Theatr Iolo |
| Theatr Iolo- Bison and Sons , The Old Library’ Cardiff , March 6, 2002 |
| Theatr Iolo brings the ‘Old Library’ back to life! Now home to the office of Cardiff 2008, where upstairs, good people beaver away to win the title of Capital of Culture for this ever forward thrusting Welsh City and in its basement the glories of Welsh food are continuously promoted with offerings of delicious soup and tasty Welsh Lamb. This leaves its main large gallery space available to anyone who has a cultural event to promote. (This could be of interest to contributors to the web site’s forum) This latest Cardiff venue was launched with a revival of Theatre Iolo’s Bison and Sons, providing another occasion for us ‘grown ups’ to appreciate what we are missing by not being school children hosting this exciting company in their school. The production also celebrates Theatre for Children and Young People International World Day which is today Thursday, as I write. An occasion of much more hope than the other sad ‘international’ event that we are now having to bear. All theatre must be theatre in education, we can never learn enough. Artistic Director, Kevin Lewis has a proven mastery for coming up with drama for children at all levels of their schooling. The work of the company is never patronising or ‘childish’ but always erudite, challenging, captivating and extremely entertaining. This last vital element is one that often gets forgotten in the maelstrom of creativity that goes on in some companies. Bison and Sons is certainly a fine and typical example of the company’s work. The play is an import from the Netherlands. Translated by Rina Vergano, it was originally commissioned by the Dutch, Theater Artemis from award winning playwright Pauline Mol. The confusion in the minds of young people knows no international borders. The play is tightly written and performed. It reflects many aspects of modern theatre writing and performance. This is a ‘team’ production that as it is presented here, in the round, makes the audience an equal part of that team. Being able to see the reaction of people sitting on the opposite side of the stage was no distraction but added to the reward of the evening. It is partly its long distance from proscenium three act performance that gives excitement to the occasion as well as the menace that is always about to rise from the well observed and compelling performances from actors Steve Hickman, Tom Englishby and Emyr John whose ‘grown up’ work that I have seen in other productions makes his realisation, here, of a very young boy quite remarkable. After the Journeys café, The Old Library is another venue on the Cardiff scene. We can now add yet another with today’s exciting announcement that Clwyd Theatr Cymru is in discussions to convert Ebenezer Chapel in the city centre into a 450-seat theatre. Currently their production of ‘Oh What a Lovely War’ is playing at the New Theatre Maybe someone will revive pub theatre at Dempsey’s, along with The Sherman and Chapter we are beginning to look like a Capital of Culture! |
Reviewed by: Michael Kelligan |
This review has been read 2759 times There are 39 other reviews of productions with this title in our database:
|
