A Beacon of Hope

These are dark days for Wales.

It seems as if a week does not pass without yet another story of gloom and doom hitting the headlines.

Be they stories of business, sport, culture, health, education, or the economy, Wales just does not feel right. All our metrics appear to be pointing in the wrong direction.

The issues facing us may well indicate a systemic critical failure in Wales, the genesis of which reaches back well over half a century. Where is the hope, the belief, the faith that things will get better?

There appears to be no hope through the ballot box.

The uncertainties of the Senedd election in May hover over us, with so many people disillusioned with politicians of all parties. Who do we need to show us the way out of this gloom?

Over the years Wales has produced so many great people, so many great leaders. People whom we are prepared to trust, support, and follow, and in return give us the confidence and the belief that there can be a better future for all.

But where are our leaders today? Where are the people who know the way, go the way, and show the way?

The cast is a team, a community, a great ensemble effort. Bravo, da iawn, to one and all.

Well, for the past two weeks, a beacon of hope has been burning bright, incandescently so, in Swansea.

It is a beacon to inspire, stimulate, energise, and hearten us all, proving that there is a pathway out of these despondent and melancholic times.

Welsh National Theatre has risen, phoenix-like, from the sad burnt ashes of the once great National Theatre Wales, to give us ‘Our Town,’ Thornton Wilders’ 1938 Pulitzer Prize winning classic about American provincial small-town life, north of New York.

As the Financial Times wrote: “What a lovely way to open your account…a play that urges you to cherish the fleeting moments of everyday life and foregrounds the role of art in framing that message.”

Sitting high up in the “gods” of the Upper Circle, one was deeply conscious that something special was happening.  

The evening was a triumph. A triumph for Wales. A triumph for the beautifully restored Swansea Grand Theatre, a triumph for the wonderful cast and crew, and most significantly a triumph for Michael Sheen.

Michael Sheen has put his reputation and his money on the line – he is a funder, artistic director, and the inspiring lead actor of this thrilling new Welsh National Theatre Company.

Syniadau uchelgeisiol, awdurdodol a mentrus.
Ymunwch â ni i gyfrannu at wneud Cymru gwell.

Directed by Francesca Goodridge, a touring co-production with Kingston’s Rose Theatre, and with Russell T Davies as creative associate, they have given Wilder’s script a gentle Welsh hue, with some subtle Welsh references and hymns, beautifully sung in Welsh by the Congregational Choir, encouraged by the choir master to “leave loudness to the Methodists.”

It is said that Dylan Thomas knew Wilder’s play and was, possibly, in part, a trigger for “Under Milk Wood.” Echoes of Llareggub certainly sound over Grover’s Corner, this New Hampshire town. Wilder’s theme, that “little things illuminate an ordinary life,” and that “nothing happens but everything matters,” certainly reverberates across so many parts of Wales today.

Designer Hayley Grindle’s minimalist sets, Ryan Joseph Stafford’s subtle lighting and Jess Williams’ deft movement design allows the wonderful Welsh National Theatre (doesn’t that sound good) ensemble to take us on a rich and colourful journey through their town and tell us their stories, accompanied by sound and music directed by Dyfan Jones.

And so, these two weeks in Swansea should be remembered as a seminal moment, not only for the arts in Wales, but for Wales itself.

The play gradually focuses on two engaging teenagers, George Gibbs, played by Peter Devlin, fighting the struggles of emerging manhood, and Emily Webb, played by Yasemin Ozdemir, fighting teenage angst with positivity.

The cast is a team, a community, a great ensemble effort. Bravo, da iawn, to one and all.

As the FT continued: “this vibrant ensemble production of Our Town is a celebration not just of communality but of the way theatre can create a transient community of its own. This is a cracking statement of intent for a new national theatre.”

The warm and caring Stage Manager is Michael Sheen, stepping in and out of the action, highlighting timeless human experiences, and emphasising Wilder’s theme to live life in the now. He commanded the stage like a proud and loving school master, parent, coach, and guide.

The Telegraph proclaimed: “Michael Sheen launches Wales’s new National Theatre in triumphant style.” The Times wrote: “Say what you like about Michael Sheen (and most of what I like to say about him is what an amazing actor he is)… but he puts his money where his mouth is.”

Gofod i drafod, dadlau, ac ymchwilio.
Cefnogwch brif felin drafod annibynnol Cymru.

 

This is the furtherance, not culmination, of Michael Sheen’s sheer hard work which has seen him not just champion, but action many great things over recent times here in Wales. And it is so exciting for us all that he is focussed on the future as well as the now with his endeavours here in his home.  

Wilder writes: “does anyone ever realise life where they live it…every, every, minute.”

And so, these two weeks in Swansea should be remembered as a seminal moment, not only for the arts in Wales, but for Wales itself.

Michael Sheen is a leader and a member of an extraordinary company of men and women who are doing extraordinary things in the name of Wales.

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