Theatre in Wales

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Near flawless acting and direction

Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru

Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru- Diweddgan , aberystwyth , October 26, 2006
Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru by Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru- Diweddgan It is always a tricky business, accurately reviewing a Welsh-language play when one has only the most basic of Welsh, but it was delightful to see that, in their translation and interpretation of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, under the direction of Judith Roberts, put forward a production so complete, so well-rounded and perversely enchanting that Beckett lovers such as ourselves could sit shoulder to shoulder with the uninitiated and revel in a remarkable display of talent, nuance, wit and the sort of wry smile one can only give when nothing can get any worse.

In a world unlike any other, Hamm rules over an almost non-existent outdoor world from a single room. Blind and unable to stand, he is attended to in his chair by the stiff-legged Clov, who has only this and his kitchen to look forward to. In ashbins, Nagg and Nell, Hamm’s parents – decaying, but still conversant, at least at first. As with Beckett, resolution seems a long way off, and plot comes secondary to a searing, lateral exploration of the vagaries of the human condition.

A necessarily bleak, but nonetheless stunning set sat at a skewed angle on the stage of Aberystwyth Arts Centre’s Theatr y Werin and immediately struck the viewer with its sense of That Which Has Disappeared. Half-gone wallpaper, a large mark where a carpet may have been, an empty picture frame and a door which led somewhere and yet nowhere decorated the walls of this small room, which took up very little of the theatre’s fairly imposing stage. Behind, a series of forbidding ropes hung diagonally down, representing the outside world where almost all had ceased to be. This set proved highly effective – its smallness of size in contrast to the large stage emphasising the claustrophobia of the characters’ world set against the void without.

The set was added to by excellent lighting – a slowly undulating wash which took in many different moods, but did so with such subtlety that the changes were almost unnoticeable, complementing the onstage action so that, at all times, the emotion of the lights reflected the emotion of the characters and, through the precise and highly laudable acting, the emotion evoked from the audience. Sound was also judiciously, discordantly, slightly unsettlingly used to great effect at key moments, though this was taken away from, as was a lot of verbal delivery, by the occasional whirring of a fan somewhere in the theatre.

The Beckett Estate keeps a very tight rein on what can and cannot be altered with his plays – all of which contain precise directions for the movement, inflection, tone and intentions of the characters. Even taking this into account, the acting and direction was near flawless, even if our summation of their delivery of dialogue is somewhat stunted owing to the language barrier.

Arwel Gruffydd was a highly entertaining and often discomfiting Hamm. Poised, stone-faced, hidden behind his dark glasses and once-smart costume, his expression similar to that of Colonel Mathieu in ‘The Battle of Algiers’, his delivery was by turns snappish and brutal and soft, lonely and despairing – a man stranded in a desert which may be of his own making. He was well-matched by Owen Arwyn as Clov, whose hangdog expression, stiff gait and often servile delivery perfectly summed up the increasingly frustrated manservant of Beckett’s text. The two characters bounced off one another like duelling, but tuneless, violins with a pace that was often laugh-out-loud funny, often tension-inducing, always gripping.

Supporting these two were the equally gifted Trefor Selway as Nagg and Lisabeth Miles as Nell – their occasional appearances from out of their ash-bins serving to regale us with tales, or muse on their own condition and the unfulfilled and unfulfilable nature of their lives. Though rarely seen, they added another layer of piquant observation to the proceedings.

Costume was necessarily drab and slightly incomplete or sullied – Hamm’s bloodied handkerchief, Clov’s trousers held up with string, the dust on the shoulders of Nagg and Nell, but all of this complemented an excellently directed and designed rendition of Beckett’s comedy of despair.

The tour continues to Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold on 27th and 28th of October; Y Lyric, Carmarthen, October 31st and Theatr Mwldan, Cardigan, November 3rd. It should be made known that the performance on the 28th of October in Mold will have English surtitles – an option not taken up by Aberystwyth Arts Centre and certain other theatres.

This is a production which should not be overlooked or in any other way missed by anyone with an interest in humanity at its best and worst, or anyone who believes in the play’s statement that ‘nothing is funnier than unhappiness’.

Reviewed by: Paddy Cooper and James Ellington

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