| Some Theatre Treasures |
My Year of Theatre |
| Six of the Best , Theatre in Wales in 2007 , January 1, 2008 |
In 2007 I saw 22 performances of theatre, 9 musicals, 1 opera and 3 dance events. There was much to savour. These were six of the best.It was a good year for MICHAEL BOGDANOV. In May WALES THEATRE COMPANY toured with “Contender”. From my review: "There’s no expensive machinery here. Like boxer Tommy Farr’s rise from the Rhondda there are only raw skill and energy to hand; Michael Bogdanov pulls off half a dozen ensemble pieces with brilliance and panache. I haven’t seen any of the tranche of new musical productions in West End but if they are any better, well, they’re not. ...IEUAN RHYS' Marquis of Bath is aristocratic, sleek and vengeful....PETER KARRIE as Farr’s one-legged mentor-critic-trainer-father-figure, Joby. MIKE DOYLE has the physical force of Robert de Niro’s Jake LaMotta- and he sings a lot better. As Mimi Fontaine SAM TAYLOR MARTIN can slink as well as the best of them- better. * * * * In Aberystwyth the summer production took on the big one. My review was headed "West Side Story: West Wales Triumph" "Arts Centre Director ALAN HEWSON reveals in the programme that “West Side Story” has been on his mind for many years but each year it still appeared too big, too daunting. Finally the success of the summer production of 2006 tipped him and director MICHAEL BOGDANOV over the edge. Cast and technical, musicians and dancers have made this revival of “West Side Story”, a musical so canonical, so American, utterly and triumphantly their own. "SIAN JENKINS’ costume design reaches its peak in the dance hall number. Jets are dressed in Peppy-ish pastels and the Hispanics enter wearing blacks and reds; the ensuing mingle of dance and confrontation makes for a stunning colour mix. There is one stand-out piece in GRANT BARDEN's lighting. RICHARD MUNDAY’s voice is a natural for Bernstein’s love songs and he sings one solo at the back of the stage high up on Sean Crowley’s gantry set. The brick wall behind is turned a luscious turquoise-y dark blue." * * * * In September my review of "Cafe Cariad" was headed "Epic Spotlight on the Welsh-Italian Community" and opened "No-one will ever accuse playwright-director Greg Cullen of lack of ambition." "GREG CULLEN here is co-author with TIM PRICE, winner last year of a Royal Court award as one of the best fifty emerging writers in the UK. “Café Cariad” is epic in construction, swinging between scenes of light and promise in pre-war Dowlais and threat and menace in Fascist Italy...there won’t be anything bigger or bolder on a Welsh stage this year." * * * * In October "Porth y Byddar" was premiered in Aberystwyth. "The closest relative to MANON EAMES’ play would be 7:84’s “The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil”. Like that play “Porth Y Byddar” is led by two narrators- nimbly played by PHIL REID and LLION WILLIAMS- who slip in and out of the action and preside over a cast, twelve in total, in literally dozens of roles. "The action moves at speed, from smoke-filled clubrooms to council meetings, chapel to the House of Lords, children fishing by the riverbank to interrogations by bewigged QCs. It is all here; the ejection of Gwynfor Evans from a council session, the relative indifference in nearby Bala, the heated debates within Plaid Cymru, the pusillanimity of local councils, the ambivalent role that the local police is obliged to perform. WYN BOWEN HARRIES among many roles gets to portray a splendidly dismissive, and offensive, Henry Brooke, Minister of Housing and Local Government and Welsh Affairs. "In a play of power and politics the emotional weight is carried by the members of the Capel Celyn community. These are led by DYFAN ROBERTS, in a role of colossal dignity, and VICTORIA PUGH as Rhiannon, the mother whose prematurely deceased son has to be disinterred, by night, from the cemetery." * * * * In November WALES THEATRE COMPANY was back in Aberystwyth with MICHAEL BOGDANOVs directing Goldoni’s “The Servant of Two Masters”. "RICHARD MUNDAY, after the romantic lead in the summer, displayed a cool, even cruel, lordishness here as Florindo. He was even able to make an elegant arrival in Venice by gondola, courtesy of SEAN CROWLEY’s set, exceptional for a show on tour, with its grand Venetian arch and flower-adorned inn doorway. "When the part of Clarice calls for a sudden burst of radiance LAURA CLEMENTS can do it, second to none. GARETH RICHARDS as the apparent ousted lover Silvio, none too sparky in the brain department, again deploys that energy from previous performances. He leaps on stage from the wings. His grievance has him frequently reaching for his rapier which allows an extended and hilarious three-way fight involving two swords and an umbrella." * * * * "Exhilarating New Welsh Writing" ran the heading in November for "Two Princes" at Theatr Clwyd Cymru. Exhilarating was the word. “Two Princes” directed by PHILIP BREEN feels as if it needs a lasso to rein it into a single evening’s drama. MEREDYDD BARKER has earned his cast; this is a big play, a big step up from “Aqua Nero”, and emphatically a big pleasure to watch. "Firstly the dramatist fires off a visual coup in scene five that elicits a gasp from the audience. The plot centres on the selection of a mountain sculpture to commemorate the one historic event that has occurred in the West Wales village of Treianto....It boldly opens with a scene set in the twelfth century and switches to a public meeting. Writer Barker and director Breen mount the best scene of its kind since David Edgar did it in “Destiny.” With the cast size it looks impeccable, the exact picture of a thinly attended public meeting, and crackles with politics, sharp asides and jokes." Picture: the Jets in "West Side Story" |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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