| Thrilling, delightful and enchanting |
At NYTW |
| National Youth Theatre of Wales- Magnificent Myths of the Mabinogi , Clwyd Thatre Cymru, Mold , September 14, 2008 |
In the mists of the Celtic dawn a large group of people gather to tell stories of heroes, kings, queens, princes, princesses, wizards, magic, lovers, wishes and animals. But these Celtic bards are addressing a 21st Century audience so there is a cynical, we’ve seen it all before, we told you it wouldn’t work out, edge to the choric narration.This should not work at all; surely the undermining of these heroic tales will destroy them. Not a bit of it. One of the major plusses of Manon Eames’ magnificent version of the Mabinogion is that the humour, and this is laugh out loud humour, actually enhances the timeless power of the stories being told. It wouldn’t of course if the stories were not well told but under Tim Baker’s superbly focussed direction the National Youth Theatre of Wales have delivered a theatrical triumph. Acting, movement, song, dance and staging all come together to create a production that weaves you into its spell with the opening and doesn’t release you until the cast exits after their final bow. In fact it was still filling my head with images, sounds and jokes all the way home. I’m not going to single out any particular actors because this was company performance in the truest sense. The stage was often crowded with moving bodies but each one knew what his or her place was in the overall picture and the precision of this, frequently fast, movement was breath-taking. A part of this activity but often separated from it were the two choruses, male and female, whose contribution was immense. Their variations of tone of voice were superb, whether poetic or comic. The heroic characters were properly heroic, even when they were wrong-headed. The women who caught their eye were enchanting even when treacherous or deceitful. The villains were nasty, the tricksters wily and the animals delightful. There was great wit and ingenuity in the staging, as well as moments that stunned with their dignity and spectacle. At the end the young back stage crew took a well deserved bow with the actors, the seemingly effortless flow of the action clearly owed a great deal to their invisible work. If I treasure one memory of this impressive bi-lingual production it will be of how good the use of repetition was and with what subtlety the actors made me look forward to each example and of how much they made me enjoy each variation when it arrived. This was storytelling repetition where you know that a hunt will lead to disaster and a wish will always come true but in the wrong way. And that was the strength of this production overall, it was gripping story telling theatre on a mythic scale but with a wicked sense of humour. It was one of the most enjoyable and spectacular pieces of drama I’ve seen all year and everyone, and I do mean everyone, connected with it should be immensely proud of the result. A thrilling experience that absorbed, delighted, awed and enchanted in equal measures. |
Reviewed by: Victor Hallett |
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