| “We have the talent to do it. We don't have the conviction, the nerve and the leadership" |
Theatre in Wales: Comment |
| Galwad, Gary Owen, Huw Stephens, National Theatre Wales , Media, Performance, Wales January to March 2023 , July 13, 2023 |
15th February: The fall-out from the UNBOXED festival continues. Silence pertains in Cardiff but since the money came from Westminster enquiries into its value continue in London. Two-thirds of the population, it was announced, had no knowledge of the festival. Among the ten artistic projects GALWAD, the project led by NATIONAL THEATRE WALES, was recorded as having had the lowest public engagement. * * * * 1st March: Radio 4's “Front Row” was broadcast from Cardiff. HUW STEPHENS was presenter. GARY OWEN appeared: “Our situation with theatre in Wales it is as if we had a Principality Stadium that was packed dozens of times a year to see the matches and we didn't have a national team, that it was packed to see England and France and Ireland play, that we had an amateur sector and a schools sector that produced brilliant rugby players who went off to play for other teams, every time we said “shouldn't we have a Welsh team?" people said “we don't have the talent, we don't have the money, there's not the audience for Welsh rugby." “The Wales Millennium Centre packs out with new plays from London or from anywhere else in the UK. We never make plays that go on in that space. And of course we could. We have the talent to do it. We don't have the conviction, the nerve and the leadership from the Arts Council of Wales to make our theatres engage with a broader audience." That is prelude for a discussion. If the programme had been broadcast from London Samira Ahmed or Tom Sutcliffe would have taken it further. HUW STEPHENS replied: “A lot to think about.” That is code for “it isn't going to be discussed here.” The programme also included an interview with the Deputy Minister, DAWN BOWDEN. Although the origins of GALWAD are not clear it appears that it was born of a subsidiary of the Government of Wales. HUW STEPHENS made no reference to it in his interview. The interview, unworthy of the standards of “Front Row” in London, was remarkable. Its quality is deserving of a fuller article in its own right on the way that the media in Cardiff relates to those in authority. * * * * 7th March: NATIONAL THEATRE WALES issued a 358-word news release. “We gathered recently in person and virtually to share what’s coming up in 2023. We laughed, we danced, we shared, and we had a bloody good catch-up. It was really exciting to share what's coming up over the next year...Do grab a cuppa and have a look.” This is a a national arts company communicating with its public. It is a national arts company of Wales presenting Wales to the world. It was void of any mention of theatre or performance. Instead: “In deep, complex and sustained partnership with all of those people, and many more. At the heart of the plan is the idea that the focus of NTW’s work is shifting from the place-making ethos of our first decade to change-making.” This is incomprehensible as a public statement. Orlando Fraser KC, Chair of the Charity Commission, gave a speech this season. He advised charities that their private views of things must not interfere with their objectives. “It is not their opinion that matters but the cause they are entrusted with. Charity members must remember their responsibilities.” This is the company objective in statute which it must abide by: “to procure the performance...of the dramatic arts...in Wales.” * * * * 9th March: GARY OWEN featured in a major article in “the Stage.”. “Gary Owen, whose “Romeo and Julie” is running at the National Theatre, began his career with “Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco” in 2001. It took just months from being sent out to being staged by Vicky Featherstone at Paines Plough. Owen observed to me how his local theatre, the Sherman in Cardiff, runs two writers' groups every year and there are eight to ten people in each. “The Sherman stages about two new plays a year. So, that means that if even half of the people in these groups produce something worth putting on, that's five years of productions taken up from just two groups. In reality, there are groups from the previous years and other more experienced writers submitting plays too. “As Owen says: “There are such exciting voices coming through in these writers' groups, but when writers realise they might not be able to get their plays on until 2025, it comes as a shock to them. You have to gently point out to them that that's just the way it works.” It is the way things work. But that is because that is the way decisions have been made where the money flows. New Welsh drama that dealt with contemporary Wales peaked twenty years ago. Twenty-one years ago theatre was capable of arousing debate. Audience members at Chapter walked angrily out of the theatre mid-performance. Stink bombs were thrown at the stage. The record of new drama is recorded on this site. It may be accessed via the “Top 50 Reviews” column to the right. Number 11 is a portal to the era and includes the impact that Gary Owen made with his debut. A guide to this sequence of commentary can be read below 3rd March 2022. |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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