| The Same Boat by Phil Bowen |
| First presented in 2003 by Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama |
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cast size:1
synopsis: This one-woman show is about the life of Caitlin Thomas, wife of the Welsh legend Dylan Thomas. Performed on the 50th anniversary of Dylan Thomas' death, this is one of two shows coming from Wales about the life of Caitlin, the other being the Sherman Theatre Company's 'Caitlin' - first performed in June 2003 to great commendation. This deeply affectionate piece portrays the huge difficulties in their stormy marriage, displaying their lifes from young and youthful to old and bitter. Caitlin Thomas was an alcoholic who, after the death of her husband in 1953, turned to writing about her life and marriage to Dylan Thomas. Her alcoholism grew with the desperation of her writing until she met her second husband, Giuseppe Fazio. This moving story is portrayed in Bowen's writing. Phil Bowen, the writer and director of this production, has previously written 'A Handful of Rain', a production which imagines a meeting between Bob Dylan and Dylan Thomas. Angela Colderick, who plays Caitlin, has previously appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe in 'Shiva - Abuse of a Young Woman', a highly successful show about abusive relationships. |
There is 1 review of Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama's The Same Boat in our database:
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The Same Boat
by Phil Bowen
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[print] |
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venue Bute Theatre, RWCMD, Cardiff |
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July 23, 2003 |
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| As one’s eye rests on a Turner sunset or seascape, its beauty gently emerges slowly, then penetrates to our inner eye and causes the thrill of that beauty to begin to overwhelm us. Writer Phil Bowen and actress Angel Colderick mould a similar enchantment with this fine achievement, ‘The Same Boat’. An allegoric, impressionist and tenderly poetic portrait of the woman who was married to poet Dylan Thomas. We enter the studio and we are in Caitlin’s dream, shafts of shimmering white drapes with a few upturned chairs covered with silk dustsheets. She sits eyes closed then opening them to take whisky and a cigarette, she gets up, dances and whirls the ghostly sheets around her. She looks back over her relationship with more sad eyed regret for what might have been, than bitterness. Much of what she whispers is in verse with telling phrases repeating. The Caitlin child pirouettes before us with wide-eyed vulnerability. We hear about her own beginnings. She questions, tries to probe them, they die away. The child dancer is now grown, aware of her physicality and dancing in a Paris Night-club. Biography is merely etched in amongst the verse. There is passion; there is anger, bitterness and regret. Caitlin we feel for all her strength remains vulnerable and bewildered. A challenging sensuous piece yet easy to comprehend. An unusual aesthetic delicately placed before us. The visit to the Edinburgh Festival should be a memorable one. |
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| reviewer: Michael Kelligan |
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