Cardiff Arts Institute
Mon 27-Tue 28 Sept
They’re young, they’re ambitious in their themes and boy do they pack an intellectual punch. Spinning Cardiff into the creative process for their newest production, Dumbwise Theatre will be heading to the Arts Institute with a view to sculpt a new home in Wales.
And, as as innovation takes its place at the very heart of the company’s work, we should all be there to welcome them. Passionately reluctant to stick to the mould, Dumbwise’s focus is about bringing their way of thinking to brand new plays, and drawing out previously hidden interpretations from within the dusty corners of classic pieces.
With a nod to the ways of punk-rockers on the road, company director John Ward articulates that the modern theatre company can’t stay in. Like a band, they must find new ways of expression and it is imperative to tour. With a self-confessed ‘guerilla die-hard attitude’ to the stage and unabashedly confrontation take on modern themes, it is not at all surprising the company have created quite the fan-base. We can only speculate what they do hotel rooms.
So, what’s the latest from these young punks? This reading of Baby is centred around three adolescent orphans who escape care and form a makeshift family headed by the manipulative and exploitative eldest brother. In a mesmeric extension, the irresponsible head of the family goes from renting out the bodies of his siblings to selling the offspring of these encounters. And so, in this deliciously dark work in progress, we see this gripping underworld centred around the dark and allegorical business of selling the self.
So twisted realism, a taste for the dark and a fresh take on cruel comedy combine. A peculiar mix, you might think, yet there is definitely reason to this fusion. ‘We’re not looking to write plays to shock people’, explains Ward. ‘We’re looking to make plays which make people observe certain things.’ Richly poetic in their themes and characterisations and exactly tuned into the frequency of modern theatre, Dumbwise is certainly a company worth listening to.
