Category Archives: Theatre

Dance, Theatre

An interview with Dr Branwen Davies

Leave a comment


The director of Get the Chance Guy O’Donnell recently met with writer Dr Branwen Davies. They discussed her training, career to date, a new work in progress ‘Cut and Run’ which will be performed at Chapter Arts Centre this December and her thoughts on the arts in Wales.
Hi Branwen great to meet you, can you give our readers some background information on yourself please?
I initially trained as an actor at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff after being involved with National Youth Theatre Wales as a teenager. I was interested in performing but realised I was a better writer than an actor and decided to focus on writing instead. My training gave me a really good grounding and introduction to theatre, plays and performance as well as the opportunity to meet some great people who I have been lucky to collaborate and work with later in life. I think actors can be great script editors – knowing what is needed and not needed in scenes and what can be conveyed without text. I think my actor training helped me become a better writer and theatre maker.

The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff.

So what got you interested in writing and the arts?
I’ve always written and I’ve always been involved in theatre in some way shape or form. I wrote plays as a child, took them to school and forced the class to perform them! I wrote whilst at RWCMD and after working as an actor for a few years decided to do a Creative Writing Masters at Bangor University. Whilst doing my MA I was commisioned by Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru to co-write the Welsh language play DOMINOS that toured Wales. I’ve since been combining freelance writing work, lecturing and various theatre/performance projects with various companies in Welsh and English.

The writers of DOMINOS, Mared Swain, Branwen Davies,  Manon Wyn,  and Angharad Llwyd.

You have recently been running some reviewing workshops for schools linked to Cwmni Fran Wens production Mwgsi. How have the young people responded?

Mwgsi 

It’s been an eye opener talking to young people regarding the hard-hitting production of Mwgsi which is about a young girl who at the end of her A levels discovers she has Leukemia. I admire the young people’s honesty and frankness. They know what they like and don’t like and are able to communicate well their thoughts and reactions to the play. I feel it’s important that a play produced for young people is reviewed by young people – i.e the target audience and that Fran Wen – a company who aim to create exciting theatre that challenges young people with content and form approach schools and offer the opportunity. I’ve had many interesting discussions the past few weeks and enjoyed discussing what a review can be and should be and how to create a vocabulary to talk about performance and theatre and elements involved in a production in an engaging way.
I believe you have been working with older citizens. Can you tell us more about the project you have led on?
It was a privilege to work with the older citizens on the project Lleisiau/Voices with Pontio and Friars Secondary School in Bangor. We spent time with the residents at the old people’s home Plas Hedd at Maesgeirchen Bangor who specialise in care for people with Dementia. We created a verbatim piece of theatre after the students befriended the residents and talked and interviewed them. Seeing the frindships that were formed between the generations was heartwarming. Being able to see the residents as real people with stories and a past rather than patients in a chair and most importantly being able to give them a voice was very rewarding. I have never laughed and cried so much during a project. It really hit home the power of theatre, communication and engaging with the community. The stories that were shared were priceless – Mable’s fun and frolics with the Land Army, Margaret training to be a nurse and escaping from the window after lights out and Morus playing the piano whilst his father sang and his brother played the trombone. The end result was read to the friends and families of everyone involved and was a celebration really of the resident’s lives. But the process of befriending and giving the teenagers an opportunity to get to know the older generation and to share and learn from them was the real power of the project and seeing the residents light up and enjoy sharing and laughing and having fun.It was very real, very human and touching.

Gwanwynn celebrates creativity in older age, with an increasing older population in Wales is their enough support for the creativity of our older citizens?
I don’t think there is enough support for the creativity of our older citizens. There are some important and rewarding projects going on but there needs to be more. I feel we tend to forget or ignore our older citizens when they need to be celebrated. They have so much to share and we have so much to gain from them. Loneliness is such a huge problem with our elderly citizens and I feel an output for creativity would be a huge benefit to combat loneliness and eradicate the stigma of old age.

Get the Chance works to support a diverse range of members of the public to access cultural provision Are you aware of any barriers to equality and diversity for either Welsh or Wales based artists?
Get the Chance do a great job. There are always barriers and always people fighting for equality and for more diversity. It’s the money element that worries me. The expense and cost of opportunities – even visiting theatres or booking a space! I wish there was more funding to collaborate with different artists on a research and development level. Introducing different artists to each other to experiment and play with different ways of working.
If you were able to fund an area of the arts in Wales what would this be and why?
I would like to see more funding for children and young people’s theatre – theatre that provokes without preaching. Some of the most memorable performances I have seen have been for younger audiences. I still remember some productions that came to my primary school and feel that it is a mistake to steer away from visiting schools and performing at schools. It is the only opportunity some children will have of theatre. I would like to see more funding for the less obvious and less traditional forms of theatre and theatre making too and development of new work. Would be good to take a risk with funding and support less known and less experienced artists – we miss out by playing safe. There is room to push boundaries.
What excites you about the arts in Wales?
What excites me? The talent!The practitioners and artists we have in Wales across the board – actors/directors/writers etc I just wish there was more opportunity to showcase the talent across the border and internationally.

What was the last really great thing that you experienced that you would like to share with our readers?
I have just experienced a weekend at Ty Newydd in Llanystumdwy at a writing retreat where I was mentoring 6 new young writers with Elgan Rhys for Fran Wen.

Branwen  working with one of the young people at Ty Newydd.

It’s a magical place and a weekend collaborating, talking and sharing was invigorating!

Elgan Rhys working with one of the young people at Ty Newydd.

P.A.R.A.D.E

Photographic credit: Mark Douet

Performance wise I recently saw National Dance Wales and Marc Rees’s P.A.R.A.D.E – yes I’m biased because I collaborated with the text for the performance but I enjoyed the experience, excitement and the spectacle of it all.

P.A.R.A.D.E

Photographic credit: Mark Douet

And lastly to finish what are you currently working on?
Cut and Run is a work in progress that Dirty Protest are developing/performing in the run up to Christmas at Chapter as an alternative Christmas show. You can catch it at the studio in Chapter December 20th-23rd. It’s a one woman show with mosquitoes, Texan tourists and a ticking biological clock!

We spoke to Catherine Paskell,  Artistic Director of Dirty Protest about this new performance.
As part of Dirty Protest’s 10 year anniversary celebrations, the company present a development production of a new Christmas monologue, Cut and Run by Branwen Davies. Branwen wrote for Dirty Protest’s very first short play night in 2007 and this is her first full length play for the company.
Cut and Run follows Dirty Protest’s tradition of alternative Christmas offerings and will be performed at Chapter 20th – 23rd December 2017. Tickets can be booked here
 

Music, Musical, Theatre, Uncategorized

Review: How to Win Against History by Gemma Treharne-Foose

Leave a comment

 
out of 5 stars (5 / 5)
If you’ve never heard of the 5th Marquess of Anglesey or Henry Cyril Paget – that’s exactly what his family intended to happen when they erased him from their family history by burning every photograph and possession relating to his life.
Based on true story, this completely original production pieces together the charred remains and distant memories of the 5th Marquess of Anglesey – a cross-dressing dandy who inherited the keys to the kingdom in Victorian Britain, but lived fast and died young.
At one time the richest man in Britain, he rejected the duties of his title to live an outrageously opulent and controversial life, putting on elaborate plays, building over the chapel on the family estate to build a theatre and tour Europe with his ‘Electric Butterfly Orchestra’ – with himself as the leading artist, of course.

This is a fabulously foppish flight of fancy that will have you belly laughing from lights up until lights down.

The Marquess of Anglesey was an unapologetic narcissist, who if born in more recent times would no doubt be the subject of a gaudy commercial deal, a magazine spread or a reality TV series. But although the production pokes fun at the story, it is never cruel.

How to Win Against History is a high-camp, high energy extravaganza, subverting the almost homoerotic goings on within public schools, the aristocracy and the Empire.
Starring Seiriol Davies who plays (or should I say ‘slays’) as Henry Paget, this show chasses, minces and shimmies its way through his back story, shining a light on the social awkwardness of Victorian times, the absurdity and pomposity of theatre and the sheer hilarity of being a square peg in a round hole.
Matthew Blake plays the part of Paget’s right hand man – the Victorian west end actor Alexander Keith and the pair have incredible chemistry and comic timing. Every movement, sigh and flick of the hand is played up and milked for laughs.
Imagine a show featuring Lawrence Llywelyn-Bowen’s lovechild on acid at Mardi Gras, mashed up with Monty Python, Downton Abbey and Ru Paul’s Drag Race. That wouldn’t even come close to how remarkable this is.

Despite the madcap silliness and outrageousness though, it’s a show with substance and heart. Seiriol Davies has created something quite heartfelt and poignant, the music and lyrics are sharp and clever and the incredible vocal performances of the trio on stage meander from genre to genre.
You really want Henry Paget to win and the way audiences are responding to this production shows that in the end – he has.
Some lights are too bright to ever be distinguished.

Theatre

Review Wait Until Dark, New Theatre, Cardiff by Jane Bissett

Leave a comment

out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

As I made my way to the Theatre on a dark and wet November evening I was unaware of the theatrical experience that is Wait Untill Dark would have on my walk home – in darkness…..

WAIT UNTIL DARK is a cautionary tale set in the mid 1960s. About a young photographer (Sam) who in agreeing to assist a fellow passenger on an aircarft flight from Amsterdam sets in motion a chain of events that will affect his household in a way he could not fore tell nor indeed understand.

Human beings are either able to embrace darkness or have an inate fear of it. There is something about the isolation of being in the dark which enduces our inner fears of the things we cannot see or understand.

This story centres on Susy the newly married wife of Sam. Susy is blind and learning to live her life in darkness following an accident.

As the story unfolds we watch as a small gang of vilains are trying to discover the whereabouts of a missing doll which has been used as a carrier for drugs.

The gang mistakenly believable Susy knows the whereabouts of the doll although is unaware of its value. They set in motion an elaborate plan to retrieve the doll by deception and fear.

Using a tried and tested method of operation the gang gain access to the basement flat and conduct their search with the assistance of Susy who now believes her husband is in danger and if the doll is discovered in his possession he maybe under suspicion of a murder of the woman who originally asked him to take care of the doll.

Despite her blindness Susy soon becomes aware of what is happening as she hears and senses the strange behaviour of the men and is suspicious of their real motives.

With the assistance of her neighbours daughter she sets out to change the power balance to her advantage and to keep herself alive until her husband can get home.

Although set in the 1960s this story could have taken place at any time and in any context and is the stuff that good thrillers are made of.

All the action takes place in a basement flat and the set design was true to the time period in which it was set. A mention must be made of the use of the stair case and we can only commend the cast on their fitness levels as they negotiated the stairs all evening.

Katrina Jones portrayal of Susy was outstanding, a smart woman, in love with her husband and astutely aware of her surroundings. Indeed it was only at the curtain call that it entered my mind that Jones was actually blind.

Shannon Rewcroft gave an amazing performance as Gloria (age 12), so much so that it became believable that she was 12.

The gentlemen of the cast brought the play to life and Tim Treloar’s performance as the gang mastermind ‘Roat’ sent a shiver up the spine.

The whole atmosphere of the play hinged on the set design, lighting and sound and to this end I must commend David Woodhead, Chris Withers and Giles Thomas for bringing to the stage the visual and audio experience that left us all wanting more.

During the final act, as the story reached it climax, the effects on stage not only heightened the scenses of the audience but pulled them further into the action that was taking place in front of their eyes and the tension was almost tangible.

Playwright Frederick Knott’s (1916-2002) legacy to the theatre was believable drama where he set the scene and delivered a thriller that has stood the test of time.

Director Alistair Whatley gave us an evening of sheer pleasure and this amazing cast brought the play to life to create an unforgettable evening of thrilling theatre at its best.

WAIT UNTIL DARK plays at Cardiff’s New Theatre from;

Tuesday 14 – Saturday 18 November at 7.30pm

On Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday there are performances at 2.30pm.

For further details about the show or to book tickets call the Box Office on 02920878889.

Music, Musical, Theatre

Review Tiger Bay The Musical, Wales Millennium Centre by Patrick Downes

2 Comments


It’s quite fitting that just over 30 years since the redevelopment of the south of Cardiff began that Wales Millennium Centre presents Tiger Bay The Musical. Since 1987, what was the docks of Cardiff, and in particular, what was Tiger Bay, has changed dramatically, and this musical is a celebration of the diversity that is Cardiff now.
What’s it about? Set in 1900’s Cardiff, it follows a young woman’s determination to challenge society’s injustices, follow her heart and realise her dreams. Extreme poverty meets supreme wealth. Gangs of street children roam the docks. Coal is king. A revolution is brewing in the dark and restless world beneath the genteel surface of Cardiff’s Butetown. You could say there’s a level of current social commentary running through this.

The staging and sound are possibly the best I’ve ever seen at WMC, everything moved seamlessly on stage from one scene to another. The cast sound amazing, helped no doubt by the scoring of Daf James and the lyrics of Michael Williams, this production in association with Cape Town Opera has romance, drama, revenge, and some amazing ensemble pieces.
Back in 2011, I saw Noel Sullivan in We Will Rock You at the WMC. It was my first proper musical (that wasn’t on telly or in the cinema), and now six years later via some Dirty Rotten Scoundrels I see him again, and his voice has improved and matured. Hard to believe the same person sung an album track from Girl Thing that in turn went on to become the biggest song of 2001 (Trivia fans… that was of course Pure and Simple by Hearsay)
There is a tendency with some reviews to rave about everything – this might just end up being one of those. With talent such as John Owen Jones and Suzanne Packer, plus the aforementioned Mr Sullivan, it’s quite difficult to select a few stand out moments. Dom Hartley-Harris as Themba was just sublime. The emotion of his character was stunning to watch. But there’s no doubting tonight I saw two stars born.
Star number one is Vicki Bebb. The programme says she hails from a small village in South Wales. Well, let’s sort that out for starters. She’s from Cilfynydd, which is 3 miles outside of Pontypridd town centre. The same place that gave the world Sir Geraint Evans and Stuart Burrows – two amazing Welsh singers. Change that entry Wikipedia, there’s a third. Her name is Vicki Bebb, and going by tonight’s performance, the world is her oyster. I can say I was there the night I saw Vicki Bebb shine for the first time.
Star number two is Ruby Llewelyn who plays Ianto Louise Harvey also plays the role, but not tonight). She’s quite a little powerhouse of a vocalist and pretty much stole the show – even against John Owen Jones. In fairness the child cast were all brilliant, but for me, Louise is another one to watch for the future (once she’s gotten all her exams sorted first).
I am quite sad writing this review because it means my involvement in TBTM is now over. After blogging and talking about it for the best part of the last nine months, it’s time to say tara now – not goodbye, because I’m sure this little piece of Cardiff will travel and fly.
My advice is, if you like the likes of Oliver, Les Misérables, or even Wicked, you will love this. It’s a little piece of Cardiff past, with lot of the passion the city always had, and always will. Just imagine Les Miserables with a Kardiffian accent, and you’ll realise this is more than just a half tidy musical mind.
Tiger Bay-The Musical is on at Wales Millennium Centre till 25th November 2017.
REVIEW: @impatrickdownes

Dance, Theatre

Review Fourteen Days, Balletboyz, Exeter Northcott, by Hannah Goslin

Leave a comment


 
out of 5 stars (5 / 5)
 
Balletboyz have been a favourite of mine since my university days. Always heading to the Taliesin in Swansea, this company have never struggled to surprise me with their brilliance.
Today was of no exception.
Looking in the crowd the audience was of a mixture – dance enthusiasts like myself, an older generation who may or may not have seen them before and know their unique and modern take on dance and a huge amount of boys and young men. Beating the stereotype of ballet and dance being for girls, these masculine role models are obviously very influential.
Fourteen days comprises of 4 short pieces followed by a longer finale. As the programme states, these dances are created by a host of different choreographers, including Strictly Come Dancing’s, Craig Revel Horwood and all feature an underlying theme of balance and imbalance.

“The Title is in the Text” is our first piece by choreographer, Javier De Frutos and really draws on the theme. Set around a see saw, the dancers balance, propel and manoeuvre around it creating beautiful shapes and a sort of child-like playtime with each other . It’s simplistic, yet powerful and with elements of subtle humour with the interaction and response between them. Dressed in jumpsuits, firstly it feels mechanic and as if they are workers but the play in the dance makes them feel more childlike.

“Human Animals” by Iván Pérez changed the dynamic completely. The floral shirts with legs bare for all muscles to be seen makes this animalistic – the routine gentle, light and almost mimicking deer jumping in a forest as one. It’s repetitive but easy and lovely to watch.
To me, “Us” by Christopher Wheeldon was the highlight of the show. With only two dancers, the performance is intimate, a consistent flow and full of emotion. Along with the music by Keaton Henson, this very minimalist piece but full of vigour and emotional power resonated personally with me, leaving me in tears at the beauty of love and conflict.
“The Indicator Line” by TV star Craig Revel Horwood is in itself a surprise.  There is a Soviet element to the narrative and comes across as very dictator-like but with bells on. Mostly I would expect something musical theatre based from him and that’s a little of what we get but it’s strong, powerful and full of momentum. The dancers also show a great talent in their trade when ballet and contemporary turns to tap. However there’s anger in the tap -no Fred Astaire here, this tap dancing means war.
And finally, “Fallen”by Russell Maliphant – a rebirth from it’s debut in 2013. Until I read that fact, there was something familiar about the piece but nothing less enjoyable. The whole ensemble is involved and there is always something to watch. Different scenes broadcast from different areas; crescendos come and go and levels change from all to duo to solo and back again. This piece has a fluidity to it, not just in dance but in its expression, leaving you struggling to take your eyes away.
What I love about Balletboyz is their ability to be about the dance. Yes the odd bit of staging and changing of lights adds to their composition but mostly the stage is naked, stripped bare of trickery leaving us engaged with the dancers who make every element look effortless and with sheer beauty.


Hannah Goslin

Theatre

Review Tiger Bay The Musical, Wales Millennium Centre by Ceri Ann Goddard

Leave a comment

(The review below is from a preview performance, accessed through Spice Time Credits)

So off I went out out (no slippers) for my first Spice Time Credit spend in several months. It was so good to get out, I’ve been bit unwell again, just coming through the other side, treats like this make recovery fun and what better way than to go and see a fab new show like Tiger Bay The Musical  with friends and family thanks to Spice Cardiff and the Wales Millennium Centre.

Tiger Bay is a beautifully crafted musical based in Cardiff around the boom time of the coal industry. Its about the people who lived and worked there, tales of love, hardship, hope and tragedy (be prepared to experience a gamut of emotions). John Owen Jones voice is commanding and lyrical, it was so lovely, Dom Hartley Harris voice is like velvet, ‘Ianto’ is played by a little star to be and Noel Sullivan got the best boo as a baddy I’ve heard since I saw the Baron in La Traviata.

Suzanne Packer back to a Kairdiff accent as not seen on Casualty was excellent, her part induced some lovely giggles and we forget at times the lady is an accomplished and talented singer, an excellent performance by all.
The staging itself is incredibly clever, with a few set pieces that move and it immediately changes the scenery and ambiance, one minute you are on a ship by the dock, the next inside a local hostelry and the next inside a castle.

I think my favourite part was the stage lighting, I certainly applaud the director/designer of that, the intense lighting/spotlighting and placement of the actors and other players induced dramatic silhouettes (the smoking lady in Morgans) or made it seem like there were three times as many people on the stage, (triple shadows), the sinister giant stretched shadows in the darker scenes, it was an excellent bit of staging.

The choreography and choral arrangements and orchestra were amazing, some parts where you have a three different singers I think its called polyphonic chorus, didn’t always work for me and I lost the story but I soon caught up, however you cannot deny its very clever and brilliantly technical and all credit to the professionalism of the cast and indeed the very young cast that these choral sections were so superb.
So any negatives?, I have to say yes, it’s slightly too long, I’m disabled and sitting for three hours can be uncomfortable, I was getting quite fidgety towards the end, not because I’d lost interest, but because I had a numb bottom and a complaining hip. I think some of the linking to scenes was tenuous and some overlong, but really its a tiny complaint and did not deter my enjoyment of the show. I truly recommend you get a ticket to go if you can, it was a really lovely evening, whats not to enjoy about being entertained by a well written show performed by talented people?
Bravo, I say Bravo!

Ceri Ann Goddard
Cast
Ensemble — Jamal Andréas
Rowena Pryddy — Vikki Bebb
Leonora Piper — Liz May Brice
Donkeyman / Ensemble — Lee Dillon-Stuart
Cadi / Ensemble — Lucy Elson
Ensemble — Kit Esuruoso
Ensemble — Soophia Foroughi
Mali / Ensemble — Zoe George
Donkeyman / Ensemble — Daniel Graham
Themba — Dom Hartley-Harris
Ianto — Louise Harvey
Ianto — Ruby Llewelyn
Lowri / Ensemble — Elin Llwyd
Ensemble — Carl Man
First Mate / Locke — Rhidian Marc
Ensemble — Kayed Mohamed-Mason
Klondike Ellie / Ensemble — Busisiwe Ngejane
John Stuart — John Owen-Jones
Marisha / Ensemble — Suzanne Packer
Fezile / Ensemble — Luvo Rasemeni
Yusef Mohamed / Ensemble — Zolani Shangase
Ensemble — Cilla Silvia
Ensemble — Ernestine Stuurman
Seamus O’Rourke — Noel Sullivan
Donkeyman / Ensemble — Joshua Tonks
Bosun / Ensemble — Adam Vaughan
Arwyn — Ian Virgo
Ensemble — Emma Warren
Ensemble — Stephanie Webber
CREATIVE & PRODUCING TEAM
Music by — Daf James
Book and Lyrics — Michael Williams
Director — Melly Still
Co-Director — Max Barton
Designer — Anna Fleischle
Lighting Designer — Joshua Carr
Sound Designer — Christopher Shutt
Music Supervisor and Musical Director — David Mahoney
Choreographer — Melody Squire
Casting Director — Jim Arnold CDG for Pippa Ailion Casting
Additional Casting — Charlotte Sutton CDG
Producer — Maris Lyons
Executive Producer — Pádraig Cusack
Additional Welsh Lyrics — Daf James
Associate Director — Shelley Adriaanzen, Richard Tunley
Associate Designer — Loukia Minetou
Associate Lighting Designer — Peter Small
Associate Sound Designer — Greg Pink
Associate Choreographer — Lungelo Ngamlana
Fight Director — Kev McCurdy
Voice Coach — Nia Lynn
Orchestrations — Jeff Howard
Additional Orchestrations — Nathan Jones
Costume Supervisor — Natasha Prynne
Production Manager — David Evans

Theatre

Review Fiction, Bikeshed Theatre by Hannah Goslin

Leave a comment


 
out of 5 stars (4 / 5)
 
In the brick theatre of the Bikeshed, we are separated into singular seating, correspondent to our numbered headphones. Instantly we are dubious of what is about to happen especially when you end up in the front row and your guest is right at the back.
The only other things in the room apart from us spaced out is a large projection screen and a lectern. The projection screen acts as our welcome party before we are delved into sheer darkness.
Fiction sees us travel through a world of imagination and suggestion. Being in pure darkness, we feel vulnerable and open to the elements. Therefore sounds effect us more than normal, we do not feel as safe as we normally would and suddenly there are voices describing and taking you through an almost apocalyptic world and story.
One hour of this would, from the outside, seem tiresome but somehow the content of the narrative and what we create in our mind keeps the entire experience interesting and new.
The wonderful thing about this event is that while the narrative is the same, our own minds create a world that would be different to the next person. An uncertainty of whether the person speaking is sat next to you or not – yet you still do not reach out and move despite a 95% assurance it’s all coming from the headphones.
Fiction is very clever, intense and very simple, yet brilliantly executed. Such a clever experience is very unique and totally worth undertaking.

Hannah Goslin
 
 

Theatre

Review Heroine, Theatr Clwyd/High Tide by Gareth Williams

Leave a comment


 
out of 5 stars (4 / 5)
 
“What an extraordinary piece of theatre Heroine is.” I just had to write this as my immediate response on Twitter after seeing Nessah Muthy’s one-act play. It has many of the ingredients that create a top-class production: powerful, emotive, provocative, and controversial. It centres on Grace, a former soldier looking for friendship and meaning in her post-conflict life. One day, she turns up at the local community centre, and finds a group of women with whom she forms a strong and emotional bond. When the centre is threatened with closure, she finds herself fighting a new war, one which consumes her in a devastating and heartrending way.
Asmara Gabrielle is spellbinding as the young Grace. She is the heartbeat of this production, setting the pace with a conflicting range of emotions. It is a dramatic performance that builds progressively, a vulnerability that evolves from a sense of loss to a deep feeling of injustice; a growing bitterness that translates into angry protestation and self-destructive violence. The ability of Gabrielle to hold such extraordinary emotional conflict in her performance, letting it drip-feed out like a springing leak in her soul, is simply masterful.

Supporting her are a cast of four women, each of their characters richly detailed so as make Heroine an ensemble piece. They are not present merely to make up the numbers. Muthy has managed to give each of these women culturally recognisable characteristics without falling into the trap of stereotyping them. We have the technology-savvy grandma, Bev (Maggie McCarthy), the strong-willed group leader Wendy (Lucy Thackeray) and the chatty, party-loving Cheryl (Wendy Morgan). Yet far from being typecast, each of them is given space to breathe and become part of a narrative that is driven by their individual motivations, their pain and their sense of truth. Placing them as the driving force of the play ensures that it maintains a credibility and verisimilitude that ultimately creates an absorbing and electrifying piece of theatre. We journey with them from an innocuous start – walking into the auditorium, the three of them are already onstage chatting. The set translates seamlessly into the front row, making it feel like you are actually stepping into their world which is, I have to say, exquisite in its realism – to an (almost literally) explosive finish. It is pure drama.

I can understand the grievances posed recently over the perceived lack of opportunities for Welsh talent at Theatr Clwyd at present. When I think back to Terry Hands’ tenure, there was a clear Welsh flavour to many of the productions. This is not so much the case now. Yet I think the criticism is very unfair. To judge a theatre’s impact merely on onstage content is to miss the point of Artistic Director Tamara Harvey’s vision. As I see it, her desire to create a theatre that is accessible for all, which engages with the wider community, and provides opportunities for involvement across the board (from workshops to apprenticeships, creative spaces to community forums, etc.) shows a passion for inspiring and encouraging Welsh talent that goes far beyond the actors and writers rooms; indeed, is capable of a much greater impact than some may suggest.
What does this have to do with Heroine? Well, I think it is simply wrong to judge this co-production with London-based HighTide as being at the expense of Welsh talent. As Harvey states, there are other skills embedded in a producing theatre, such as stage management, set building, scenic art, props making, lighting and sound (to name but a few) that contribute to an overall production. This is surely the case here. Furthermore, the need to create opportunities for new and emerging talent should not just stop at one’s own doorstep. By supporting such a quality script by a young writer, as well as an all-female cast, this local theatre is making a positive contribution to the national issue of diversity, an ongoing problem within the arts.

Heroine is a great example of a new work that, with support, can fulfil its potential. It is an absorbing story that deals with some big and pressing themes. With a strong cast and brilliantly-crafted script, it is certainly one to watch out for. A provocative piece of art.

Theatre

Review The Burton Taylor Affair, Sherman Theatre/Oran Mor by Rhys Morgan

Leave a comment

Dewi Rhys Williams as Richard Burton and Vivien Reid as Elizabeth Taylor

The Taylor Burton Affair, written by Steven Elliot and directed by Chelsey Gillard, takes us straight into the deep end of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor’s turbulent marriage. This real life love affair is perhaps the most famous in all of Hollywood’s history, if only for the sheer levels of hostility that it engendered. But then again, severe alcoholism and excessive self-pride are rather toxic elements to add to any romantic relationship, and this play pulls no punches in its portrayal of those character defects which ultimately pulled the couple apart.

Vivien Reid as Elizabeth Taylor

The performance kicks off by placing us immediately at the heart of an embittered argument between Taylor (played by Vivien Reid) and Burton (played by Dewi Rhys Evans), and this single scene encompasses the entirety of the play. The set is particularly fitting; to the far-left stands a portable drinks cabinet, while on the far-right sits a romantic chaise longue, and throughout the play Taylor and Burton are constantly moving between the two, which perhaps serves as a telling metaphor for their marriage. Despite the play’s simplicity, the context of Taylor and Burton’s relationship is revealed to us in a remarkably thorough way, and these details never seem forced; they arise organically through the medium of argument and occasional reconciliation.
The actors’ performances were fantastic; they both managed to take us through a whirlwind of emotion and feeling whilst simultaneously keeping the play grounded. The majority of their interaction is uncomfortable viewing as it invites us to take pity on a relationship that is quite literally tearing at the seams. Yet there are certain lines of dialogue that are genuinely humorous, which remind us that there is, after all, an ineffable connection between the two characters, even if it is buried beneath a thick layer of hostility.
Overall The Taylor Burton Affair is a thoroughly character-driven play; it is a warts-and-all portrayal of marriage and human character, and it will therefore appeal to those who aren’t necessarily fans of Elizabeth Taylor or Richard Burton.
The production runs at Sherman Theatre, Cardiff until Saturday.

Rhys Morgan