With a variety of fellow DARKCHAT reviewers arriving shortly who specialise in comedy shows I thought I would grab as much drama now as possible. So, where better to start than a double-bill at The Traverse.
The irony of course is that we had travelled from Cardiff to see the National Theatre of Wales’s latest offering. I was vaguely aware of the writer Gwyn Thomas mainly through an Anthony Hopkins BBC film “ Selected Exits” way back
in 1993, but generally he is forgotten and over-looked.
This play beautifully captures both the joy and despair of living in rural Wales in the 1930/40s. Director Paul Hunter, however, ensures this is not a period piece by cleverly relating to the current audience with references to appearing at the fringe.
The play seamlessly intersperses Thomas’s life and death with two of his stories creating one of those rare theatrical entertainments with both huge laughs and then tears. The sequence re-creating his appearance on the Michael Parkinson show is one of this week’s great events while the despair of some of his characters is truly heart-breaking.
The acting throughout is nothing less than outstanding with strong performances from Daniel Hawksford, Ryan Hacker and David Charles moving instantaneously into a variety of different characters. Credit must also go to Glyn Pritchard conveying the layers of the writer despite the hindrance of a Greek chorus mask throughout.
A masterpiece. |
