At Hijinx Theatre |
| Hijinx Theatre- Paul Robeson knew my father , Bell Centre, Blaenllechau , October 23, 2004 |
| This review first appeared in the Western Mail Revisiting a previous popular production doesn’t always work, but it’s proved a success with Hijinx Theatre before and the Cardiff company has done it again with a play first performed five years ago. This restaging of Greg Cullen’s sensitive and complex story, presently on a twelve-week tour of the UK before it ends at the Millennium Centre, is actually, I feel, stronger than the original. It also reinforces the impression that this is one of Cullen’s best plays, working on lots of levels, gliding from lyricism to argument, from the personal to the political, from the past to the present. It is fired with passion and conviction and concern. The story is narrated by Gethyn as a grown man, telling of a few weeks in 1957 when he was a young boy thinking his father had been killed a hero in the war and had also been a friend of the great Paul Robeson when he came to Wales to make the 1940 film Proud Valley – clips from which we see throughout the play. A black stranger comes to the village and, once they’ve got over the boy’s conviction that he is the singer-hero himself, a relationship develops between the man, the mother and the son. But this is no simple love story: it is the story of struggle, of respect, of prejudice, of humanity, told through the personal lives of the characters and through the life and songs of a black American socialist imprisoned by his own country. While at times it is unashamedly emotional it is never trite – all the characters and situations are complex and the strength of Chris Morgan’s new production is that he focuses on the narrative and allows the rest to work on its own. The set (by James North) is basic, a couple of boxes and some steps, almost too cut-price looking, but it allows the drama to develop without hindrance. I’m not convinced that the film clips were effective enough, the hiccups in sound and vision marring the simplicity of the setting and intensity of the performances, but as appropriate in a play that has Robeson at the centre the music is marvellous. Paula Gardiner’s vocal arrangements of Robeson’s repertoire and the singing of the four actors is a huge bonus. It strikes me that the production still hasn’t quite resolved some of the script’s problems, explored properly the depths of characterisation or elucidated the politics of the piece. But it is a moving, stirring show, with a strong central performance from Jessica Sandry and fine support from Greg Llewellyn Arthur, Duane Hannibal and Lee Mengo. This is Hijinx if not at its best, at least heading back on form. |
Reviewed by: David Adams |
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