| A Look-Back and Guide |
At Frapetsus |
| Frapetsus , Theatre of Wales , April 24, 2024 |
Jack Llewellyn was founder, writer, director and actor of a company that had a unique place. It received no public subsidy, on the broad grounds that its popularity excluded it. Its comedies were based in semi-urban Camarthenshire. The same family characters re-occurred,, rugby was a fixture. They were distinctive in being able to attract sizeable audiences on tours from Colwyn Bay to the New Theatre in Cardiff. The last production, in 2015, was "Bred in Heaven: the Road to Twickers." "The Good, the Bad and the Welsh" : 26 September 2014 “In “the Good, the Bad and the Welsh” actor-writer-producer Jack Llewellyn returns with affection to his fictional Williams family of Trimsaran. It is the company’s sixth and largest tour and the author has probably taken his group of characters as far as they can go- in 2015 he returns to the game that bonds all his male characters in passion. The format of the 2014 production is similar to that in 2013. The two family groups are propelled from the comfort surroundings of Carmarthenshire, home and and club, to a distant place of tourism.” “Jack Llewellyn himself takes again the role of Rhodri, a persona high in amiability but hopelessness, qualities that give the second act a surge of dramatic frisson. Danny Grehan and Tony Wright reprise their roles as Dai and Barry, their differences in background obscured by a common relaxedness of character, a passion for sport and the downing of beer in goodly quantities. They bemoan the state of matrimony while obviously adoring it. It is a play of such devotion to uxuriousness that Jack Llewellyn even stages a wedding, albeit led by the most unusual of hosts. Neil Harris’ Deano, in a switch of job from Mediterranean to Nevada, makes his first appearance as a Roman legionnaire and from there never looks back.” "I'll Be There Now in a Minute Now" : 20 September 2013: 18 September 2013 “Picking up where 2012's Whose Coat Is That Jacket? left off, Dean Verbeck directs the continuing adventures of Carmarthenshire's disparate Williams family in which Angharad (Sara Harris-Davies), Dai (Danny Grehan) and their son Rhodri (writer Jack Llewellyn) jet off on their first foreign holiday. “But while you can take the Williams's out of Trimsaran, you can't take Trimsaran out of the Williams's, and despite being set mainly in Tenerife, their bickering interactions with fellow holiday makers Barry (Tony Wright) and Popppy (Nia Trussler Jones) – also conveniently from Trimsaran - make the entire thing feel like a little piece of Wales away from home.” Whose Coat is that Jacket?": 07 April 2009: 30 September 2012 A second outing for this splendid comedy from Frapetsus Productions, the original version of which was staged at the Grand Arts Wing. “Jack Llewellyn's script revolves around that almost indefinable word Hiraeth, best translated as a heartfelt longing for one's homeland, and the various ways in which it affects a Welsh family. Rhodri (played by Llewellyn himself) has married an ambitious English girl called Ruth (Victoria Turton-Blyth) and brings her home to spend time with his family. “The scene is set for a series of revelations, against which is played out a sub-plot about Bleddyn (Tom McLeod), the younger son of the family, and his mate Ieuan (Neil Harris), who are waiting for the exam results that will take them away from home and on to University.” "Not About Heroes" : 14 November 2011 “Stephen MacDonald’s script has an intelligent structure, in which the relationship between the two poets changes over the course of the friendship. They meet in 1917, in tentative manner, at Edinburgh’s Craiglockhart Hospital for nervous diseases. Sassoon, a decorated war hero, has been sent there to silence his protest against the war. The difference in background is considerable. Sassoon is member of a wealthy banking dynasty, the family home now a campus for the University of Middlesex. From his opening line Jack Llewellyn gives him the voice of privilege and command. There is a conventional representation of received pronunciation. Jack Llewellyn pushes it a whole stage further, so that a word like “hope” becomes “hey-ope.” This tone of emotional restraint gives depth to a fine sustained performance.” "Bred in Heaven":14 September 2011 : 23 September 2011 “Bred in Heaven” raises Frapetsus to a new level. Taking the production to audiences in North and West Wales can only sharpen Jack Llewellyn’s skills for writing comedy. The company’s first appearance in Aberystwyth attracted an entirely new audience to the town’s Arts Centre. A part of the company’s mission is “to get the Welsh public back in the theatres of Wales”. One hundred and fifty on a damp Monday is not half bad. They guffawed, chortled and cheered. “Bred in Heaven” brings together two generations of actors. Ieuan Rhys, Russell Gomer and Di Botcher are the basis of a classic comic situation. They inhabit the Aber stage with the ease of decades of experience. The movement is relaxed, the timing perfect. Jack Llewellyn himself and Tom McLeod are the easy-going youngsters whose roles switch between amiable sons and hunky rugby players. As for Sion Probert’s Maldwyn Novello Pughe there is no character on a Welsh stage quite like him.” “Connection Failed": 18 March 2011 “Directed by Hugh Edwards, the play was written by, and starred, Swansea's Jack Llewellyn (Rhys), who gave an hilarious performance alongside the equally funny Neil Harris as Rob and Tom McLeod as Matthew with the girlfriend roles convincingly played by Katie Elizabeth, Laura Devaye and Rebecca Gill. The story focussed on the six 20-somethings in a quest for different sorts of romance and how social networking impacts their lives, be it starting or ending relationships. Though minimal props were used for settings, the production implemented a great idea of having a computer screen projected onto a large backdrop so the audience could really see what was happening on the characters' Facebook page with every click.” |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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