What a difference a fortnight makes...
Having had time to think, David Adams has posted another review here on Theatre-in-Wales.
posted by Gary at 2:51 AM
Making a show of ourselves at Chapter, Cardiff, July 11th-16th 2006.
1 Comments:
I noticed that you haven't taken the opportunity to answer his final question in this blog ;)
I went to see the play on a whim (had been flicking through the Chapter guide while in Spillers earlier in the day) and was very interested by the themes under the spotlight.
Unfortunately, six weeks away from Wales on holiday have dumbed my analysis of the play to a couple of mundane points regarding language and identity (I've never seen/read the Ibsen play so can't draw any comparisons, and, hey, I'm Joe Public, not a theatre critic).
Firstly the continued references to "old" and "new" countries confused me. Was this Wales or not? If it isn't Wales then is this not rather undermined by giving the characters Welsh names? At least Megan and Gareth might have been slightly more international, although more Eastern European names (even Steffan, lol) could have taken the focus away from the Welsh context in which it was being watched and allow people to think about other political situations (as well as reflecting modern emigration and population movements).
I noticed that the new country is entirely monolingual, even though the English-accent of Jay corresponds with the strong Welsh accents of Terry and Glyn. I felt strangely uneasy with this monolingual representation of "Wales"/"the new country".
I notice that reviewers and audience members picked up on the obvious comparisons with Ron Davies, but no-one seems to have mentioned his nemesis Rod Richards, who, if memory serves me right, did spend the night on a Llandaff park bench. I was also thinking of Andre Boisclair, the Parti Quebecois leader forced to come clean about his drug usage while a cabinet minister (but voted to become party leader!)
I would love to have the chance to see the play again/read the script, so good luck with getting a further run - although I'm hoping that 'Dying for Devolution' isn't a phrase that's picked up and used by those who don't want Wales to develop and flourish!
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