In September 2016, Theatr Clwyd celebrated a 40th birthday and having spent some time there in the early years I was asked to write a few words for their website. Sorry if it's a bit soppy, but it was a strong formative experience for me...
Theatr Clwyd gave me chances that I think are quite rare today. In its first few years I worked as a Director and before that as a Stage Manager when both the new theatre and I were trying to find our identity. I had been employed by the touring, Mold based, Grass Roots Theatre company (remember the Quality of Life Experiment anyone?) and was taken on a visit to the unfinished building. I remember the traps under the studio, as yet uncovered, and the fantastic grid system above. A well equipped black box. And that was before we saw the main house.
Working as a deputy stage manager on the book for George Roman I got to observe a director and actors working at first hand, then got to tour Sean Cavanagh's complex sets to narrower and shallower stage spaces. Encountering the ever interesting politics of the Welsh Arts scene.
After a couple of years George took me on as an assistant director. With two houses, touring projects and an occasional outreach offer there were plenty of opportunities. And, with a company numbering between 12 and 20 actors, there were also plenty of performers with time on their hands. At the same time I think the concept of 'marketing' was entering theatre (up until then it had been publicity). Roger Tomlinson was pioneering the subscription season, so cross casting was important and......(suddenly my stomach has turned over as I remember George going on holiday leaving me with the task of cross casting pieces of Shakespeare and Shaw).
Michael Hucks, Martin Harris and I were the beneficiaries of this theatre-making bounty. We had actors, technicians, space, cutting edge technology and time to experiment. Elsewhere Roger Tomlinson has written about Hitch Hikers. What he doesn't mention is it started life as a 3 part show - running over 3 evenings and coming in at 5 hours. Hugh Price, Paul Kondras, Adrian Ord, and many others took on ridiculous challenges for this epic - cutting a Morris minor in half and blowing it apart with an inflatable Bug Blatter Beast of Traal; placing a Vogon space ship above the audience and pumping compressed air and smoke down on to their heads; dangling 3 actors above the stage for a whole scene without damage; streaming a scene apparently live from the car park; commissioning not only a complete score but cartoon animations to be projected onto the front cloth during the ridiculously over-complicated scene changes. And then asking us to tour it UK wide.Douglas Adams was bemused.
But my fondest memories are of the Mystery Cycle productions (the Nativity and the Passion) - not just for the shows, but for the process. We were inspired by the way the original Guilds had each taken on different scenes, and in a fit of experimentation we decided to do away with specialism and challenge all the departments to take on a different role. As a result the carpenters took on the design, the wardrobe lit the show and I ended up in the band playing a baritone horn for the first and only time in my life. This was my first experiment with promenade theatre, and at the first performance the audience just leant against the wall of the studio and refused to move. We sorted it by the second show, and that was the point - we were afforded the space to try things out, take risks, fail, adjust, learn.
Arden of Faversham, Absurd Person Singular, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, Catch 22, pantomimes featuring The Snurge - it's a long and particular list.
But while this might sound like a rosy spectacled reminiscence, I think there are a few lessons. The menu offered to the audience was eclectic. The semi-ensemble system not only offered young actors (and directors) an 'apprenticeship', it allowed the local population to get to know the actors over time. It challenged those actors to take on a range of roles and it brought those actors into the community.
And out of this period came Theatre Camel - Roger Delves Broughton, Andy Whitfield, Roger Blake, Sally Greenwood, Sue Elliot, Jon Strickland, Leader Hawkins, Paul Kondras and I formed the company and started to tour big shows to small theatres around Wales. Gormenghast and Gone With the Wind to name but two. All had met at Theatre Clwyd learned some craft, made mistakes and delivered some good theatre.
I spent ten happy, mad and seminal years at Theatre Clwyd and, as I wipe away something which seems to have got in my eye, I wish and hope that young theatre makers today get the opportunities to think big and learn on the job, as we did.
Happy Birthday TC and all who sail in her.
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