It’s January, it’s cold and dark, it’s fairly miserable. But among reasons to get excited this week is the launch of the new season from The Other Room. Cardiff’s newest theatre, and Cardiff’s only pub theatre. That’s right, a theatre in a pub. Not just a theatre with a bar, a theatre in an actual real life pub.
Now Porters itself is pretty great. It’s also no great surprise that of all the pubs to go for the idea of a theatre, Porters would given it’s owner is a former actor. So last year, the hub of great live music and comedy that Porters had become opened the doors to The Other Room and brought a theatre into the mix.
It’s fair to say that audiences and hopefully pub regulars embraced The Other Room, with a range of successful productions, concluding with the madcap Alix in Wundergarten at Christmas. Now starting 2016 with a string of awards nominations, including The Stage awards and several Wales Theatre awards. The Other Room is a small room that’s clearly making an impact.
And that is set to continue this year with the new season. Kicking off this week with two plays that have never been performed together Play (Sameul Beckett) and Silence (Harold Pinter). Two piece that deal with love and it’s fallout. . Directed by The Other Room’s Artistic Director Kate Wasserberg bringing black comedy and lost souls to the stage in Play, Pinter’s Silence is directed by Titas Halder, also a veteran of The Other Room as well as London’s Donmar Warehouse. With the iconic set of Beckett’s Play featuring the cast encased in giant urns, this promises to be an exciting night of iconic theatre. Running from 19th January until 4th Febuary there’s plenty of time to catch these two plays.
A change of pace in Febuary and a new play following the classics nick gill’s new one woman show, Sand, directed by Kate Wasserberg and running from 16 – 27 February. With the intriguing description from the playwright ‘collaborates on making a nuclear bomb, she becomes all things – every victim, every person in every possible time, even the explosion itself.’ Sand will no doubt be thought provoking and intense.
Irish playwright Conor McPherson is next in the season with St Nicholas. Also directed by Titus Halder-a director expereinced with McPherson’s work having directed The Dance of Death by the playwright at the Donmar Warehouse. A play that talks about theatre, the central character is a theatre critic who gets a more surreal life experience than anything he witnesses on stage and a world of candle-lit hedonism, darkness, and vampires after his is enchanted by a woman.
Finally, this season at The Other Room ends with new work from a Welsh writer, Matthew Bulgo. Constellation Street (11 – 30 April) Set in Cardiff and following four ‘lost souls’ in the nighttime. This final piece, which showcases local writing talent, shows the commitment of The Other Room to developing local talent being directed by former trainee directors of The Other Room, Chelsey Gillard and Dan Jones.
That’s the beauty of The Other Room-it can combine takes on classic plays, as in the opener to this season, it can showcase new writing from diverse writers like nick gill and Matthew Bulgo. And it can take risks in doing so. And it can support up and coming talent. With affordable tickets, and a diverse season like this, it’s worth taking a gamble on a night out at The Other Room. Also you can stop in Porter’s for that all important post show drink.
The Other Room
http://www.otherroomtheatre.com/en/
Porters:
http://www.porterscardiff.com/
words EMILY GARSIDE