| Writer Award for Connor Allen & Other Events |
Theatre in Wales: Comment |
| Sherman Theatre, National Theatre of Wales, BBC Radio Wales, Porters , Media March to June 2023 , July 20, 2023 |
9th March: The Sherman Theatre announced that CONNOR ALLEN, CIARAN FITZGERALD and MARI IZZARD were selected to take part in Explode, a new development programme.The programme will culminate in thirty minutes of work being performed at a script-in-hand reading. It is described as “part of the Sherman’s extensive work as the engine room of Welsh theatre to nurture and support Welsh and Wales-based artists.” The Sherman is Cardiff's producing theatre. So there are to be no productions of new drama or comedy from Cardiff's producing theatre from its new writers for their benefit or the benefit of audiences. “Working with the Literary Department, these writers are encouraged to be ambitious and audience-focused, and we hope to see the work of each of them on our stages soon.” The purpose of the programme is obscure. The purpose of the Sherman, as recipient of cash for new writing, is to produce dramatists. A half-hour is no use for theatre. Dramatists need to conceive and execute ninety minutes upwards of stage action. The Sherman Theatre's business mission is be a civic theatre; it is not an academy. The Studio Theatre, central to the Sherman's big capital redevelopment, programmes cabaret, comedy and low-cost performances. It has a devised production promoted as “a call to action for audiences to think about privilege, activism and climate justice.” That is a clear message; audiences are to get didacticism in place of theatre art. * * * * 19th March: CONNOR ALLEN won the 2023 Imison Award, for his play, “The Making of a Monster". The award is given for the best original script by a writer new to radio. The Imison Award is presented each year as part of the BBC Audio Drama Awards and are administered by the Society of Authors and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain. The award is also sponsored by the Peggy Ramsay Foundation. The award was judged by members of the Society of Authors’ Scriptwriters Group: Ben Carpenter, Imogen Church, Trish Cooke, Jamila Gavin, Sean Grundy, David Morley, Barney Norris, Robin Mukherjee and Rhiannon Tise. * * * * 12th April. The performing arts are little covered now in the subsidised cultural magazines. The Institute of Welsh Affairs was unusual in publishing a 1700-word article titled “Wherefore Theatre-How Can Welsh Theatre Bridge Its Skill Gap?” It was paid for by the Books Council of Wales with a “New Audiences Fund.” The article homed in on the primary gap. Duncan Hallis, director of “The Lion, The B!tch, and The Wardrobe at the Wales Millennium Centre: “there’s only a handful of freelance producers based in Wales”. The article roamed across the professional range. It had a disadvantage in that the author tended to leave her interviewees' statements uncontested. Thus of the Sherman: “The venue also renewed their investment in Welsh writing through the creation of two new Literary Manager and Literary Associate roles, and its pilot writing groups held a recent showcase after working virtually together for a year.” This is not critical writing. No new consistent dramatist of Wales has emerged in the last decade. None on current trends will appear in the next. As stated across print and radio by GARY OWEN, theatre in Wales is largely an import culture. CIARAN FITZGERALD: “it’s a shame that there isn’t really a huge fringe theatre scene in Cardiff any more, as this was decimated by the negative economic impacts of the pandemic.” Not so. The vibrancy of a fringe scene is a result of policy decisions made by the cultural managers of Cardiff. “Bigger institutions”, reads the article, “have been increasingly expected to deliver high-profile exposure of the whole Welsh theatre community, as seen with productions such as “Galwad”, which was produced by COLLECTIVE CYMRU led by NATIONAL THEATRE WALES. The author appears unaware that “Galwad” was not "high-profile" and was conceived to have one objective. That was to deprive the people of Wales of participation in culture. * * * * 13th April: NATIONAL THEATRE OF WALES released a statement on “the Cost of Living” that it was “big, beautiful and ambitious.” Audiences at Swansea Grand Theatre were reported as having dropped to 30-40 in size. The critical response was recorded below 29th June. John Caird: “One of your most important functions as a director is that you represent the audience's interest in a play...thus, when your first audience walks into the theatre, they replace you. If they react in a way that you cannot approve or understand, you mustn't blame them..you have simply imagined them incorrectly.” Steve Marmion: “Rightly or wrongly, reviews are the measure of how a show will be judged or remembered by those who were not there. And more often than not, reviewers are right.” * * * * 11th May: YVONNE CONNIKIE and SHARON GILBURD stepped up from being trustees to co-chairs of the NATIONAL THEATRE OF WALES. Filmed statements made no mention of theatre and received eight views in their first month after being posted on YouTube. It may be presumed they are committed to following the goals and style of their predecessor, Sir Clive Jones. * * * * May 11th: LORNE CAMPBELL's last interview for BBC Cymru Wales or Cardiff media was on 13th November 2020. For London media in the Stage he commented on a lack of "holistic thinking". “You have conversations with funders- whether it's Arts Council England, Creative Scotland or Arts Council Wales- about what you are doing and why and they appear to understand...then in another conversation they ask “How many people saw it?” * * * * June 10th: In January Radio Wales' Arts Show had a feature on “Pigeon”. The introduction ran “it is a gripping tale about the power of words, friendship and just how far people will go for love.” The Cardiff presenter was describing a production that no-one had as yet seen. It was a read-out of a PR statement from the producers. This does not happen on arts programmes broadcast from London. In June an academic study revealed differences between the BBC in Wales and Scotland. Over four weeks in May and June the BBC Scotland and BBC Wales news inserts into the BBC Breakfast show were recorded, transcribed and coded. BBC Scotland was very significantly, by a ratio of 2:1, more likely to mention the Scottish Government or the SNP within reports of problems than BBC Wales was to mention the Welsh Government or the Labour Party. Comment ran: “Scotland also has a press that does seem to ask more questions than in Wales and doesn't see any criticism as akin to treachery to the very idea of Scotland. "Scotland is interesting...the Glasgow Herald, the Scotsman, the Daily Record, even the Times is a different paper in Scotland. And you still have local papers like the Highland Free Press. In Wales we have too often the unity of the graveyard with some exceptions. It's bad for democracy.” * * * * June 14th: PORTERS, the home of THE OTHER ROOM, announced that a lease had been signed for 20 years. The location is close to Harlech Court, set for demolition, at the top end of Barrack Lane. * * * * Editorial note: The contents of this survey article, and that of last week 13th July, are taken from primary sources with one exception. The audience numbers attending “the Cost of Living” were provided indirectly via a member of the production team, appalled at the profligate expenditure. If the attendance numbers cited above require amendment or amplification, further information is welcome, to be sent to editorial@theatre-wales.co.uk. Guides to the sequence on theatre comment can be read below 3rd March 2022 and 15th September 2021. Picture credit: BBC/ Tricia Yourkevich |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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