from Liverpool
to Bangor. That’s something only really used to smuggle across international borders
through airports. Not really from Liverpool to Bangor. Not impossible that it’d
happen, but it doesn’t help with the suspension of disbelief and seems to exist
solely to make Dabs look evil when he forces Maya to do this.

The play is gritty realism that leans into surrealism at
times as actors don stag masks and speak about Maya’s backstory through metaphor
that compares Maya’s animalistic nature to that of a young fawn. For most of
the play this feels odd, until the end where it finally pays off. The
juxtaposition of the surreal, animalistic and rural nature to the societal,
urban, reality fits what the play attempts to talk about. But perhaps would be
stronger were it explored more in the direction before the end of the play.

Otherwise, the direction from Hannah Noone is strong. From
script to stage, the play improves and Noone certainly contributes to the play’s
strengths whilst balancing out its weaknesses. The scenes are short-and-snappy
for the most part, but are directed well, with close attention paid to pace and
tone, so this isn’t an issue.

Some of the music choices are bordering on offensive. It’s
clear that some working-class, Liverpudlian, drug-dealers listen to rap music.
But we don’t need that shoved in our faces, especially as it’s not personal to
the characters. It feels a little like Noone and sound designer, Charlie Foran,
have thought, “what music is ‘street’ and reflects drug-dealing?” And then
instantly picked the most instantly recognisably ‘black’ music genre, hip-hop,
which is bordering on racist stereotyping. It just doesn’t sit well. It also
does nothing to increase that feeling of ‘Liverpool’, so some local music would
be a better fit.

The music generally feels like a missed opportunity to draw a
real distinction between Liverpool and Bangor and between the urban and the
rural. This is explored at times, but really not enough, which is a shame given
the overriding theme of the play.

The set from Harrison Lee is minimal which works well,
allowing the writing and acting to be the main focus which is the point of RWCMD’s
‘NEW’ season. This, however, means that the lighting is very important. Luckily,
Leonora Nicholson’s lighting design is exceptional and compliments the production
well, enhancing almost every scene.

Despite the stereotypical and often weak characters, all performances are brilliant – for what they were given.

Ed Piercy makes Blowback feel like a victim of circumstance,
which makes him feel like a young-man from Liverpool, caught up in the drug-scene
with no way out. His performance is realistic and makes his character very
relatable.

Grace Quigley gives a strong performance as Nicole, acting
with conviction. Saran Morgan as Kitty was great, even if her character was
basically unnecessary. I felt sorry for her, playing a character who doesn’t
really have any substance or meaning – but she does a good job regardless. Alex
Leak as Dabs is also strong, although his accent seemed to switch at times. William
Kirk’s nervous demeaner is really powerful in a play full of confident
individuals. Ruby Hartley as Crystal is also great, as is Kate Jones as Maya –
both however felt incomplete as characters and that meant the performances are
somewhat over-done.

Aron Cynan’s subtlety and creepy vibe as Mush is the standout.
He’ll have your skin crawling even before he does anything wrong. Something is
just ‘off’ with him from the start and it’s really powerful when he eventually
turns.

Unrelated to the quality of the production, but no less important, is the lack of trigger warnings provided by the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. In the programme and website there are no trigger warnings for sexual violence or flashing lights in this production. So, you can imagine my shock when Mush and Maya are involved in a scene of strong sexual content, this urgently needs addressing. The theatre has a responsibility to challenge its audience’s minds, but care for their bodies. This production succeeds at challenging its audience, but due to the lack of trigger warnings, puts its audience at risk.

Between
Eternity and Time is an intriguing exploration of environment and
finding one’s place in the world that achieves its aims, but not without its
issues.

Between Eternity and Time performed at The Richard Burton Theatre, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
19 – 21 March 2019 in Cardiff
Transferring to The Gate Theatre, London, 2 – 5 April
Written by Jacob Hodgkinson
Directed by Hannah Noone
In Collaboration with Sherman Theatre
As part of RWCMD’s ‘NEW’ Season
Starring:
Kate Jones as Maya
William Kirk as Tom
Aron Cynan as Mush
Alex Leak as Dabs
Grace Quigley as Nicole
Ruby Hartley as Crystal
Ed Piercy as Blowback
Saran Morgan as Kitty
Production Team:
Set & Costume Design: Harrison Lee
Lighting Designer: Leonora Nicholson
Sound Designer: Charlie Foran
Assistant Production Manager: Alexandra Drescher-Elphick
Stage Manager: Gemma Smith
Deputy Stage Manager: Melanie Allen
Assistant Stage Manager: Grace Bilsborough
Design Assistants: Cleo Andriola and Bence Baksa
Technicians: Ella Cunnison, Kitty Dunning, Jamie Holden and Paul Kaiba
Venue Technician: Kieran Gough
Supervisors: Kristy Bowers, Rob Clarke and Laura Martin

Theatre

Cathryn McShane on BSL supported Theatrical performances in the Welsh Language

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“I feel providing
access to Deaf audiences to Welsh language productions is significant because
Deaf people in Wales have traditionally been excluded from this aspect of their
culture and heritage.

From my experience, I
am aware that Deaf children in schools are often exempted from the National
Curriculum Welsh language requirements and historically even Welsh-speaking
parents have been actively discouraged from using their mother tongue with
their deaf children.  This has resulted
in the Welsh Deaf community missing out on the rich and vibrant offerings that
the Welsh language art scene provides.

Recently I have been involved in interpreting several plays that were once Eisteddfod pieces (Estron, Anweledig, Nos Sadwrn o Hyd and Merched Caerdydd).

The Eisteddfod to me is the epitome and hub when it comes to the best of contemporary Welsh writing and performing, so being able to facilitate access to these pieces to a Welsh audience who previously have not had access to Welsh culture in this form is a real privilege.

getthechance.wales/2018/04/27/an-interview-with-cathryn-haulwen-mcshane/

After agreeing to do one show two years ago, I have been inundated with enquires, and Deaf audience numbers have steadily increased (including individuals who had never been to the theatre before) so I’m really pleased with how these initiatives are developing. More recently companies are taking an interest in integrating BSL in their productions, so I can see scope for some really exciting work in the future.”

Festivals, Theatre

Review Post, Xavier de Sousa, Battersea Arts Centre by Tanica Psalmist

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out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

Post is a solo, immersive play written and performed by Xavier de Sousa. Xavier’s play is an intimate and vocal production that creates a traditionally Portuguese and friendly atmosphere. There’s nothing more accommodating then attending a show that has tasty smells fuming in to your nostrils and discovering different methods of cooking and learning about new ethnic dishes, whilst getting served.

Post is all about joining Xavier at a grand table for some delicious portuguese food and merrily discussing hot topics around the dinner table whilst you eat. Xavier chose four people to voluntarily accompany him at the dining table on set which had a variety of sweet smelling foods such as homemade bread, soup, Green wine and Cachaca, which is a strong Portuguese spirit he served for shots. 

https://vimeo.com/190589379

Once the beautifully infused scents, tastes and imagery of the set began to feel like a warm heavenly paradise, Xavier was ready to present his questions. After he’d selectively chosen who to be seated around the table to discuss national matters, it got a lot more interesting and compelling. The primal talk was on challenges the nation faces, especially as we are heading towards Brexit.

The semi-focus revolved around factors in political and geographical landscapes. It was great to see Xavier invite down different ethnic groups to the table as this made the show even more crucial to watch. The conversations were far from demoralising to hear as they were all uniquely angled. Answered with the intention to help openly express, relate it individually or encourage significant family memories.  

Post is a play that exploits different topics in a safe, non-judgmental environment exploring what it means to be and feel a migrant in this day and age. As well as conforming to a culture to gain acceptance, followed by the exposure of non-friendly and ignorant people, who feel more confident to be openly racist and discriminative towards opposing ethnic minorities during this moment in history.

Xavier did a great job in keeping the humour alive and not excluding the audience by offering and serving food whilst conversations commenced! Xavier defiantly made a great host! Overall Post was fun and engaging to experience as whether you were involved in the conversation or not, the topics were self-identifying to all.

Music, Theatre

Review High Rise Estate of Mind, Homegrown Festival, BAC by Tanica Psalmist

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out of 5 stars (5 / 5)

High Rise Estate of Mind is an energetic, reflective, daring, compelling and convicting production; igniting all to come and feel at home in a place you can’t technically call home cause you don’t own the property. Themes explored are the concepts revolving around working twice as hard to ensure you have a roof over your head whilst keeping up with rent costs to prevent eviction and trolling from your landlord.

The city heights is circulated around modern metropolitan living where residency is fluctuating and thoughts are unravelling on demands for expansions on suitable housing. Meanwhile families are left to struggle in their tightly compact apartments, stuck on the waiting list for comfortability, struck with mis-informed implementations in their local area. This production touches on fundamental concepts that depicts the real life living conditions in the UK.

A creative narrative that reflects the modern day reality of the inflicting pain of the housing issue, figuratively told through various elements of rap, spoken word, beatbox and looping. Credibility to the casts; Conrad Murray – Co artistic director, Paul Cree- Co Artistic director, David Bonnick Jr-Associate Artist and Lakeisha Lynch Stevans, they all played on their individual strengths.  

This production is an autobiography of the casts personal lives as they enact the challenges and determination of the days they’ve dreamt about leaving the estate. The impersonations in this play truly foretold the relationship between programmed landlords and submissive tenants. Paul Cree had effectively embodied the characteristics of a robot by remaining monotone, dry humoured, insensitive, transparent and unresponsive.

The chemical imbalance of the landlords disfiguration prevented him from emphasising with his tenant when facing potential eviction. Due to the landlords insensitivity you noticed the tenants feelings climaxed to feeling extremely frantic, hurt and punished.  This production is a well perceived reality of UK citizens feeling cursed in a dysfunctional system. High Rise Estate tackles angles of life for the majority of people living in estates dealing with unkept communal areas, negligence of maintenance issues and the overall mindset derived from the living conditions in fabricated England.    

The Mis-en-scene and set was very simplistic. The casts were dressed identically in all black wearing a hoodie, cap, tracksuit bottoms and shirt, which was great in preventing distractions. Each cast member stood with a mic stand in front of them, this play featured live looping and acoustic playing which made this play even more impactful. Their voices blessing the mic majestically set the mood, tone and effectiveness for the entire show.

This production is so figuratively rich with different music genres and content. The casts evidently wanted to be neutral on stage remaining themselves, which they successfully achieved. This piece also addresses the concerns of many middle aged men and women still living with their parents based on the struggle of affording to move out. High Rise Estate of Mind consists of extremely moving performances, raising awareness by uniquely retelling dimensions of various truths.  

High Rise eState of Mind will be showing at Battersea Arts Centre from the 20th – 30th March as part of the Occupy Festival.

Theatre

Review Macbeth, National Theatre, Wales Millennium Centre by Kevin Johnson

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⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’ve always liked the anticipation of seeing a Shakespeare play, especially the tragedies, but what always fills me with foreboding is when they are ‘modernised’. This, to me, often means taking liberties with text and staging, and to a large extent this was true at the Millennium Centre. In a way, the story was downsized, which is a shame given such a large stage. I always try to keep an open mind, which is not easy given some of the versions I’ve seen (Romeo & Juliet where the Montagues and Capulets were humans and aliens) and some work really well, such as Andrew Scott’s Hamlet set in a Sky News, Denmark. Here the witches appeared, covered in what looked like see-through rain ponchos, talked with electronic enhancement, and then climbed poles like a Cirque du Soleil show. I was impressed by the climbing, not so much by the sound effects obscuring their words. Then there’s the weapons problem: set it in modern times and give them guns is fine, set it in historical times and give them swords and axes, fine too, but here the weapons were short machetes and what looked like switchblades, which tends to ‘shrink’ the fighting, especially when, in the hands of the burly Michael Nardone, they look like toys. Macbeth is about power,  it’s seductive and destructive nature, and the violence is often the physical embodiment of such power, so when you diminish the threat, you diminish the effect.

There’s a question that always bothers me when seeing this play: why doesn’t the whole cast have Scottish accents? I’ve never seen a version that does, outside Scotland obviously, which puzzles me. Productions always hedge their bets by having some (here I counted four) but not all. Why? I found that the mix of accents unbalances things, this is 11th century Scotland after all, not 21st century Soho, and yet here we have Scots, Geordie, RP, Yorkshire, etc. When you throw in the gender swapping of some characters, the flip-flopping personalities of others, changes in the lines and a cast which has mixed success dealing with iambic pentameter, it all adds up to a jarring distraction.

On the plus side Nardone is a good Macbeth, gruff, tender and loving, especially in the scene where he cradles his dead wife, although his intent to kill the king seems to have come more from her calling him a wimp than his own will. The conflict within him seen in the line “I dare do all that may become a man;Who dares do more is none”, yet still Kirsty Besterman’s Lady Macbeth wins him over, with a fierce charm. Patrick Robinson as Banquo provides a sweet sadness to their friendship, Lisa Zahra (Lady MacDuff) speaks with great pathos for women everywhere when she says “why then, alas, do I put up that womanly defence, to say I have done no harm?” while facing her death. As her husband, Ross Walton brings a righteousness and guilt to the role, and Deke Walmsley’s Porter adds comedy to lighten the mood. 

Many in the theatre obviously enjoyed the show, I was more ambivalent. The boundaries in Shakespeare must always be pushed, and Rufus Norris the director deserves respect for trying to make it relevant to today’s generation, but not at the expense of losing the things that make it great. This is not a bad production then, more of a worthy failure.        

Theatre

Review: Camp Be Yourself at The Other Room by Gareth Ford-Elliott

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out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

As we enter the space at The Other Room, we are greeted by Betty Walsh (as Betsey) and Emilia Stawicki (Emily). They remind you that your alcohol is apple juice and, as the play starts, that you, the audience, are a group of ten-year-old girls, arriving at Camp Be Yourself. Also, to stay inside the red-markers because there isn’t (but might be) the threat of bears.

What follows is an organised and hilarious mess where two characters, Betsey and Emily, are exploring what it is to be an adult, whilst they’re supposed to be running a camp.

Delusions of grandeur, suppressed insecurities and the absence of a mother drive Betsey’s character. Whilst Emily is nervous, repressing emotion, unsure of herself and eager to impress.

The performances of both characters are hilarious and relatable. Both Walsh and Stawicki are great comedic performers, exploiting the use of facial expressions and mannerisms expertly. They both perform with conviction and full knowledge of their characters who are instantly recognisable, but leave room for growth.

Whilst a lot of that growth and conflict is subtle, it’s
presented clearly and naturally throughout. Everyone leaves the theatre sure of
who these women are, what issues they have whilst having a good laugh along the
way.

The writing is more sophisticated than you might expect. It’s well-structured, the characters have real depth and there’s natural conflict which builds very convincingly.

The writing and performances from Stawicki and Walsh deserve huge credit for achieving this.

The fact that there is a non-binary character (Billie) referred to throughout the play may go unnoticed by some but definitely deserves a mention. It’s nice to have a non-binary character where their gender doesn’t affect the plot, they’re just a normal person and that’s okay.

The pop-culture references provide a fair amount of comedy throughout. The few references to Tiffany Trump, in particular, are great. The use of music too is really funny. Michael Sambello’s ‘Maniac’ used for a dance-break reminded me of American Pie, when they use the same song for a dance-off. That made me chuckle, along with the use of PTAF’s ‘Boss A** B*tch’, which I recognised from the first drum-beat.

It certainly helps that the references and comedy generally fit my personal sense of humour. Betty Walsh’s character in particular I liked. It reminded me of Ja’mie King from Summer Heights High or a female David Brent. My worry is that perhaps this won’t appeal to an older audience. But a lot of the comedy does come from tried-and-tested means, is fairly intellectual and very self-aware (even if the characters aren’t).

The play touches on various themes, such as; adulthood, sisterhood (in a friendship sense), motherhood, childhood (in particular, how that affects us later in life), responsibility and insecurity. What is really nice about this play is that it doesn’t try to answer any questions, it merely explores the characters and themes in a comedic way and leaves room for you to think further. Both characters have a lot of depth and we explore that through comedy rather than a dramatic exfoliation of their personal history. This works really well and is really satisfying and refreshing to see.

Camp Be
Yourself is a must-see, hilarious hour-long exploration of two very
different women and their ideas of adulthood.

Camp Be Yourself is part of The Other Room’s ‘Spring
Fringe’ curated spring season. One of eight shows coming to Cardiff’s only pub
theatre over eight weeks. Tickets can be found for this and other upcoming
Spring Fringe shows HERE, with an ever-growing discount for the more shows you book.

Camp be Yourself at The Other Room, Cardiff
20 – 23 March 2019
Presented by Box. Theatre Company
Created by Emilia Stawicki and Betty Jane Walsh
Starring:
Betty Jane Walsh as Betsey
Emilia Stawicki as Emily

Theatre

Review MACBETH, National Theatre at Wales Millennium Centre by Barbara Michaels

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Play by William Shakespeare

Director: Rufus Norris

Reviewer: Barbara Michaels

out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

Reviled by many as one of Shakespeare’s more unpleasant
plays, and referred to by thespians as ‘The Scottish Play’ because of its
reputation for bringing bad luck to performances, Macbeth is open to a huge range of interpretations on account of
its deep psychological reference.  Rufus
Norris’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s work balances this with an urban
modern setting that screams disruption and corruption in high places from start
to finish.

For those unfamiliar with the play, Macbeth is a soldier
whose wife’s aspirations of greatness proof to be his downfall.  Returning after a successful battle, he meets
a coven of witches who predict his speedy promotion and ultimate Kingship.  On arriving home, Macbeth tells his wife, who
informs him that Duncan, the present King of Scotland, will be visiting and
staying the night – giving an ideal opportunity for the skulduggery which is necessary
i.e. the King’s murder. One killing leads to another as both the Macbeths become
victims of a bloodlust that lead inevitably to their downfall.

Played out against a forbidding darkly lit set which hardly
changes throughout, this production focuses on making Shakespeare’s work
compatible with contemporary times, with the obvious intent of the original text
becoming more accessible to present day youth. 
In this, the National Theatre’s most recent version of Macbeth, it succeeds brilliantly. The parallel
with the knife crime so prevalent in today’s society is evident. The fights
are, at times, almost too realistic Costume designer Moritz Junge dresses the
soldiers including the main protagonists Macbeth and his rival Macduff in
combat uniform, while Lady Macbeth is seen in jeans and T-shirt. Set designer
Rae Smith uses a steeply sloping ramp for much of the main action in a stark
setting.  Even the banquet in Macbeth’s
castle is an austere affair.

. BUT – there is a caveat. Some of the poetry and fluency of
the memorable speeches is lost, or drowned out by overloud music which adds to
a cacophony of sound in some scenes.   And
did the three witches really have to climb poles? Having said that, the pluses
in this production by the prestigious National Theatre are many. Overall this
is good theatre, due in no small part to the acting of Michael Nardone, who
projects as a Macbeth in emotional torment yet unable to resist the possibility
of ennoblement and its accompanying riches and the blandishments of his evil
(soon to become deranged) wife, with disastrous consequences. Kirsty Besterman
plays Lady Macbeth as a malevolent sex kitten who has no scruples in using her bedroom
wiles to persuade her husband to embark on a wicked course that will lead to
his destruction. Norris tackles the wickedness head-on – literally. (Forgive
the pun – beheading is part of the on-stage action).

As for light relief:  there
is not much of that around, but what there is gets its full due in the hands of
Deka Walmsley whose spot-on timing and comedic touch provide a most welcome
moment of lightness in this searingly dark tragedy, giving rise to appreciative
chuckles on the night reviewed. A welcome moment of respite from the relentless
discords of a brutish production that demonstrates that, while we may stop
short of beheading in today’s society and guns have replaced swords, in some
respects – you have only to consider the fighting in Afghanistan and Syria, for
instance – the similarities with our own times are all too apparent.

Runs until Saturday March 23rd.