At NYTW |
| National Youth Theatre of Wales- Faust , National Library, Aberystwyth , August 22, 2000 |
| FROM the Grand Hall in Aberystwyth’s Arts Centre, high up on the hill overlooking the sun-kissed sea, came the sounds of Amazing Grace from the annual conference of the Evangelical Movement of Wales. Across the foyer were 60 young people hearing how to sell your soul to the devil. Not personally, of course, but through the perennial fable of Dr Faust. The National Youth Theatre of Wales will, for the next three weeks, be living and breathing the story as they prepare to take audiences on what should be a unique dramatic experience - Wales-based Italian director Firenza Guidi, known throughout Europe for her stunning and imaginative work, has adapted Goethe’s eight-hour classic into just over 60 minutes and made it into a love story. Her young company will present the production in September, first in the National Library of Wales and then in the National Museum and Gallery in Cardiff. After the first day of an intensive rehearsal period for these young people and in the first break, following an animated talk from the charismatic Firenza, they are still reeling. They will be here in the Arts Centre’s dance studio from 9am to 9pm every day, learning how not to act but to perform and for many it’s their first real taste of such a gruelling routine. “The introduction from Firenza was inspiring,’’ says Alun Saunders, an Aberystwyth under-graduate from Neath, who at 20 is one of the older members of the talented group. “But it also made me really nervous, although I’ve been a NYTW member for a few years.’’ For a couple of first-timers, 16-year-olds Karen Jones of Swansea and Lisa Diveney from Blaenavon, it was obviously going to be quite an experience. “Everyone seems really nice, which is important,’’ says Lisa. “But I see it’s going to be hard work.’’ And while Karen found Ms Guidi, director of Cardiff’s Elan Theatre Group, a larger-than-life figure, she agreed from the word go they wanted to get stuck in and do their best. “I trust Firenza. “When she says there will be no stars in this show and we’ll all be on the same level that’s important to me.’’ These, like most of the students, gathered together after months of auditioning across Wales, are already involved in youth theatre work and theatre courses at school or college. This summer school, though, will be unlike anything else they’ve done - it may be a survival test but it will undoubtedly also be the experience of a lifetime. |
Reviewed by: David Adams |
This review has been read 4284 times There are 30 other reviews of productions with this title in our database:
|
