| Captivating theatre if a bit disjointed |
Theatr na n'Og |
| Theatr na n'Og- The Princess and the Hunter , Sherman Theatre Cardiff , May 3, 2006 |
Geinor Styles is Theatr na n’NÓ, her style and her high professional standards define the company. The Princess and The Hunter is another fine piece of extremely successful and captivating theatre, appealing to all ages.The key to the success of this production is that the director has brought together as fine a company of Welsh acting talent as you will find. Anghard Lee is a delightful and spirited Melangell. She really develops a great relationship with her new animal friends, particularly Carys Gwilym as Sioed and Siecyn, the hares that lie at the heart of the story. The innocence and sparkle in these two players captivates the young audience who are observing the whole unfolding story with wide , an all devouring black wolf, excellently costumed and made-up, with a frightening look in his eye that did produce a few tears from some of the younger members of the packed audience, as well as a tough response from the older, braver ones. All the animal/human costumes cleverly captured the spirit of the piece, though I did think Sean Crowley’s set a little austere for this fairy-tale/pantomime production. But for me the undoubted highlights of the show came from the Abbot and Costello like banter between Dyfrig Morris and Phylip Harries particularly as Gwyddno, the Badger and Caswallon, the bedraggled Owl. These two extraordinary character actors have a sense of comedy timing and affection for their audience of the highest possible order. The comedy quartet of Owl, Badge, Otter and Deer, completed with Jennifer Vaughan and Sion Llwyd had the whole audience in hoots of laughter. Into all this enters the guitar playing, bow wielding handsome young prince, played handsomely and princely by Daniel Lloyd. He has a dying father, whose estates he will inherit but he is in the grip of the evil wolf, Rheibus who has his own plans for the future, which certainly hold no fun for all the tasty animals around him. But very soon Melangell’s innocence and beauty wins him round and the story sails happily down the well worn happy fairy-tale path. The real life Melangell leaves her dream and sleeps soundly and contentedly. “ One day Brochwel, mighty Prince of Powys, was out hunting with his men and his hound. The hounds raised a hare that took refuse in a thicket. The hounds were urged on but fled howling. Their huntsman raised his horn to his lips and was unable to remove it. On pursuit, the prince found a young woman standing there - the hare had run under her long skirts to hide. The young woman told Brochwel that she lived in the valley, where she had come to take refuge. The prince was so impressed by the young woman ‘s goodness, that he granted her the valley as a sanctuary for people and animals.” Despite totally winning over its audience the play did not come together as a particularly polished overall piece of theatre. The ancient story had been scripted by director Geinor Styles after improvisations from the cast. The story-telling lacked the magic and the continuity of a well written children’s play, the scenes here seem to be pragmatic, just to push the story on, with no particular charm of their own. The beautifully sung, gentle and engaging lyrics from Angharad Lee and Carys Gwilym were at odds with the ‘heavy metal’ of guitar playing Brochwel, not that contrast is not a good thing but there needed to be more of a connection between them. The story opened with a modern day Melangell being read the play’s story, at bedtime by her father, Phylip Harries in more down to earth mode but still with his delicate comedy touch. Melangell knows the story by heart and wants to read it herself, as she does, it all comes to life around her and she gets taken up into it, the tale completes itself and she is back in her bed. This last scene seems to arrive a little too abruptly and was too gentle and down beat for an ending so the cast gave us some more heavy guitar playing to bring the play in a somewhat irrelevant but rousing close. And despite these reservations the audience screamed the house down. What more could anyone want! |
Reviewed by: Michael Kelligan |
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