TONYPANDEMONIUM | STAGE REVIEW
Park & Dare Theatre, Mon 12 Oct.
A bare-backed young man bearing a half-inked Wonderwoman tattoo. Rock music that blares as we shift sharply round the circle-shaped auditorium. Morph and Chas-headed children who wreak a fantasy revenge on self-centred adults.
Written by Rachel Trezise and directed by Mathilde Lopez, Tonypandemonium for me was a vivid and vibrant theatrical spectacle – startling for the senses, despite its minimal props (fridge, lamp, etc). Character-wise, its vivid imagery was clearly rooted in the archetypes and stereotypes of that ‘green desert’ we city folk call ‘ the valleys’. An alcoholic mother in a tiny, Pepto-Bismol-coloured skirt and skin-tight leopard print? Check. A teenage daughter who rebels by wearing massive Docs and dying her hair platinum and blue? Check again. Children of different ages meandered amongst us at various times, sometimes shifting/clearing sets, and the action shifted sharply to different sections of the set – inbetween aisles of audience, behind us and amongst us, at the centre or from the periphery. Microphones were used to great effect here, amplifying conversation, as was the use of dual voice – Danielle at different ages, for example, speaking simultaneously.
I think these interactions, between the actors playing ‘Dan’ at different ages, were my favourite bits of script. The wisdom we might impart to our younger selves, if only we could! Trezise’s writing here was full of tenderness and insight, and finely acted by Tamara Brabon, Molly Elson, and Sarah Williams (in ascending order of age). However, the stand-out actor for me was undoubtedly Siwan Morris as mum Deborah, the ‘party girl’ now filling up at a fast-rate with vodka and bitterness, jealous of her daughter’s youth, desperate for male attention (Dan’s schoolmates, teachers), constantly shuffling her daughter out of doors so she can engage in secret (sexual) activities. It’s the sort of role any actor would love to perform, and Morris was magnificent as the childish, impetuous mother, unable to tell her daughter that she loved her, even as she lay dying… Tragic yet touching stuff indeed.
In all, then, this was a sensitive, stylish, emotive, and astoundingly well-written/acted/directed piece of theatre and, personally, the best I have seen from National Theatre Wales so far.
words: MAB JONES
Tonypandemonium, Park & Dare Theatre, Treorchy, Thurs 16 – Sat 19 Oct. Tickets: £8. Info: 08000 147 111 / www.parkdare.rct-arts.org