At Sgript Cymru |
| Sgript Cymru- Drws Arall I’r Coed , Chapter Cardiff , March 5, 2005 |
| This review first appeared in the Western Mail Five new commissioned plays – great to have a whole bunch of new writing in one bill – in Welsh – but with surtitles so that we Anglophones can share the fruits of Sgript Cymru’s project – so where did it all go horribly wrong ? I have sat through plays in Croat, Dutch, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Gudjerati, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Kazak, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Swedish and Turkish, and I have no problems with works in languages I do not speak, whether there is simultaneous translation through earphones, whispered resumes from a companion, printed synopses, electronic surtitles or, as here, on-screen translations at the side of the stage. The difficulty with this performance, presumably designed to open out the experience to non Welsh-speakers, was that the translation lagged behind the spoken word so there was a bizarre post-synch effect that achieved the opposite – an alienation from the action. In front, drama that most in the audience could understand, to the right, words delayed for the rest of us: the point of simultaneous translation is lost because you too often have to choose whether to watch the play or read the text. That does not, however, excuse and obscure the poor quality of the work on stage: you do not need to speak Welsh to recognise the fact that the majority of these plays do not deserve to be produced at all. There is, I am told by my Welsh-speaking friends, a crisis in Welsh-language theatre. I gather from Sgript Cymru, Wales’s new-writing company, that less than two percent of the scripts they get sent are in Welsh – the appeal of television is too great to attract playwrights to the stage, it seems, with the likes of Gareth Miles and Meic Povey notable exceptions. Thus the company’s laudable attempts to find, encourage, train and nurture new stage writing talent with projects such as this – a larger workshop group of young people already proficient in creative writing is whittled down to a handful commissioned to contribute to Drws Arall I’r Coed. The resulting plays range from a mercifully short encounter between an older man and a teenage girl enticed to the rendezvous via the internet to the best of the evening, Priodas Alwminiwm by Gwyneth Glyn, which does at least suggest that the writer could develop some dramatic sensibilities; admittedly with all the technical problems described, I found only Caryl Lewis’s Dail Ar Y Lawnt from among the others to show any promise. Judith Roberts’s direction did little, it seemed to me, to make more of the material. The performances were mixed and clearly were constrained by the inexperienced writing: even so Arwel Gruffydd seemed to act the same role each time, while Malll Tudno Jones, while having difficulties with the first of her parts, really did help bring some character into the others. Huw Davies and Nia Magdalen also did their best with little to go on. We do not expect plays coming out of workshops for young writers unused to theatre writing to be satisfying, but if audiences pay £8 a ticket (as they did) I think punters deserve more – even if that means less by way of fewer works. And if they are attracted by the promise of simultaneous surtitles (as we were) then we expect just that: Welsh-language theatre has had to endure the charges of exclusivity, with the hint that it also protects poor-quality work, too long. |
Reviewed by: David Adams |
This review has been read 2089 times There are 70 other reviews of productions with this title in our database:
|
