| Storming Company Reinvention |
At NYTW |
| National Youth Theatre Wales with Frantic Assembly- dead born grow , Aberystwyth Arts Centre , September 5, 2013 |
The first week of September and a part of Wales’ theatre cycle is in place, the three- venue-tour by National Youth Theatre Wales. The Aberystwyth-Mold-Cardiff pattern has long been modified but, after an experiment in site-specific performance, it is back to three theatre venues, West, North and South. Modification is not the right word for what has been undertaken since its last public appearance. The company has been refashioned in its entirety. The result in “dead born grow” is the most rounded, finished and artistically satisfying production for some years. A major change has been the replacement of a director, and a single show with a forty-to-fifty-strong cast, in favour of Jain Boon with a strangely wonderful title, full-time for the year, of Creative Activist. The work of the newly conceived company encompasses a smaller-cast, late-summer show and a range of other through-the-year engagements and creative interventions with young people. “dead born grow” has a creative team led jointly by Jess Williams and Eddie Kay. The stunning design concept, the work of Gabriella Slade and Cordelia Ashwell, combines density with the simplicity necessary for touring. It is a devised show based on ensemble work, so that there are no leads or stars among the cast of twelve who, as usual, come from all points Welsh. The rehearsal has been constrained to a shorter period than the customary residency in Aberystwyth but would never be guessed from the production’s quality and finish. The voices are Welsh but thematically the production is a universe away from depictions of Welsh exceptionalism or high virtue. Teenagers across Wales are culturally distinct but in essence small in difference from their kin elsewhere, so an approach that deals with universality is to be applauded. “dead born grow” also bubbles with a bracing modernity. A Frantic Assembly-tinged show makes language subsidiary to movement, design and music. The programme does not have a credit for sound design; the choice of music has a brilliant eclecticism to it. In the scene of a wordless figure in the midst of a party, eyebrows furrowed with the anxiety of solitariness, the absence of language speaks volumes. “dead born grow” has a structure in which the close returns in circular fashion to its opening image. The use of video- Ethan Forde is the audio-visual member of the creative team- is telling and controlled. Physical theatre works via suggestion over statement. The crisply edited production embraces much of the experience of the teenage years. The surprise of erotic allure is subsidiary to the overwhelming need for social adhesion. But, truthfully, affiliation is shown as hand in hand with emotional lability. The show is richly figurative. Three women move into a single pullover. A scene involving an unclothed torso, a tape measure and a marker pen hovers between the humorous and the unsettling. The characters’ speech cross from the singular incidents of childhood- “when I was younger I ate a wasp”- to maturer musings on character defamation and relationship baggage, a cue for another arresting image. Brand names and declared brand icons go happily without mention. The makers concern is for essence over surface. Theatre is collaboration and this re-making of National Youth Theatre of Wales has without doubt many authors. The National Youth Arts Wales site does not reveal the make-up of the theatre advisory panel or steering group. Pauline Crossley must at least have been a facilitating voice, Jain Boon a catalyst, and Frantic Assembly must be thanked for lending their formidable creative talent. The company has many supporters and sponsors, not just Government and Arts Council, but every County. In tough times all twenty-two local authorities have remained loyal in support of National Youth Arts Wales; in the case of the theatre that confidence is well-founded. “dead born grow” plays Y Galeri Friday 6th September and Taliesin Arts Centre SAunday 8th September |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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