Welcome! This is the very first weekly column of Wales on Stage where I’ll be covering all things theatre and performing arts. Wales has such a variety of theatre and performance happening every week, and I hope to bring a slice of that, and some inspiration for what to see that maybe you hadn’t considered, or that you just hadn’t gotten around to perhaps.
Covering both ‘what’s on’ and featuring reviews, previews, interviews from around Wales but also beyond, this column will be reflective and reactive, following whatever the Welsh stage brings us. From the big bold musicals at the Wales Milleniumn Centre (and I do love a big bold musical) to the cutting edge work in our smaller venues like The Other Room, I’ll try and bring a mix of everything. I’ll talk about what I have been seeing and what is on my theatre ‘to do list’ in Wales (which I’m lucky is always quite long).
I’ll also be thinking about the bigger issues in theatre, from taking on news stories from theatre in Wales and beyond to thinking about the issues affecting theatre today. This could be anything from serious issues like the gender imbalance in theatre today to more frivilous topics like rating the top 10 showtunes in musicals.
So who am I? An all-round theatre nerd for a start. From a young age, when Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals ruled the West End Stage and I could sing the Narrator from Joseph word for word from memory (though speaking of Memory I never really could get behind ‘Cats’ as a musical, I’m definitely a dog person). I have since then been fascinated with the stage. Making the theatre my work as well as playw has long been an ambition, and I’ve spent time in drama school (where I missed out on sharing a canteen with Tom Hiddleston but we did have a future Bond Girl) to becoming a researcher and bit of a theatre academic in doing my PhD in drama. Just call me Dr Stage? Maybe not.
My tastes are varied, and I’ll give almost anything a chance. I often think twice about puppets, they scare me, as do clowns. But I can be persuaded! I cured my fear of interactive theatre with Punchdrunk’s collaboration with Hijinx here in Cardiff last year. I find utter joy in a musical as I’ve said, and love a classic play. But I also like the really obscure stuff that challenges an audience. I want to showcase the vareity of venues we have in Wales, not just in Cardiff and not just the big players. So if you’re a theatre company or theatre space get in touch-I’d love to hear from you and talk about your work.
Getting in touch goes for anyone, I want to reflect what people are seeing, what they’re interested in, what they want to hear more about. So leave me a comment or find me on Twitter, and let’s talk stage.
Next week I’m going to talk about favourite venues…so tell me yours!
words DR EMILY GARSIDE, @EmiGarside, for more of her work you can read her blog here.
photo THOMAS DUESING, MICHEL