At Theatr Clwyd |
| Clwyd Theatr Cymru- The Spirit of the Mimosa , Clwyd Theatr Cymru , July 4, 2011 |
In recent years there have been a number of films and television documentaries recording the epic venture of the 162 brave Welsh souls who set out from Liverpool in May 1865 on board the converted tea clipper, the Mimosa, on a mission that, in hindsight, appears, at best, foolhardy and, in the eyes of many, little short of madness. But desperate situations call for desperate measures and those who decided to leave their homeland to try to set up a new Wales in a land over 7000 miles away were desperate in the extreme. Despite all the film and television attention the Patagonian venture has attracted, there has been no professional stage production celebrating the establishment of what is now known in Wales as Y Wladfa, not, that is, until the award-winning writer and director, Tim Baker, took on the challenge and gave us a truly inspiring production in The Spirit of the Mimosa. Having been to Patagonia and being a keen, one might even say obsessional researcher into the history of the voyage to Golfo Nuevo (New Bay), where now stands the modern resort of Puerto Madryn, and into the early years of the settlement and the people who made up Y Fintai Gyntaf (the First Cohort), I had serious doubts that such a story could ever be successfully told in a stage play, especially one of barely an hour in a studio theatre. How wrong I was to have harboured any doubts that an artist of Tim Baker’s standing would not deliver! The Spirit of the Mimosa takes the audience through the days of hardship and oppression in Wales, to the less than safe streets of the port of Liverpool, on the long and dangerous voyage in near unbearable conditions on the inadequate Mimosa, through the months of misery on the barren coast of Golfo Neuvo, until we, eventually, reach the valley of the River Chupat (Afon Camwy) and the prospect of a measure of success sometime in the future for the new Welsh Argentinians. The portrayal of all this is totally convincing and credible and is a measure of the quality of this remarkable production. The success is based on a number of all-important factors coming together – a clever script, brilliant direction, a talented cast, inspired set design, haunting and atmospheric music and very effective sound and lighting. In short, this production has it all. I was totally spellbound from the very first minute and was there with the actors on the Wynnstay estate in Wales, on the dockside in Liverpool, on board ship far from land, in the Patagonian outback and down by the waters of the Camwy (Chupat). Eirlys Bellin and Caitlin Richards evoked all manner of emotions in their audience as the stoic womenfolk who suffered all manner of hardships but stood squarely behind their men. Owen Morse carried off the role of the head of the family brilliantly and was well supported by Tomos Eames who played his son, with just the right level of intensity, bordering on the hotheadness of a determined young man, and who, with Caitlin Richards, represented the hope for the future. James Haggie made up the cast and was not only a very credible Sir Watkin Williams Wynne and Captain Peverell, captain of the Mimosa, but also provided much of the musical accompaniment. The cast displayed not only their acting talents, which promise so much, but their singing also was of the highest quality. Apart from the acting and the direction, that which really stood out for me was the brilliance of the set – so minimalistic yet so unbelievably effective. The River Chupat was no more than two square metres of water and plant life in a sunken bath, but I was there. I was beside the river in the valley with that hardy family, just as I was out with them on the camp (pampas) and cowered with them from the ravages of the storm at sea. It was a privilege to be part of the The Spirit of the Mimosa for that, indeed, is what we, the audience, were. We didn’t just sit and watch, we were there with the family throughout. Tim Baker has, yet again, given the theatre another masterpiece and I for one, who loves both the theatre and Y Wladfa, cannot thank and congratulate him and all those involved in this production enough. In four years time, we will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the voyage of the Mimosa and the establishment of Y Wladfa. We will be hard-pressed to come up with a better tribute than The Spirit of the Mimosa. Richard Snelson Chairman Theatr Twm o’r Nant , Denbigh Chairman Clwyd Branch, Wales Argentina Society |
Reviewed by: Richard Snelson |
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