| Amazing, stupendous and wondrous |
At National Theatre Wales |
| National Theatre Wales- The Passion , Port Talbot , April 23, 2011 |
It was amazing, stupendous; it was the beginning of the triumphant final production of the inaugural year of the National Theatre of Wales.It was probably the most wondrous scene that Port Talbot’s Aberavon beach had ever experienced. People stood on the concrete terraces leading down to the sea-wet sand left and right of the slipway as far as the eye could see. It has been a mark of the company’s eclectic and far-seeing artistic director John McGrath often to involve the communities where the company is playing in many of his productions. Here the ‘Mayor’ introduces some excellent pieces of community contributions to entertain the crowd and to build the tension to the unique opening moment of this beautiful and moving work. A male voice choir stood near the rocks and their nostalgic singing set the mood for the day. Then followed some fine gymnastic work by some very fit, very small children, a primary school choir sang. Older children playing in a small orchestra then the story of Wales and Port Talbot from the beginning of time to the present day was told to us by the town’s Pageant Players. There was a carnival atmosphere that the whole crowd entered into very willingly. The organisation of this spectacle was a major achievement for all the company’s planning and technical staff. The atmosphere suddenly changed. Something was happening down where the sea was meeting the sand. A platoon of black clad, aggressive soldiers ran up the beach. They took a young woman hostage and held her at rifle point at the foot of the terraces. From out of the air a voice came commanding her release. Soon the leading figure in this dramatic story appears at the foot of the slipway. Port Talbot’s famous son, Michael Sheen, hair dishevelled, in tweedy clothes wrapped in a blanket. He exchanges words with the woman; a spirituality descends on the moment. It is extraordinary that the skills of writer, Owen Sheers, and directors, Michael Sheen himself and Bill Mitchell, in the most difficult circumstances possible have been able bring to these few early moments of the story such strong commitment and verisimilitude. Sheen’s character, a present day figure based on the suffering Jesus in the Christian gospels, surrounded by towns-folks walks way across the beach and out of the scene, we all disperse. The play goes on to Port Talbot’s Civic Centre in the afternoon and continues throughout the town over Saturday and Sunday. I am unable to give an assessment of the whole production as I was only able to attend this opening session. I was so glad to be there to experience the epic theatre the NTW is capable of achieving. John McGarth is a director that thinks ‘out of the box’. It was quite a feat to put on a play in each month of the company’s first year of existence. A large proportion of the productions were staged out of theatres and made connections with the communities in which they happened. Not every production won universal acclaim. But many did, it has been a year of major achievement, John McGarth has shown the company is for the whole of Wales. With the NTW now well established, the recent appointment of a new Artistic Director at Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru and the Sherman Theatre about to remerge, Wales looks to be approaching a level of theatrical excellence it has long deserved. |
Reviewed by: Michael Kelligan |
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