September 11, 2007
There’s this island, Anglesey, see, and when the earthquake struck in 1982 when Maggie was PM, it broke free from the Menai Bridge and sort of floated off. So the old schoolmaster – who didn’t approve of Hugh trying to leave the island and blamed him for the disaster, got the people to build a huge sail. And there were whales, too. And Iceland came into it somewhere. And Hugh’s nan, or Nain (pronounced ‘nine’) which is Welsh for nan, who liked a crafty smoke while she watched the wrestling is in it, and so is his mate Gareth who saved him from perma-frozen fishing. And I got a badge at the end.
This doesn’t even begin to describe the hilariously controlled lunacy created by Hugh Hughes and Sioned Rowlands (who played all the roles except Hugh, but not the whales). The story is really just a vehicle for their whimsy and flights of fancy – often inspired by a comment from the audience – which filled an evening deliciously. We enjoyed a story about a journey that might have been a metaphor for a personal discovery, but what mattered was the telling. Countless diversions (all funny, most spontaneous) only added to the hilarity and entertainment.
Using projectors (computer fed and overhead), slides, music and masses of imagination – not to mention several wrestling magazines and a slide of Nain – this talented pair entertained from start to finish. Source material ranged from Primo Levi via Luis Bunuel to Lau Tsu and also stopped off at the village with the longest name in Wales – you know: the one that ends in ‘gogogoch’! Latecomers were gently heckled from the stage, as were hecklers from the audience – which is as it should be.
The main theme was connecting – with the place you were raised and the people you grew up knowing; with everyone in the theatre, when it came down to it. There was threatened dancing to Elvis with a man covered in Vaseline, a macro theatre reconstruction of the collapse of the Menai Bridge (using chains and pebbles), deconstructed story telling and a pink bathing cap. And someone very loud from Phoenix, Arizona – well there often is, isn’t there?
Above all there was the joyful enthusiasm of Hugh Hughes and the superb support of Sioned Rowlands who together skilfully created a wonderful piece of performance art/theatre. It is just a shame they were only there for one night. Did I mention I got a badge?!
This doesn’t even begin to describe the hilariously controlled lunacy created by Hugh Hughes and Sioned Rowlands (who played all the roles except Hugh, but not the whales). The story is really just a vehicle for their whimsy and flights of fancy – often inspired by a comment from the audience – which filled an evening deliciously. We enjoyed a story about a journey that might have been a metaphor for a personal discovery, but what mattered was the telling. Countless diversions (all funny, most spontaneous) only added to the hilarity and entertainment.
Using projectors (computer fed and overhead), slides, music and masses of imagination – not to mention several wrestling magazines and a slide of Nain – this talented pair entertained from start to finish. Source material ranged from Primo Levi via Luis Bunuel to Lau Tsu and also stopped off at the village with the longest name in Wales – you know: the one that ends in ‘gogogoch’! Latecomers were gently heckled from the stage, as were hecklers from the audience – which is as it should be.
The main theme was connecting – with the place you were raised and the people you grew up knowing; with everyone in the theatre, when it came down to it. There was threatened dancing to Elvis with a man covered in Vaseline, a macro theatre reconstruction of the collapse of the Menai Bridge (using chains and pebbles), deconstructed story telling and a pink bathing cap. And someone very loud from Phoenix, Arizona – well there often is, isn’t there?
Above all there was the joyful enthusiasm of Hugh Hughes and the superb support of Sioned Rowlands who together skilfully created a wonderful piece of performance art/theatre. It is just a shame they were only there for one night. Did I mention I got a badge?!