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At Fluellen Theatre |
| Fluellen Theatre , Theatre of Wales , April 17, 2024 |
Peter Richards' company is a perennial in Swansea's theatre scene. Its revival of "Granton Street", reviewed 15th October 2017, drew wide attention. Reviews of productions by Fluellen Theatre can be read below: “White Collar” 20 October 202 “The production in 2017 of “Granton Street” aroused an interest far beyond the audiences who saw it. “White Collar” reprises the same group of characters and director Peter Richards has largely retained the same group of actors. The dramatic backgound has changed from an election to an imminent vote on a strike. In “White Collar”, a few years on, ownership of the colliery has changed. With the death of Granton it is now just one mine in the hands of a combine. The dramatic locus of “Granton Street” is the clash between brothers, the subtlety of education against the rawness of will to action. In “White Collar” doctor-son John Davies (Simon Peter Ancellon) is a returning visitor for the weekend with a £100 cheque for his family.” “Granton Street": 15 October 2017 “The international presence of theatre today from Wales is a shadow of what it was a century ago. When “Change” toured the United States it won the commendation of Woodrow Wilson. Its author, J O Francis, is being brought back into the light from a period of obscurity. “Granton Street” was premiered October 10th 1934 by the YMCA Players at the New Hall in Aberavon. Burton, a teacher of inspirational quality in Port Talbot, had delivered a lecture on “The Fundamentals of Play-acting” and was asked if it were possible to write a three-act play with a single setting, action and just a single entrance. Burton rose to the challenge and “Granton Street”, a first play, was the result. It is a remarkable first play by any criterion and evidence, were it ever needed, that a steeping in theatre is first requirement for writing for theatre. The accomplishment of dramatic writing is the way in which perspectives pivot and alter as the action unfolds.” “Oldenberg”: 1 November, 2012 Fluellen continued their excellent series of Lunchtime Theatre in the Arts Wing with this little gem from the pen of Barry Bermange. Originally written as a television play for BBC's 30-Minute Theatre in 1967, 'Oldenberg' still manages to pack a powerful punch today. In it we meet an elderly couple about to let a room in their house: a room which used to be their son's, who we assume to have died. The play opens with the man practising a speech to welcome the lodger, who is being seen as a potential surrogate son by the couple. Steve Grey as The Man gives a suitably hesitant performance as he practices the speech in front of his wife, played sympathetically by Claire Novelli, who encourages him as he attempts to improve the speech.” "Cymbeline": 5 October 2011 “Staged in what may be considered a Brechtian style, the eight actors and one musician introduce the play to us via a contemporary prologue in which the characters, the themes and the background of the play are cleverly and wittily explained to the audience who are encouraged to boo the villains and cheer the hero and heroine. The play “proper” then begins with the actors taking on a vast number of roles throughout the course of the action, but always the plot remains clear.” “I have long admired their approach to Shakespeare (their production of Macbeth a few years back was one of the best I have seen) and the company deserves huge praise for bringing us this strange but compelling late Shakespeare.” “Uncle Vanya”: 26 May 2011: 25 May 2011 “A riveting production of an amazing play at the Grand Pavilion in Porthcawl. It was presented in the small, basement performance space in this most welcoming of theatres, which added enormously to the feeling of claustrophobic hopelessness experienced by the majority of characters in Chekhov`s play. “This proved to be a gripping theatrical experience. Peter Richards in the title role was superb. His portrayal of a life wasted was truly believable. His hatred of Professor Serebryakov boiled over with his attempted shooting of the man, and his failure to accomplish this is accompanied by a hauntingly delivered, “There you are then, another failure” His love for the married and much younger Yelena was beautifully played, and his final despairing scene with his niece Sonya (brilliantly played by Lauralee Nicole) was one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever seen in the theatre.” "Lysistrata": 10 February 2011 “Updated to something that resembled the present day, Peter Richards` production of Francis Hardy`s translation crackled with wit and, whilst staying remarkably faithful to the Aristophanes original, added some well-judged gags at present day foibles. (at one stage the senior Athenian politician was admonished for spending public funds on his duck pond!). “Lauralee Nicole was outstanding in the title role. She galvanised her female colleagues as well as the audience into a sincere belief for change. Here was one male in the audience who cheered her to the echo. Nia Trussler Jones and Charlotte Rogers were excellent as two of her initially doubting followers and there was a great turn from Katherine Weare as Lampito, the Amazon, here cleverly and hilariously transformed into a terrifying punk with enough face metal to rebuild the Titanic.” "The Corn is Green": September 22 2010 “The Grand is on a roll at the moment in terms of attracting audiences, and Fluellen Theatre Company’s latest production, directed by Peter Richards, is a wise choice indeed: Emlyn Williams’ classic story of one man’s struggle to transcend his circumstances might be rooted in the past, but its message is as timely and relevant today as when it was first written. “Claire Novelli gives a fabulous performance as the barbed yet impassioned Miss Moffat, whose arrival in a Welsh mining village puts the cat among the pigeons when she announces her intention to teach miners how to read and write. Her star pupil, Morgan Evans (sensitively portrayed by James Scannell), is a truly gifted and intuitive writer and Miss Moffat becomes his mentor, guiding him towards a scholarship to Oxford.” "A Doll's House": 13 February, 2009 “Huw Richards offers an impressively assured performance as Torvald, while Liza Ludbrook's characterisation of Nora's friend Mrs Linde is well-judged. Fluellen stalwarts David Dooley(Dr Rank), Gavin Dando(Nils Krogstad) and Geraldine Davies(Helen) all fare splendidly in their respective roles and the pace of the work never flags for a moment.” “Hanging in There”: 14 September, 2007; 13 September, 2007 “The big C word, the one most of us are embarrassed or even afraid to talk about. Based on his own experience of successful treatment for testicular cancer, playwright Geoff Saunders has come up with a very interesting theatre piece that blows away all the uncertainties surrounding this difficult and potentially very dangerous problem. “The device of having two actors playing the part of the afflicted Jack works very well, brings some good comic reactions as in turn each becomes the conscience of the other and persuades, cajoles and pushes Jack in the right direction and enables us to hear the workings of his inner thoughts. Both Jack Llewellyn and Tom McLeod who, like all the members of cast, once that they have adjusted to the ambiance of the venue, present us with a very engaging pair of lads who handle both the moving pieces of the drama and the broad humour with great aplomb.” "Toshack Or Me": 20 January 2007 "Peter Richards directed a piece as lively and atmospheric as an expectant football match itself. The feel and character of the game was captured within the show, with football chants and songs taking us back to this significant time in Swansea’s footballing history. 45 minutes each side of the interval cleverly backed up this idea of a match within a play.” "The Comedy of Errors": November 24 2004 “The Swansea-based Fluellen Theatre Company is renowned for its ability to present classic theatrical works in a manner which blows away the cobwebs whilst preserving the integrity of the original material, and this certainly applies to this cleverly conceived re-working of the only Shakespearean play which can truly be described as a farce. Director Peter Richards - who also appears in the role of Egeon - has "re-imagined" this comedy of mistaken identity involving not just one but two pairs of identical twins as a fast-paced live-action cartoon featuring a host of wild characters, including not only brightly-clad clowns(Eloise Howe and Gavin Dando)and an arm wrestling nun(Penny Dixon)but also a fishnet-clad, whip-wielding courtesan(Sian Denty)and a grotesque maidservant with a roving eye, splendidly portrayed by Claire Novelli.” "Wild Wales": June 23 2004 “Francis Hardy`s brilliant adaptation presented with considerable brio by Fluellen Theatre Company. The show is a total delight, as George Borrow (superbly played by John Norton) takes the audience on a whistle-stop journey from his home in East Anglia to Wrexham and from there to South Wales taking in a host of incidents and colourful characters along the way. All these characters are played, remarkably, by just four actors, George Andrews, Penny Dixon, Claire Novelli and Bethan Thomas and it to their great credit and tremendous performance skills that each character emerges as totally different from the other.” "The Master Builder": 20 May 2004 “Halvard Solness, played perfectly by Peter Richards, is a master builder, the master builder, and is at the very height of his powers professionally, but he is constantly tormented by his unfounded guilt over the death of his infant sons and the subsequent demise of his wife into illness. He believes his success and luck to be a direct consequence of the death of the boys, and he blames himself for bringing about their death in spite of the fact that it was really caused indirectly by some freak accident that burnt the home of his wife's family, where they were living at the time.” "The Duchess of Malfi": 16 March,2004 “Director Peter Richards set the scene by having the cast shamble around in T-shirts, twitching, mumbling and scratching themselves until presented with a large chest containing theatrical costumes, whereupon the action - such as it was – began. “Peter Richards and his nine-strong cast - led by Bethan Thomas as the Duchess, with contributions from David Norton, Rob Statham, Gemma Rowlands and Sian Denty (whose machine-gun delivery marred an otherwise bewitching performance) - deserve credit for tackling such a demanding and challenging piece.” "Othello": 20 December, 2012: 14 November, 2003 “And that promise was more than fulfilled in a gripping, exciting and, ultimately, overwhelming production.Any production of Othello is only as good as its leading trio of actors, and here it was very well served indeed by Sule Rimi as Othello, Nick Richards as Iago and Jessica Sandry as Desdemona. Peter Richards deserves great credit for his pitch-perfect direction of a production that never flagged and reached a perfect completion when, at the end of the play, the white bed sheet is placed over the adjacent dead bodies of Othello and Desdemona whilst Iago looks unblinkingly on.” "Loot": October 17, 2002 “David Dooley`s portrayal of the deliciously vacant McLeavy is particularly fine, while Alexandra Trowbridge Matthews is given a rare opportunity to display her admirable comic timing as Fay, a smouldering, man-hungry nurse. “Barnaby Kellett as Hal, William Adrian as Dennis and Peter Richards as Meadows fare well in their respective roles but it is undoubtedly David Prince`s splendid portrayal of the blustering Inspector Truscott which really steals the show from under the noses of the rest of the cast. All credit to director Peter Richards for tackling something so different this time around.” "King Lear": 16 March 2002 “Fluellen Theatre Company`s no frills production of one of Shakespeare`s most powerful tragedies is a gripping and compelling piece which attempts to wring the most out of the text. Director Derek Cobley`s interpretation of the play (performed here in the round, so that the audience are made to feel more involved) is stark and unpretentious, with the pace becoming increasingly frenetic as Lear - played with some style by Peter Richards - descends into madness. Lear`s daughters - Goneril, Regan and Cordelia - are portrayed by Alexandra Trowbridge Matthews, Claire Novelli and Naomi Martell - three charismatic performers each with their own distinctive identity.” |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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