Pontardawe Arts Centre
Wed 14 Sept
This work is a bilingual play, in both English and Welsh, from the award-winning playwright Alun Saunders. It’s a modern tale of two brothers raised separately, in two different families speaking two different languages, a brilliant device to explore the impact of split identity and culture in Wales. Hefin and Jay meet on Hefin’s 18th birthday and find out that not only was he not born Welsh as he has always believed, but that he has a brother. He’s angry that he isn’t Welsh but is equally as shocked to discover he has an older brother.
Saunders has created a play that deals with the Welsh and English languages and their roles in Wales, with a bilingual piece, in which Hef speaks Welsh throughout and Jay speaks English. The company, Neontopia, which aims to create brand new theatre in multiple languages, gets people excited about the topics and make them understandable, are behind A Good Clean Heart. There are subtitles projected that add another layer of comedy whilst removing the boundaries of language. They move around the set and even onto the actors’ bodies, making the play a funny and moving production that can be enjoyed by both Welsh and English speakers. Saunders wrote this play from his own experiences, when he and his partner experienced a lengthy, disappointing delay during their three-year process of adopting a child. Through this, the audience can follow the exploration of the issues of national identity from the two men from different classes, races, educational backgrounds and languages.
The play was shown in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, one of the many Welsh contributions, and will now be touring across Wales. A Neontopia and Wales Millennium Centre co-production, in association with The Other Room and Theatr Genedlaetholc Cymru, A Good Clean Heart promises a rollercoaster story of two brothers, where things go from perfect to disastrous in a blink of an eye.
Tickets: £5-£10. Info: 017 9286 3722 / www.pontardaweartscentre.com
HANNAH WILLIAMS