EASTER MONDAY

LIFE BEGINS AT 50+
It is pleasing to report that several of the people at this event subsequently contacted me on receipt of the blog link, and that I was able to deal by email with their queries.

I was also approached by Gill Illingworth the Publicity Manager for the Grand Theatre who wondered about the interest of our members in the hour long lunch theatre on Saturdays in the Arts Wing. Joan and I went last Saturday to try it out, adding it to a week long exposure to theatre including Bath and Bristol of which more later. The play 'Confessions Off Broadway' was written by Louise McLeod who has a Masters in Creative and Media Writing from Swansea University. It was well performed by a cast of four an hour thoroughly well spent dealing with the tensions in a theatrical family reunited in New York preparing for production of their play. Those who read this blog may remember me reporting earlier how my love of theatre was influenced by the beginnings of the Off Broadway Theatre In The Round movement in the late 50's. A production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible made a huge impression. It was written as repost to the vicious McCarthy anti-communist witch hunt which pervaded the States for a decade, of whom Paul Robeson, well known for his connections with Wales was one of many high profile victims.
Details of the Saturday and other daytime programs can be obtained via the Grand and they are also published in 'What's On'.

RED LADY OF PAVILAND
Elisabeth Walker who delivered an excellent lecture recently on this topic informs me, via Esther Searle, of a related lecture which may well be of interest on 14 May at 6.30pm in the Reardon Smith Theatre of the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. The speaker will be Professor Jim Kennedy, Director of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. His subject will be 'William Buckland', who Elizabeth described as the man who would eat anything - like me who sought after live raw Sago Worms in Borneo, considered a delicacy! - with the sub text 'The man who ate the Heart of a King and discovered the Red Lady of Paviland'. We are welcome to attend, further details at
http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/whatson/?event_id=3561

OPEN UNIVERSITY LAUNCH
Mike Wiseman sent details of free multi media based on-line learning about Wales, its history, coast, BBC Radio Wales archive material, David Lloyd George etc. For details follow the link to www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/wales-cymru .

U3A NEWS
All groups are likely to have made special arrangements for Easter Week so I will report only where I am sure of my facts.

POLITICS and CITIZENSHIP will meet as usual at 2pm tomorrow Tuesday 14 April in the West Cross Community Centre. The topic for discussion will be 'Contacts with Europe'. It may not be of general knowledge that the two members of the group, Roger Knight and Marjorie Vanston, who will lead the discussion are active in the local branch of Support for European Movement. It should develop into the group's usual well informed discussion.

TAI CHI is back on Friday17 April

DISCUSSION Rob James is taking over next year from Roly Govier.

CHRONICLE Don't forget that articles are required for 13 May deadline.

BACK TO THEATRE
MOTO may go drinking water in Shrewsbury but Joan and I indulged in food and theatre for a short break, which in part explains why there was no posting last week.

THE TEMPEST
First stop Royal Theatre Bath for an absolutely outstanding production of Shakespeare's last play. It is often said that the lead character Prospero was Shakespeare, directing matters throughout but at the end taking his last bow, forgiving all his enemies, admitting it was all done by mirrors, and in the final words of the play asking for just a simple reward, the applause of the audience.

It had 5 star reviews at Stratford and is now on tour, but unfortunately Bath is the closest such really good theatre gets to Wales! The production however originated with Janice Honeyman as director at the Baxter Theatre Centre in Capetown , which even in the days of apartheid was allowed to play to mixed races - being part of the university.

It was a very African production, a setting which seemed absolutely appropriate and served to underline the timelessness and reach of Shakespeare whilst illustrating the significance of the plot. Being African meant it was every bit as vivid as the Lion King. The scenery was simply the branches of a tree on which five spirits with full body paint and richly coloured textile clothes move around like monkeys. The spirit world so alien to today's sophisticated westerners is so natural and believable in an African context. A serpent of Zulu cosmology and Chinese dimensions helped spirit Ariel draw up the storm which caused the usurpers to be shipwrecked on the island. There was much use of huge colourful puppetry, but non more effective than a huge Picasso like image of the witch Sycorax (Caliban's mother), a pair of eyes here, a pair of breasts there, a mouth and two giant hands which entrapped Ariel, from whose grasp he was released by Prospero, after his mother had died, and for whom he then controlled the events of the plot.

John Kani a black South African was superb and just right as a symbol of slavery to a colonial power. Anthony Sher a white South African who has spent a lifetime with the Royal Shakespeare Company was equally superb as Prospero the symbol of ruthless colonial power. Atandwa Kani as Ariel, a part often taken by a petite woman with wings, but so much more realistically portrayed here as a powerful young male spirit of the forest. Tinarie Van Wyk Loots was equally as impressive as Prospero's daughter, never more so than in her delight at meeting the first attractive young males of her life and soon becoming Queen of Naples.

Wayne Van Rooyen played the jester beautifully in such a relaxed style with such a broad Africaans accent, as did Elton Landrew as Stephano the shipwrecked drunkard. They too enslaved Caliban and the three plotted to overthrow Prospero. Previously I could not have conceived of Shakespeare spoken in such a accent, but rhythm was perfect and the comic impact was unforgettable.

Four African musicians with voice, guitar, percussion and cello were as essential to create the atmosphere as any cinema sound track.

I have seen it perhaps four times previously and always struggled with the way events were controlled by a colonial tyrant and a spirit. I never expect to see the equal of this production but in my mind I will be able to paint them white and black, colonial europeans and enslaved natives, humour and an underlying spiritual dimension.

ANTONY and CLEOPATRA
On via a very pleasant day at the Fox Talbot Museum in the National Trust Village of Laycock, to Bristol. Then our second visit this year to The Tobacco Factory and a style which could not present a starker alternative, for theatre in the round is minimalist with no scenery and few props where everything rests on the text, the actors skill in speaking and projecting the work of the playwright.

On that first occasion we saw Julius Ceasar which was superb if not quite the equal of last year's unbelievably good five star production of Hamlet (Jamie Ballard) directed by Jonathan Miller. This one lacked a little in comparison with both but we tend to think the fault was in ourselves (as Shakespeare might have said) for neither of us had previously seen a production of this complex play of sexual emotion, political intrigue and empire, neither had we studied it at school, nor even looked for guidance on the Internet. You get out what you put in, and we should have prepared better by reading through the text.

It is easy to find informative discussion of Shakespeare's most popular plays on the Internet, plot, characters, and issues, We would always advise this course as being time well spent, as essential as advance familiarity is to the enjoyment of complex classical music or opera, or modern jazz (well I would say that wouldn't I).

I would find fault only with the pace of some of the speeches where newcomer to Shakespeare roles Alun Raglan, as Mark Antony, struggled with his diction in the crescendo climax of some of the interchanges, and Cleopatra and Octavius Ceasar spoke at the limit of my ability to comprehend fully what was being said. That said it was a very enjoyable production.

The story of The Tobacco Factory goes back only to 1999 when George Ferguson the architect-owner bought the derelict building with a view to opening the following year with a Shakespeare season. In 2000 they duly opened with King Lear with almost no pre-booking and a few days later a cast of fifteen played to an audience of twelve. Toby O'Connor Morse of The Independent gave them a half page rave review and by the end of the five week season all shows were sold out and they achieved a total audience of 8,000. Support faltered in 2006 with Titus Andronicus at 40% capacity and Love's Labour Lost and they closed early. But in 2007 Jonathan Miller agreed to direct Hamlet in 2008. That season with The Taming of the Shrew as well as the wonderful production of Hamlet the total audience reached 22,000 a record and close to capacity. We will be back in 2010 whatever the choice of plays or the economic climate.