Warrior Square

Dedicated theatregoers in Wales are used to travelling around to get to see work. That said, one of the advantages of living where I do is that, despite the paucity of theatre available, when there is something to see it generally involves just a short walk to the venue. On Thursday, I went to see Warrior Square by Theatr Iolo. Even by Cardiff’s standards, however, this was very accessible. All I had to do was walk one hundred yards around the corner to the local primary school – Adamsdown Primary. Iolo have a good reputation for their work specialising in theatre for young people with an imaginative range and theatricality that transcends narrow definitions. Their work is also very outward-facing in that they show a keen awareness of the international dimension and quite often premiere plays from around the world. Warrior Square, although written by Nottingham-based playwright Nick Wood, is true to that spirit.

Focussing on the experience of East European asylum seekers fleeing from ethnic cleansing in an unnamed Balkan state, the drama is essentially told through the eyes of a brother and sister, Andrea (played by Steve Hickman) and Eva (played by Lisa Zahra). The play falls into two halves: the first culminating in the horror of their father’s death at the hands of a brutal mob, which is breathlessly achieved in a deceptively simple sequence involving personalised storytelling and a burst of syncopated drumming; the second focuses on the challenges of coming to terms with their arrival in the UK, settling into a different kind of society and the continuing impact of their father’s death, not least on their mother who has not spoken since. While the storytelling and number of characters involved was sometimes a little too complex for the young audience to follow, it was genuinely moving to see how readily the culturally mixed group of ten year olds responded to the issues raised and how quick they were with questions at the end of the play. Indeed, the unpatronising ambition of the piece was one of its strengths as well as the deft characterisation and skilful playing of the two actors. I was slightly concerned by the demonisation of the only white working class character – a racist hoodie – who provides the turning point for Andrea to reconsider the path he is set on, but, overall, this was a powerful and involving example of Theatr Iolo’s work under Kevin Lewis.

On a more general note, I was struck by one factor which seems to have changed little in the twenty years since I was touring schools and that is the sense of possibility afforded to scenic design. I don’t mean this as a criticism of the Iolo design, which was imaginative and well executed. I mean it more as a genuinely open question of whether, after twenty years, there is any possibility of a new language that can be achieved in design for this kind of work or not. For example, many of the circumstantial challenges remain the same – the anonymous multi-purpose hall that somehow manages to resist any effort to transform it, the need to get in and out in one day and fit everything into the back of a van, the challenge of pupils and teachers drifting in an out of the performance space irrespective of what is happening onstage. These are perhaps intractable problems and the fact that performance in schools involves daily touring requires efficiency and a practicality that will always outweigh subtler questions around design. However, it seems to me that the use of the painted floorcloth and the single flat plus relevant props has become almost a default setting and the opportunity to respond really imaginatively to the challenge of physical space has not progressed as much as it has in theatre more generally. Of course, there will be arguments about resources and the minimal production budgets imposed by the level of funding, but that is an argument that will go only so far. Perhaps the future will involve stronger partnerships between building-based organisations and some of the young peoples’ theatre companies in order to achieve the increased artistic and producing capacity that some of the companies – and Iolo is one of them – are capable of.

Simon Harris February 15, 2008

Under The Carpet May 16 2007

by David Adams, Western Mail chapter arts centre, cardiff

IT’S only 43 minutes long, has a mere 377 words of dialogue, a cast of two and is one of the best pieces of theatre I’ve seen this year. And, yes, you’ll be lucky to see it because the target audience – nursery-school kids – is too young to read this review. Sarah Argent’s new play for Theatr Iolo uses the words and ideas of some 80 under-fives – young storytellers whose tales can be as short as a sentence. A play made by adults for young children, even one that uses their own words and ideas, could so very easily be trite, patronising and twee. But Ms Argent has worked them into a marvellously simple, virtually plotless play about a couple of cousins who live together and who we meet on one of their birthdays. The characters are, in fact, young men, both neatly dressed in three-piece suits. And it is that slightly surrealist situation of two formal men who barely speak to each other simply occupying the stage, hardly speaking but engaging a mainly adult audience – at this special showing in Chapter Stiwdio, rather than in a nursery-school – but with a handful of young people at the front, that creates this immaculate drama. Ms Argent’s direction is so imaginative and the performances of Steve Hickman and Iwan Tudor so effortlessly seductive that it achieves that rare thing – it creates a mental world that is both utterly believable but constructed, where bees can be both real and imagined, where cakes can really be rolled-up socks, where snakes are ties that can be pressed, where there is no line between pretence and actuality. And, what’s more, the two of them play instruments and sing songs too. It is theatre as play, as magic, as make-believe, as relationships, as mystery, as a search and as interaction. They live in their own world yet they know we, the audience, are there, giving us the odd knowing look or complicit smile. It is, in a way, as essential as all drama, from the ritual to the burlesque – trying to make sense of life, but always bewildered by it – that draws here on archetypal pairings from Laurel and Hardy to Bill and Ben by way of Vladimir and Estragon. And the actors, especially Steve Hickman, incorporate some nice visual references to classic comedy acts. But of course, this is a play for the very young, and we as adults change its significance merely by being there. We apply adult criteria, we recognise the wit, the pastiche, the mime, the timing and the irony, as well as the comedy. We wonder how we’d see it if it hadn’t been for Buster Keaton, Grotowski, Brecht or Samuel Beckett. To those with childish – or child-like – eyes it is simply very funny and actually, of course, it has been made for the very young. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t have missed it: less is more, quality is paramount, theatricality is at its heart. It’s very much a total-theatre production, as we’ve grown to expect from Theatr Iolo, with Sarah Argent’s script and direction complemented by Jem Treays’s movement work, Charlotte Neville’s design and Jak Poore’s music. And the title? Well, that’s about a missing button. And it’s a long story, on and off about 40 minutes long, and with only two words – button and carpet.

It is now over twenty years that an official report acclaimed the great strengths of the Theatre In Education companies based in Wales. Since that time the companies, despite a now almost forgotten threat from the then Welsh Arts Council, have gained an even greater respect that goes far beyond Wales. One of the leading organisations in this field, serving Cardiff and The Vale of Glamorgan, Theatr Iolo is for the moment focusing its sights on the very youngest, nursery age children. Director Sarah Argent whose command and sensitivity seems to know no bounds worked with staff and pupils, with happy co-operation, at Barry Island Nursery in the Vale and Moorlands and Ninian Park Nursery schools in Cardiff. “ In thirty years of teaching, working with Theatr Iolo has been one of the most memorable highlights of my teaching career.” Ann Kitchen, Head Teacher, Ninian Park Argent took with her into the schools a suitcase of familiar household objects. She let the children rummage amongst them and carefully listened to their comments and encouraged them to tell her how some of the objects related to their life at home. From this ‘research’ with her team of actors, Steve Hickman and Iwan Tudor, designer Charlotte Neville, Musical Director Jak Poore and Education Officer Glenys Evans the script for this delightful and completely engaging play was distilled. Those organisations responsible for the promotion of new writing for theatre in Wales should keep their eye on these creative tiny-tots. To say this was a performance full of charm is almost to stereotype it and undermine its gentle ingenuity. Tudor and Hickman were Cannon and Ball or The Chuckle brothers in panto mood but with much more finesse and a far greater understanding of how to play to and completely captivate their young audience. Whilst they were always very funny and skilfully played guitars, fiddles and a ukulele they also had a dream – like quality about them. You could almost see them as part of the totally absorbed young audience’s imaginings. The boys played tricks on one another, but they are really very fond of each other, Lol, Hickman has brought a present for Nono’s birthday. They chased a bee with a rolled up newspaper then flattened it with a smoothing iron – but it was only a pretend bee. They eat a huge plate of chocolate and lemon cakes which turned out to be .... but that would be telling! Nonno, has a lot to say and sing about a button missing off his smart waistcoat. Eventually Lol finds Nono’s button, you guessed it – Under the Carpet where many other secrets lay!

Reviewed by: Michael Kelligan

Reviewed by: David Adams

2006

A Simply Stunning Performance

First, the good news. Theatr Iolo's latest show for 5-7 year-olds is another endorsement of this successful company's unerring ability to deliver high-quality theatre for young audiences with the minimum of fuss.

Kevin Lewis's production of Mike Kenny's play is sharp, uncluttered and utterly engaging, allowing the layers of this offbeat take on the classic fairy-story format to emerge. A kind of sequel to Cinderella, it is about a young dancer, Eldamina, who goes through the familiar rites-of-passage trials and tribulations of childhood in what the company calls "an uplifting tale of jealousy, tantrums, dancing, music and sisterly love".

Eldamina (a character created by our eccentric storyteller Imelda Baglady) has been given Cinderella's famous glass slippers because she so loves to dance but is somewhat put out when she finds her new baby sister Madeleine (and you'll have spotted the neat triple near-anagrammatical naming) is to take over the shoes when she grows up - and so the older sister throws the slippers into a lake.

As the title suggests, glass slippers are not the only footwear that feature in this shoe-in. Eldamina is rewarded for her labours as she tramps through life with wellies, walking boots and moccasins, whil Imelda uses shoes as telephones. For the baglady, with supplies of all kinds of cobblers' product in her plastic sacks, footwear is metonymic. Ideas of stepping into someone's shoes and the old custom of throwing a shoe after someone to bring good luck also bubble away in Kenny's deceptively subtle script.

But the show is really brought to life by the solo performer, Cath Prosser, who enters as Imelda, a kind of dotty Alan Bennett character, and, once the story has got going after several amusing false starts, becomes Eldamina. The enchanting Ms Prosser is simply stunning as she holds the audience in the palm of her hand - and this audience, at a special showing in Llanover Hall, was that often difficult mix of adults and kids rather than the usual school class.

Some of you may have seen Ms Prosser when she made a very impressive professional debut as Curly's wife in the Torch Theatre's Of Mice and Men a couple of years ago and here she shows how she has matured into a striking performer.

And so to the bad news. The talented Ms Prosser leaves Wales for Mexico at the end of the run of this show. She will not be the first startingly promising actor to quit Welsh theatre because of the lack of opportunity, or the last, I fear.

Reviewed by: David Adams

On the Edge
The Western Mail, February 12, 2006

Glenys Evans is not a playwright most of you will have heard of, although you might just recognise her face because she has been performing in South Wales for twenty years now and is also a talented cabaret singer.

That's because most theatregoers are not the audience Ms Evans writes for - and most of her acting has been for Hijinx Theatre, who take theatre to the community and make work with and for a wider community that doesn't normally get included in the theatregoing experience, rather than for major companies beloved of the establishment.

And what Ms Evans knows is her audience: what we might call individuals on the edge of society. In this case, in a quite remarkable play outstandingly presented by Theatr Iolo, people who engage with the condition of autism, but she has been writing plays for Hijinx for a while that inhabit the world of people with learning difficulties. (The label is, of course, unsatisfactory and has been the subject of much discussion of late: better than the American "retard" or the negative "disabled" but still inadequate to offer any notion of inclusiveness.)

What informs Ms Evans's plays is not simply empathy or understanding but a very special commitment to presenting characters as people whose behaviour, feelings, ambitions may not be those of the conventional bourgeois-theatre individuals. She can get inside characters who rarely are portrayed as rounded human beings on the stage. We are all different and in dealing in a straightforward way with someone with autism, say, as here, Ms Evans is being somewhat subversive: their value becomes the same as Hamlet or Othello or Shylock or Jimmy Porter's - all social outsiders, of course - with no less respect and no hint of patronising.

Indeed, in this three-hander, it is the so-say "normal" young man, Bill, who is problematic - he is the one who has bullied Dan at school and continues to treat him as "funny" even though Dan is now Bill's superior at work. And while Dan is the central character - a lad through whose eyes we start to understand the autistic vision - it is in a way Bill's story as he tries to come to terms with his guilt and his own personal shortcomings.

In between the two is Petal, someone who has no difficulty in liking Dan but is also attracted, despite his dishonesty and arrogance, to Bill. Within the confines of the burger bar where they all work the three enact a delicately-crafted drama of self-discovery.

In storyline terms, On the Edge isn't that different from Ms Evan's earlier plays, like Roots and Wings - but this seems to me a quantum leap forward in terms of playwriting, with a more sophisticated language, denser, multi-layered, eloquent, ambivalent, open-ended.

It benefits from an excellent production from Theatr Iolo, with spot-on performances from Stephen Hickman, Mark Sullivan and Anna Joseph directed by Kevin Lewis, assisted by Glenys Evans, where quirky choreography and cool music is interwoven into a very moving drama. This company is consistently good and offers some of the best acting to be seen in Wales - don't let anyone tell you that community and Young People's Theatre is less rigorous than main-stage work... or make them get to see On the Edge.

AlthoughI suspect this very special piece of theatre will mainly be presented to very privileged audiences. I saw it at Ysgol Plasmawr, where the company has been working to help deliver the PSE curriculum and supplements the show with workshops and where Autism Cymru has been collaborating with information and feedback.

As a package it is an admirable educational resource, and covers more issues than autism - sexual morality, for example. But let's not forget that at the core is a fine play that would stand alone, a piece of well-wrought work that deserves to be seen more.

Reviewed by David Adams

2005

Theatr Iolo's The Flock
The Western Mail, Friday February 11, 2005
Bridgend College

Theatr Iolo director Kevin Lewis had to rush off to Glasgow after this performance to receive a coveted Tron award for Bison and Sons, voted the best children’s show there last year.

That show was a Dutch play, and the latest from this Cardiff young people’s theatre company, The Flock, is another import – an impressive play by young Danish writer Jesper Wamsler translated by Sarah Argent – both were in the Bridgend College audience – that continues Iolo’s policy of contemporary European plays.

So kids are the same in Copenhagen as Cardiff, right?

It would certainly seem so from The Flock, which is a hard-edged tale about a gang of young street girls, and in particular Louise (Anna Joseph) and Vic (Carri Munn). They live by robbing, hanging around, smoking and generally enjoying themselves.

There’s no moral condemnation in the play, though it hardly glorifies their lives, either. Questions of whether we approve or even like the characters are not up for grabs.

But the dangers teenage girls can get themselves into are at the core, as they get exploited and abused by the landlord of the house they’re squatting in, while Louise’s fate is already assured, since we meet her at the beginning as a ghost.

The story (based on conversations with a girl Jesper met at a railway station) is told in retrospect by Vic, now 16 we guess, when she makes her regular visit to Louise’s grave.

Apart from the mugging and robbery it seems almost innocent and the “flock” of free birds only disbands because of the intervention of a man from the real world (not for nothing do they nickname him “the fox”).

It’s a sparse, urgent production from Lewis with just the two girls, a table, a ghetto-blaster and a Coke bottle, no dramatic lighting or set, just a couple of adolescents remembering. Both Carri Munn and Anna Joseph are strong, but the interesting casting of an actress better known to local audiences for comic sketches doesn’t quite come off – Ms Munn seems at times to be too obviously performing.

She also has the difficult task of playing a slightly older Vic who’s telling a story of things passed. Older Vic speaks not so much as a 16-year-old but as a lyrical, articulate narrator, recalling what seemed like an idyll.

What isn’t dealt with in this sensitive, taut, engaging play is also important, of course: it isn’t just the relationship between the two girls (which actually isn’t very well depicted) and the camaraderie of the flock. One sees their positive qualities coming through alongside the irresponsibility, callousness and cruelty that comes so easily to the gang.

The Flock is aimed at young people and doubtless they will find much to talk about as regards friendship, survival, crime, parents and what’s smart and what’s stupid.

But the rest of us will also be moved as we see a bunch of kids, the product of our society, whose main reward, their belonging to their “nest”, was destroyed by one rapacious adult.

by David Adams

^©David Adams

The Flock
From www.theatre-wales.co.uk
Chapter Arts Centre, February 28, 2005

“In the early part of the 21st century our aim is still to create quality vibrant theatre to stir the imagination, inspire the heart and challenge the mind.” Kevin Lewis – Artistic Director – Theatr Iolo. It’s now twenty years since a report was brought out, highly commending the eight TIE/Community Companies working in Wales. Not so long afterwards the Arts Council proposed to completely cut the grants to half of them. There was a brilliant movement of protest, the Chief Executive of the Arts Council lost her job and all the companies were saved.

Today the strength of these companies is even greater, typified by productions like Theatr Na Nog’s current bi-lingual Melangell and this tense and dramatic production from Theatr Iolo.

The Flock by Danish playwright, Jesper Wamsler, has been translated for this production by Sarah Argent, reminding us of the internationalism of teenage uncertainty and despair.

The human flock at its best is the family, though not so all embracing as it was, not that many years ago. Today families get together for Christmas, weddings and funerals etc. From these gatherings most of us will get a good feeling of warmth and togetherness.

My family has fled the nest, but they return quite regularly, but for most of the time leaving us in a big empty house. I often gaze out into the garden and see an odd sparrow searching for food, soon he’ll be joined by another and they will perch in the bushes and twitter away, be joined by lots of friends all thanking me for the bird food I’ve left out for them. When I go out into the garden the flock will fly away.

Vic, the character played here by Carri Munn is a lonely street sparrow, very different from the extravagant blasé character she gives us in her Munn and Diamond comedy persona. She is a very versatile actor equally able to represent the bullying rapist landlord as she is to give us the lost vulnerability of her main character.

Louise, the second sparrow is seen nervously circling Vic’s mind in the early part of the play, as the now grown-up sixteen year old Vic is visiting her grave. The two sparrows soon start pecking together. They first met two years earlier, rejected, homeless street girls, they join three others in similar situations. There’s a strong feeling of mutual support as the flock set out on a crash-course of self-serving criminality of increasing violence and desperation.

But the strength of this flock takes them nowhere. Louise life is taken after her sacrifice to try to hold the flock together. The rest separate and life goes on. Carri is a quirky actress, which is both a strength and can be a weakness, it takes us a little time to settle to her character but as she goes on the rampage with the flock she quickly becomes strong and gripping.

Anna Joseph brings a delicate yet determined quality to her playing of Louise, her gentle beauty so perfectly offset by Munn’s gritty portrayal.

The play does not set out to be judgmental but is does drive home some very sorry facts about the way some young people are forced to live today. Rejected by love, they seek for an alternate love amongst themselves that must inevitably be as destructive as the damage they were forced to suffer so early in their tender lives.

I am sure that director Lewis has succeeded in touching the hearts and challenging the minds of his teenage audience.

by Michael Kelligan

^©Michael Kelligan

2004

Bison and Sons
Evening News, Edinburgh Tuesday June 1, 2004

Child’s play turned into brilliant drama Cliches ditched in home-alone story.
Every now and then the Children’s Theatre Festival throws up a piece of theatre which is confounding and brilliant, even by its own high standards. Bison & Sons is such a piece.

It is theatre which is so far removed from the usual clichés of theatre for kids that, if you didn’t know, you probably wouldn’t guess it was aimed at that market. Yet it is also a play which will please its target audience of 12-year-olds and over.

Bison & Sons dares to simply tell its story: Three brothers – Big Boy, Luigi and Benji – are waiting for their father to come home. They are hanging out in the kitchen of their house, and as the play goes on, you become increasingly aware at just how run-down and grim it actually is.

For just an hour, the three grown-up actors take you right into the world of these boys – aged between about six and 13. And once there, they constantly add new layers of detail, so the story grows and becomes more involved and involving.

All of which is the hallmark of a well-written play. Welsh company Theatr Iolo do more with it than that, though. Having managed the tricky task of creating the characters of young children, the actors proceed to develop them so naturally that you forget that they are grown-ups and not actually children.

Tom Englishby plays the eldest, Big Boy. He’s a tough wee lad, a bit of a loner. His brothers might laugh at his pretend fight antics behind his back. But they won’t let him see them doing so, if they can help it.

Superb
If Big Boy is a bit of a menace, he’s completely focused on looking after his brothers when he is given the responsibility.

Even Luigi, who is only a year or so younger, doesn’t want to confront Big Boy. With the least forceful of the characters to play with, Steve Hickman does a superb job in the small details of this flawed little boy who doesn’t think he is any good at anything because he has been constantly been reminded of the fact.

Benji, played by Emyr John, is the baby of the family. An afterthought maybe. Their father’s golden boy. The one who reminds him most of their absent mother. And quite possibly the only one of them who can read. He is certainly the brightest, even if his brothers prey on his innocence.

The question for the boys is where their father is. All they have is a note. “Just gone out to the bank”.

But if his person is absent, his overbearing personality is very much present, as the brothers fight for his chair and tell each other little bits of information which each of them has gleaned from him. And as the reality of their situation becomes increasingly clear, with the Bison & Sons seed business obviously going to the wall and the question of where the father is increasingly ominous, so the future of the three begins to look more and more bleak.

Yet there is a real sparkle of hope in the production. One which does ask you to pity the boys, but which makes you think that this is just a beginning. And that there is a whole world outside the dark and claustrophobic one which they currently inhabit. Go see.

THOM DIBDIN

^©Thom Dibdin

Eye of the Storm, by Charles Way
The Western Mail, March 19, 2004
Llanover Hall, Cardiff

Time was when Wales’s Young People’s Theatre groups were an endangered species, threatened with extinction by bureaucrats and arts mandarins who couldn’t see the sense or the skills in this network of exemplary small-scale companies that cover the country’s schools.

Today, though, there’s almost a swagger in their stage work as they strut their recent recognition by the powers-that-be. There is, it seems to me, a confidence in their productions that proclaims their acknowledged importance to theatre in Wales.

Take Theatr Iolo, the Cardiff-based company that has been close to closure in the past, despite unquestionable artistic and educational success. For reasons that probably have little to do with quality or effectiveness and all to do with politics their grant from the arts council has doubled.

This means they can actually be adequately rewarded for their labours and can do the job properly rather than on a shoestring. They have just returned from an overseas tour and are off soon to Belgium (where they’ll be performing in French) and Canada – ambassadors of Welsh culture more than many a so-called big mainstream company.

So it’s maybe not surprising that they (and other similar Welsh companies are the same) wear their new-found status and approval on their sleeve, displaying the reasons with shows for the public that are mostly for schoolchildren – their latest, Eye of the Storm, getting an outing at Llanover Hall to a packed audience of adults.

In this they are even more blessed because Wales has, apart from its excellent YPT provision and practice, a playwright whose pre-eminence in the field has just earned him an arts council award – Charles Way was commissioned originally by Gwent Theatre to write this intelligent, erudite but accessible take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Iolo’s version is but the latest production of what I suspect will become a classic.

It’s a production that gives the lie to the idea that YPT is just about the curriculum and yoof issues. Taking the tale of Prospero’s power as a starting-point, Way weaves a story about a couple of teenagers who find themselves cast ashore on the magician’s island, where Prospero is having just a few problems with a daughter who is at that most difficult of ages, 14 – rebellious, hormonally het-up, impatient and generally bolshie… and with no boys on the horizon until the arrival of Trinculo and Stephano (although Stephano is actually Stephanie).

Shakespeare’s story is much played with – the spirit Ariel also has elements of the absent Caliban, Trinculo pretends to be Ferdinand, there’s no Gonzalo or Neapolitan court – but if you know the original you’ll recognise some of the lines with a smile, and if you don’t it doesn’t really matter.

And, neatly, the issues no longer revolve around magic, language or postcolonial power but around Miranda and her adolescent innocence as the arrival of the two teenagers from the real world open her eyes – as with other Charlie Way plays, it’s about the journey from childhood to adulthood.

Those questions of identity, relationships and independence are explored with subtlety, sensitivity and lots of humour – and Kevin Lewis’s production has the great virtue of making someone like me, who has seen the play before, feel that they are seeing it for the first time.

There are some excellent performances from the Theatr Iolo ensemble (Emyr John, Anna Joseph, Sian McDowall and Steve Hickman), with the added value of Charlotte Neville’s striking design, Antony Lamb’s effective music and Jem Treays’s movement coaching that are now affordable desirables, and my only reservation is that while an adult audience will find the play intelligent and knowing younger audiences may find it slightly wordy.

by David Adams

^©David Adams


Bison & Sons

Glasgow Herald 3 June 2004

The Garage, Edinburgh

With seating around all four sides of the space, members of the audience could catch other people’s reactions to the shenanigans onstage. Teenage boys and girls were among my opposite numbers and their responsive facial expressions were almost as riveting as the roller-coaster mood swings and brutal, erratic behaviour of the three characters playing out games of brotherly love and hate in a tatty, grubby kitchen.

Bison & Sons, brought to the Children’s International Theatre Festival by Welsh company Theatr Iolo, has the 12-plus age groups clearly in its sights: there’s no time-wasting, no wandering off into soul-searching monologues, no opportunities given for young audiences to get fidgety or fed up. Instead, there’s action. BB, the eldest, fancies himself as a martial arts exponent, so he kicks out clumsily when he’s not semi-strangling himself with the rope he carries. Middle brother, GG packs a knife and has a short fuse. Benno, the youngest, is the fall guy, even though he’s the only one smart enough to read and write – Benno, however, is their father’s favourite and that’s enough to make him a source of annoyance to the other two. Where’s dad? Gone to the bank.

Bit by bit, as the lads lark about, having messy food fights, bullying and taunting one another or play-acting imaginary scenarios – some with a Wild West accent, others a savage echo of domestic strife – we gather that the family business is on the ropes, and that their mother is dead. The whole scenario reeks of poverty, emotional as well as financial, yet thanks to fierce, sincere, performances from Steve Hickman, Emyr John and Tom Enlgishby, there’s a powerful bond of kinship that might just open a door to the life they share in fantasies.

MARY BRENNAN

^©Mary Brennan

2001

Bison and Sons
From www.theatre-wales.co.uk

An award-winning play from the Netherlands, it has some of the family tensions of The Godfather, alludes to Becket, Genet and Pinter, nods to Greek mythology and the Bible, exploits the Hollywood western genre - and is touring South Wales. So where can you see this innovative, provocative piece of intertextual theatre?
You can’t, unless you’re a teenager at a school to which Theatr Iolo is taking Bison and Sons or manage to catch a special performance such as the one at Chapter studio recently. And while it does make as good a starting-point as anything for a classroom discussion on sibling rivalry, manhood, ambition and patriarchy, it does stand on its own pretty well.
The play and production are refreshingly non-naturalistic, effortlessly slipping from real life to fantasy as we find three brothers - aged 8, 12 and 14 but mimicking older males - abandoned as their father pleads with the bank manager to save the family business from bankruptcy. They play, they bicker, they taunt, they bully, they fight - their name is Bison, but at times it could well be Corleone.
I doubt if young audiences will necessarily pick up on the debt to the Theatre of the Absurd or all the other cultural references and while the original, created by writer Pauline Mol and the Theater Artemis company, was the result of a devising process that would doubtless have given a tension and urgency I found a little lacking in Kevin Lewis’s production, at least when I saw it, it is still an impressive piece of young people’s theatre.

DAVID ADAMS

^©David Adams

Bison and Sons
From www.theatre-wales.co.uk

Very few adults get to see the range of children's theatre on offer. Theatre in education companies may tour excellent productions extensively but they remain within a circuit in some underground world inaccessible to those outside its remit. I was pleased therefore to have the opportunity to see Theatr Iolo in Chapter Studio on World Children's and Young People's Theatre Day on Tuesday, 20th March.
Iolo put on a two-part evening: Kevin Lewis's one-man show, Marcos , and their version of Pauline Mol's Bisons and Sons, originally commissioned by the Dutch company, Theater Artemis. Ever since David Adams praised it so highly last year, I have wanted to see Marcos - and I missed it. I kicked myself several times. But I did see the impressive Bison and Sons. You couldn't get much further from the patronising sentimentality that contaminates so much children's TV. This was clean, focused and unsentimental theatre that focused on what must be the stuff of every child's nightmare: abandonment.
The set was minimal: a sketch of a kitchen, dirty and neglected apart from a cage which contained precious things. Just once during the performance it lit up with fairy lights as a kind of shrine to a lost mother. The sibling relationship of the three brothers - bossy elder brother, sulky middle child and babied youngest - were vividly realised by Duncan Bett (square shouldered, world weary Big Boy), Henry Sargeant (undervalued, self-hating Gigi) and Emyr John (soft, easily teased Benno). Gigi misses his mother the most. They confusedly struggle to believe that everything will be alright, enacting little plays within the play as they try to understand what has happened, bullying and comforting each other in turn, taking sides, sulking, collectively dreaming of warmth, nice food and comfort. Big Boy tries to look after the others by cooking a pan of plain white spaghetti which ends up all over the floor.
But this small gem was neither gloomy nor sordidly self-indulgent but deft, hard-edged, quippy - and extremely funny. The actors individualised their characters with crisp movements, visually sketching personality by studied pose and concise gesture - a strategy highlighted when the two younger brothers mimicked the eldest behind his back. Or when they impersonated the bank manager they had never seen as an ogre who liked to do nasty things to small boys. Articulating fears allows them to be confronted and mocked as the material for comedy.
The intimacy of the performance was enhanced by its production in the round. The play started by establishing the brothers' characteristics - bravery, moodiness and timidity respectively - through arguments over the assumption of authority represented by sitting in the father's chair. Yet the use of space undercut that authority from the start, The chair was off-centre and the real focal point was the empty cupboard standing in the middle of the stage-space. As the boys started to come to terms with the absence of their father and their possible abandonment they played and fought around and through that marker. Finally they left it as they refused the situation of being abandoned and decided to leave the house themselves to cope on their own.
This brief plotline seems to reduce the play to a dreary moral message. That isn't at all how it seemed. The play's interactions were beautifully done, the playful but serious quality of a genuine struggle to understand reflected a process familiar to any adult - never mind a child - and this made the performance most alive. Good children's entertainment is not easy to produce. Because children always seek to understand the world through what they see and hear, Peter Hollindale claims that all writing for children (which includes theatre of course) is 'inescapably didactic': more than anything this means that children's theatre should never produce gooey platitudes and easy answers but should question those platitudes, deal with real things, engage in risk. This was witty and intelligent theatre: for grown-ups as well as children. It's apparently sold out see them if you can.

JENNI WILLIAMS

^©Jenni Williams

2000

Western Mail 25 July 2000 - IF ONLY GROWN-UP THEATRE WERE AS GOOD

MOST of the recent furore about the Arts Council's controversial new drama strategy centred not on its relations with high-profile companies like Brith Gof or the Magdalena Project or Made in Wales but on the reorganisation of young people's theatre provision - plays rarely seen by adults performed by actors who are hardly household names.
Why? Maybe Theatre lolo's latest shows, Marcos and The Stringman. offer some kind of answer.
Theatre-in-education (TIE) has long been the jewel in the crown of Welsh theatre and, outside the country, it is companies like Theatr Powys, Spectacle and Arad Goch whose names are known.
TIE was the first real form of established theatre in Wales and over 30 years it has developed and matured, which is why so many parents and politicians berated the Arts Council for planning to halve the number of companies.
A public showing of Theatr Iolo's new plays (at the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay) confirms the strength of TIE.
It is essentially theatre stripped bare of its pretensions. The Stringman is a short, simple piece for young people with learning disabilities that involves and stimulates: What is he doing, this odd character who collects bits of string? Why is he making a kind of web? Why is he shy? ... questions on one level just about this character, on another about how we make sense of life, about people who are different, about communication.
Marcos is also basic: a marvellous one-man performance from Kevin Lewis, who tells the true story of a young Spanish "wild" boy and the culture clash between a natural life and so-called civilisation. Marcos has played to acclaim in London, Europe and America and indeed it is first-class theatre. If only grown-up theatre were as good.

DAVID ADAMS

^©David Adams

1998

The Rock
Western Mail November 98 - MESSAGE TO YOUNG IS THAT IN LIFE YOU CAN TRY TO CHANGE THE SCRIPT

WHATEVER other difficulties there are in the maelstrom that is theatre, the one thing that is immensely reassuring to Kevin Lewis, artistic director of the theatre in education company Theatr Iolo, is that there is never any lack of ideas.
"There's such a huge variety of potential material. We cover different age groups, we are regularly called on to address issue-based subjects, for example under-achievement, bullying or alcohol, and since we are based in Cardiff we serve a multicultural community so that opens up another vast area to us. So ideas is the one thing we're never short of. It's much more a question of how do you fit them all in and how do we fund them."
Theatr Iolo, based in Gabalfa, Cardiff, is one of Wales's eight theatre in education companies currently funded to a degree by the Arts Council of Wales. The company has been in existence for 11 years, but in 1993 had to effectively re-invent itself after the local authority in the face of general cutbacks withdrew its revenue funding while continuing to subsidise it by housing it in the old Viriamu Jones school building.
"We still get lots of support from the local authority and their advisory teachers who still look to us as an important educational resource," says Gillian Dale, the company's administrator. "While work in schools is still our prime function, being funded on a project basis means looking at what we do as a professional programme of work."
This has meant diversifying to a certain extent, and looking at taking Theatr Iolo shows elsewhere. Back in the summer the company did a highly successful week of its young people's show at the Polka Theatre in London. But there's a certain irony in the fact that its work goes down brilliantly in Austria where it regularly visits an International Children's Theatre Festival.
In a world where moving goalposts are a constant trial, and theatre in education is under constant threat of relegation to a lower league of priorities, the Theatr lolo team is nevertheless relentlessly upbeat about the situation.
"Since 1993 when we were first hit by cuts, we were forced to look at everything as a challenge in order to develop and move forward. "While Cardiff Education Authority regularly commissions us to do work, we are always having to look for further funding and these tend to be for specific projects."
The Foundation for Sport and the Arts and the health promotion unit are among the bodies who have backed specific ventures while the comic relief fund provided money for a special project on alcohol.
The company also received capital grants from the Lottery Fund which has helped it to upgrade basic equipment like lighting and sound and computers and Theatr lolo has received a £75,000 Arts For All grant awarded for a three-year special needs project.
The company is also a registered charity. In such a competitive market the danger is that this can encroach on the creative work, but it's the theatre's belief in the value of its work that makes it determined to keep the flag flying.
"For me the fundamental power of theatre is its ability to create another world which is somehow connected to the experience of being," says Kevin Lewis. "It's always exciting when you can take people into another world and see things from somebody else's point of view. Some of the work we do is to do with the celebratory experiences of life, but more often the meat of drama is the painful experience, the crises. "If kids see such things being articulated on stage it can spark things off in them which can perhaps help them to work things out. We're very aware of the responsibility and the need to handle things with sensitivity, but it can be very rewarding."
Gillian Dale says, "We're very fortunate. Most of the time in the theatre you don't meet your audience. We can go into a school with a play and get immediate feedback. You have a group of teenagers come in with the cynical attitude, 'What's this?' but you can see them change as you're sat on the sidelines. "I remember particularly a play we did called 'Box of Fear' which was about racism and we watched this audience physically change. They were caught up in the whole thing and when they had their chance to say what they thought about the situations. they really opened up."
Workshops and discussions are an important part of the theatre in education process and it is an area for which Theatr Iolo has a good reputation. Teachers are often amazed at what emerges in such discussions. Given a safe environment, students will talk about things that have come up in the play and even challenge the actors.
Asked what they think characters should have said at a certain point, they will offer suggestions and anecdotes about their own experience. They may not have been able to do that before. The message is that in life you can try and change the script.
Kevin Lewis observes that it's often assumed that in doing issue based work or work that's funding led, the notion of art goes out of the window.
"We've always taken the view that you can turn anything into a work of art if you approach with integrity. Plays are about human beings interacting in situations and while I'm not saying that we always achieve a work of art, we're pushing towards that direction. The issues are not stuck on like mouth-pieces to get across opinions, the plays are about people and the issues come out of that."

RIAN EVANS

^©Rian Evans

1997

Gwrthryfel
Y Cymro 26 June 1997 - GWRTHRYFEL I BAWB

Mae Theatr lolo a Theatr Gwent yn parhau a'r daith o gwmpas ysgolion Cymraeg de Cymru gyda'i drama diweddaraf Gwrthryfel.
Agorodd y sioe y mis diwethaf ym mhabell Torn Gwent yn Eisteddfod yr Urdd Bro Isiwyn, a bydd y daith yn gorffen ddiwedd wythnos yma gyda dau berfformiad fin nos er mwyn i'r cyhoedd gael profi gwaith sydd wedi ei lunio ar gyfer ysgolion yn y lie cyntaf.
Mae Theatr lolo a Theatr Gwent yn mynd a theatr fyw i ysgolion a chynulleidfaoedd cymuned led-led y de-ddwyrain.
Mae Gwrthryfel yn edrych ar y berthynas rhwng mudiad cyfrinachol Y Scotch Cattle a Gwrthryfel y Siartiaid yng Nghasnewydd yn 1839.
Cododd miloedd o weithwyr Sir Fynwy yn 1839 i ymladd dros siarter y Werin er mwyn sicrhau pleidlais i bob dyn. Nid protest heddychlon oedd hon, ond gwrthryfel yn erbyn y meistri, yr ucheiwyr a'r frenhines.
Awgrymir bod y Scotch Cattle wedi cipio'r ymgyrch dros Siarter y BobI er mwyn creu awyrgylch chwyidroadol yn Sir Fynwy cyn ymosod ar yr Awdurdodau a chreu gweriniaeth yng Ngwent.
Dyfeiswyd Gwrthryfel gan y Cwmniau i bortreadu y stori unigryw hon mewn geiriau a chaneuon.
Bydd y perfformiadau cyhoeddus yn neuadd Llanofer, Treganna Caerdydd heno am saith yr hwyr a nos lau yn Ysgol Bontfaen, Bro Morgannwg.

3D
South Wales Echo 22 October 1997 - LESSONS FOUND IN PLAY TOUR

THREE pupils fed up with lessons are stranded on an island with their teacher in Theatr Iolo's latest play.
By the time the tide goes out, each of them have had to rethink their attitudes towards school.
The play is about under-achievement and it is hoped that teenagers in schools across Cardiff will take it seriously.
The theatre in education project is touring the county as part of the Cardiff Achievement Project set up by Cardiff County Council.
The aim is to convince teenagers beginning their GCSE courses that whatever has happened in the past, it is not too late to start afresh and do well.
Actor Steffan Ellis, who plays teacher Mr Roberts, said the play and the workshop which follows have gone down well with pupils.
"We talked to teachers and pupils about under-achievement before we produced the play and I think they can identify with the characters," he said.
Tom Davies, Cardiff's education director, said: "The play is part of our campaign to convince young people that working hard will pay off in the long run.
"We have organised similar plays on bullying and racism which have been well received in schools."
The characters in the latest production are Howard, who realises he can fulfil his ambition to work with animals if he believes in himself; Michelle the truant, who decides to return to school to achieve her ambition of going to college, and Carl, who is determined to become an artist, despite his father's opposition.

MARGARET O'REILLY

^©Margaret O'Reilly

3D
Making Waves November 1997 - THEATR IOLO GOES BACK TO SCHOOL

UNDER Achievement may not sound like the most dramatic of themes for a piece of theatre, but Theatr lolo has created a play especially for teenagers who basically don't like school.
During October and November they are touring Secondary Schools in Cardiff and the vale with their new production, '3D', which stands for Disaffected, Disappointed and Disappeared, which is what happens to youngsters, some of whom may have considerable talent, but who become discouraged (yet another D!) with their apparent lack of success and leave the education system altogether.
Theatr Iolo has built up a reputation for delivering accessible but challenging theatre, which is increasingly recognised as one of the most effective ways to raise awareness and encourage discussion of difficult issues.
One Headteacher described it as "...an excellent production that stimulated and entertained." A Comprehensive School teacher thought it was "A magnificent effort...and a thought-provoking programme."
The play has been part of the Theatre in Education Project for Secondary Schools tackling the problem of under-achievement.

The Party
Evening Leader 24 February 1997 - BOOZE ABUSE IN SPOTLIGHT

A PIONEERING play is being used to make school children in North Wales aware of the effects of alcohol abuse.
Theatr Iolo has devised a play called The Party, where four friends get together, and through drinking too much let out embarrassing secrets about themselves.
The play highlights the effects alcohol has on the family and society today and the part it might play in growing up.
A spokesman for Theatr Iolo said: "The aim of the play is to reduce alcohol misuse through raising awareness about sensible drinking and the effects of alcohol. It is recognised that using drama can help children focus on the problem of alcohol misuse and other lifestyle issues which may affect them as they grow up."

Evaluation

The programme, which is commissioned by Alcohol Concern Wales, was presented to 12-13 year-olds, and many teachers wanted the theatre group to come back every year with the play to help address this difficult issue.
Alcohol Concern carried out its own evaluation of the play and was so pleased with its success that it secured funding from Comic Relief and local health promotions units and asked Theatr lolo to tour right across Wales with the play.
The play is not open to the public but will be touring schools and community venues.

CATHERINE SPENCER

^©Catherine Spencer

1996

Box of Fear
Western Mail 19 June 96 - RACIAL MESSAGE ADMIRABLE IN INTENT IF SOMEWHAT THIN

YOU could think the only problems of racism in Wales were about Welsh Nationalism and English imperialism, relatively safe areas of dispute, if you didn't happen to notice that what used to be called colour prejudice (a polite euphemism) was on the march and involved actual physical harm to people.
Racial attacks in Wales have increased by 325 percent and the three Glamorgans (as they were) had more incidents than anywhere in Britain outside London and Manchester.
Yet where was all this conflict on the stage? The search for the Celtic soul and Welsh identity had no time for such social reality - racism was invisible in theatre and still is, broadly speaking - there has, as far as I am aware, been no play produced that has tackled the real racism in Wales, or indeed the links between nationalism and the National Front, but Theatr Iolo's latest piece does tackle racial harassment head on.
Commissioned by Cardiff County Council as part of its anti-racist policies, Box of Fear is a simple story of a young boy of Indian parentage born in Manchester who has to put up with "Paki filth" abuse in a climate where adult racism is seen within a context of trade union protectionism and job threats. The boy's friendship with a white classmate offers some kind of hope.
The play, while admirable in intent is thin and its main purpose, I guess, is to stimulate discussion afterwards.
Here, maybe, it can be decided if the company has ducked the issue by not selling it firmly in Cardiff ("This is England", said the bigoted father at one point, in justification of white supremacy) or being tougher in approach.
Box of Fear is also part of Cadmad's Arts Festival.

DAVID ADAMS

^©David Adams

Box of Fear
InTouch June 96- THEATR IOLO TACKLE RACISM

Cardiff Councillors and Chairs of School Governing Bodies had the chance to share in the Theatre in Education experience at the launch of Theatr Iolo's "Box of Fear" at County Hall last month.
The production was commisioned by the Education Department to help tackle the controversial issue of racial harassment in our multi-cultural society. After playing to a large and appreciative audience at County Hall, "Box of Fear" toured secondary schools and community centres across the city. The County Council's support meant that performances were given free of charge, and backed up by a comprehensive resource pack for teachers
Chairs of Governors left the production reflecting on their own school's existing anti-racist and equal opportunities policies, and indeed on how well their Governing Body reflects the ethnic diversity of their local community and the City as a whole. This impressive production will have a lasting impact on everyone who saw it.

Box of Fear
Newslink June 96 - FOCUS ON RACE BY THEATR IOLO

"Box of Fear", a new production by Theatr Iolo, was launched at the Barry Memorial Hall before an invited audience of Councillors, school governors, teachers and children. Following the success of their play which explored the issue of bullying, their latest offering dealt with another controversial subject: racism.
The play unfolds through the growing friendship between two boys from very different cultural backgrounds. Shofiq is an English boy born of parents who came to Britain from Pakistan. His friend Peter is the son of English parents, and Peter's father is a dyed-in-the-wool racist. Through observing the racism to which Shofiq is subjected by children at school and society in general, the play moves towards a climax of violent confrontation. Aimed at raising awareness of the problems faced by children and their families living in a multi-racial community, "Box of Fear" encourages members of the community to take responsibility for working towards solutions.
With a strong cast containing an appropriate ethnic mix, "Box of Fear" also explored an extra dimension in addition to the actual performance of the play. In an exercise known as "hot seating", the actors and actresses stayed in role to answer questions from the audience about their attitudes and behaviour. Some very interesting questions arose: are English born children whose ancestors come from Ireland more "English" than those whose ancestors came from Pakistan? Is ancestry really so important anyway? What is this thing about tribal culture tied up with race? Why do racists claiming "superiority" behave in such a base and inferior way towards their fellow human beings?
The play went on to perform for all of the Vale of Glamorgan secondary schools where it attracted considerable interest and commentary. What continues to impress about Theatr Iolo is their willingness to tackle controversy and explore new areas. Their production of Macbeth showed how successfully they could perform some of the more traditional aspects of drama. "Box of Fear" demonstrated once again their ability to promote thoughtful discussion of their chosen subject.

Knights in the City
Newslink February 96 - TOP MARKS FOR EAGLESWELL

A boy lies sleeping in a darkened bedroom. The door of the wardrobe in the corner creaks slowly open. Creeping out uncertainly into the modern world, there emerge from the shadows two swordsmen from an ancient past. The boy wakes up. . . And so the story begins.
"Knights in the City", Theatr Iolo's exploration of one of the tales from the Mabinogion, was presented to children at Eagleswell School who watched enthralled as the story unfolded: The two knights have had their memories wiped clean and are condemned to wander through time until they learn the truth of their past. With the help of the boy they recall a Dark Age of myth and violence: of stolen bride's and vengeful kings; titanic giants and battlefields ringing with the cries of the dying and the call to arms.
This session was yet another example of the 'vibrant working environment' of Eagleswell Junior School that has been highly praised by a team of inspectors from OHMCI. In their report they spoke warmly of the way in which "Much has been done by the teaching and support staff and the governing body to create a positive and rewarding environment in which pupils actively participate in their own learning."
Chairman of Governors, Councillor Barry Doughty, expressed his delight at the excellent report submitted by the inspection team. "It shows not only the professionalism of the teaching staff but also the important part that non-teaching staff, volunteers, parents and invited visitors play in creating an exciting learning experience for children in a caring and supportive environment."
Headteacher Mrs Mavis Lewis, who was praised in the report for her strong leadership and active participation in all aspects of the school's life, expressed the pleasure of all of the staff at the positive comments about "a strong team spirit pervading" and the "many very good features" of the work taking place in the classrooms. "The inspectors were aware of the wide range of curriculum expertise within the school," she said. "and I am delighted that they came down so positively in our favour. They also commented that our Special Needs provision was of a very high calibre, and this shows that we provide a broad and balanced curriculum for children of all abilities."
The lively and animated faces of the children watching the visiting theatre company provided an excellent illustration of the truth of the inspection report.

1994

Carpet of Dreams
Evening Leader 1994 - "LORD MAYOR ROLLS OUT THE CARPET"

Cardiff's Civic residence the Mansion House was 'carpeted in dreams' when Lord Mayor Ricky Ormonde invited 27 young people from Splott to enjoy Hijinx and Theatr lolo's storytelling show last summer.
Following hot on the heels of their date at Cardiff Children's Festival and Ricky's reception for Theatre On Podol in the Lord Mayor's Parlour, Richard Berry and Iolo's Kevin Lewis and Marline Palmer enthralled the audience with their stories and songs as part of a storming summer tour of the "Carpet of Dreams".

1993

City of Dreams
South Wales Echo June 21 1993 - CHASING DREAMS

THEATRE comes out of the classroom and into the atmospheric setting of the old Norwegian Church in Cardiff's docklands this week.
Theatr Iolo, South Glamorgan's theatre-in-education company, usually perform in the halls and classrooms of local schools. Their work is devised to take in the needs of the national curriculum and the young young age of the majority of their audiences.
But for "City Of Dreams" they have chosen a subject to which most age groups wiil be receptive, a story shaped by topical news stories like the war in former Yugoslavia.
It is the story of a young girl whose life undergoes a dramatic change when the threat of war forces her and her family to flee their rural home and travel across sea to make a new life in a large city in a strange new country.

PENNY SIMPSON

^©Penny Simpson

City of Dreams/TIE in General
Western Mail June 29 1993 - THEATRE IN EDUCATION STARVED OF FUNDING

THEATRE-IN-EDUCATION in Wales, praised as Europe's finest, is being starved of Government cash.
Wales is unique in Britain in having theatre-in-education companies in all eight counties, established in the 1970s and regarded as a model system.
The excitement of bilingual live performance has come to 40,000 children via 1,500 performances a year, thanks to the partnership between the Welsh Arts Council, regional arts associations and local authorities.
The shows have been provided free and are a versatile aid to teaching. For children in rural or deprived areas it may be their only glimpse of theatre.
But Government-induced funding cuts threaten its future. Theatre-in-Education (TIE) companies have lost £1m in public funding across Britain this year, and two Welsh TIE companies may shut. At best they will produce a reduced and inferior service.
Equity, the actors' union, has launched a campaign In Wales calling on concerned parents to write to Welsh Secretary John Redwood to restore lost funding.
In South Glamorgan, Theatr Iolo lost £49,365 in core funding this spring when the county council was forced to slash £5m from its education budget, prompted by central Government spending restrictions.
Theatr Iolo, which has toured five shows a year to schools since 1987, now faces the prospect of charging schools for some shows previously offered free.
In Mid Glamorgan, Spectacle Theatre lost half its income when the county council slashed £63,700 in county council grants.
The 14-year-old company is preparing its latest production, The Shakespeare Factory, a play which introduces the Bard's plots to secondary school students, reinforcing the national curriculum.
For the first time it will charge schools £350 for each day of performance and workshops. Cash-strapped schools faced with tough choices may decide they cannot afford the service.
"Schools have been very interested in the show, but only four schools out of 20 have confirmed a booking," says Dave Lynn of Spectacle.
More Welsh companies could be hit next year. Theatre West Glamorgan fears its TIE funding will be cut.
A report by HM Inspectors of Schools praises Welsh theatre-in-education for making a "significant contribution to the educational and cultural experience of many children."
Mr Cerri Morse, head teacher at Penrhys Junior School in Tylorstown in the Rhondda, is among many teachers who value the service. Many of his pupils' families rely on income support and could not afford trips to the theatre.
"We rely heavily on Spectacle Theatre to introduce our children to the performing arts," he says.
Sir Anthony Hopkins has joined Equity's TIE campaign.
Actress Emma Thompson says, "This is just a further cutting away of our commitment to the arts in this country, and from the people who need them most."

NICOLE SOCHOR

^©Nicole Sochor

Bag Dancing
Wales on Sunday 14 Nov 1993 - BUILDING BRIDGES IN PLAYTIME

THEATR IOLO is doing its bit to support the European Year of Older People and Solidarity Between Generations with the play Bag Dancing.
Written by Mike Kenny, Bag Dancing explores the touching relationship between Imelda, a bag lady. and Neville, a caretaker.
Both are advanced in years and they develop a warm friendship. Through their conversations we learn about their lives and experiences, their personal and social histories.
Their tales are both humorous and poignant, challenging many preconceptions about old age.
The play has been touring schools in South Glamorgan.
"It's quite strong stuff," says Gillian Dale, Theatr Iolo administrator. "It's aimed at the oldest pupils in Junior School. The play challenges stereotyped images of older people and their relationship with the young."
The Theatre Company has also worked closely with Age Concern Wales to encourge participation and communication between older and younger audiences. Gillian says that this play and others performed in the past have been immensely popular with pupils and teachers alike.
However, a cloud hangs over the future of Theatr Iolo's lack of funding.
In April it lost 40 per cent of its budget through the loss of financial support from South Glamorgan Education Authority after spending cuts imposed on local authorities by the government.
"Theatre in Education shows are sometimes the only experience of theatre that a child will have," says Gillian.
"If this servcie is curtailed it is the children of poorer families who will suffer. The theatre will become an elitist activity. Already we are passing on some of the costs to schools, some of whom will then have to choose between a performance by Theatre Iolo or a set of new books. It is inevitable that books and other necessities will come first. Our argument is that the arts are a necessity not an extra."
Ironically members of Theatr Iolo have been to Austria giving lectures on how to set up similar operations.

GARETH LEWISHAM

^©Gareth Lewisham

1987

The Outsider
Western Mail 1987 - ACTORS LINK UP WITH MUSEUM

THE HISTORICAL buildings of the Welsh Folk Museum took on the role of a theatrical set yesterday as a new drama company turned the clock back 300 years for school pupils.
The children, aged 11 and 12, followed actors from Theatr lolo Morganwg around the grounds at St Fagan's as they acted out a play based on Welsh community life in Puritan times.
The acting troupe found their stage in five of the museum's buildings, including the chapel and the blacksmith's as they acted out a play called The Outsider, The company brought tales of witchcraft, superstition, farming and marriage to life in a bid to educate children in the ways of 17th century Wales.
Company administrator Dr Christine Gillies said, "The purpose is to give schoolchildren a fresh insight into the past, showing them the differences and similarities between life then and now.
"The principle behind the link-up with the folk museum is that we both deal with education in a non-institutional sense."
She added, "It is a project that actually takes the children around about five of the buildings, giving them a picture of 17th century community life. They see how religion, superstition, and custom each play a part. It is intended to give them an insight into the way people behave to one another, and has a degree of contemporary relevance."
The children play a part in some scenes, acting as guests in the wedding feast, for example.
Dr Gillies added, "When the drama stops, the actors stay in role and are accountable to the children for the way they behave. The idea is to show that nothing is clear-cut, nothing is black and white."
Mr Walter Jones, the museum's education officer, said, "It is a very exciting project and we arc delighted to play a part."
Mr Jones added, "It can bring out various things from an education side. It really brings the place to life, and is quite an attraction for visitors to the museum."
The company, named after the Welsh poet of the same name, began life earlier this year through funding from South Glamorgan County Council and the South East Wales Arts Association, among others. Theatr Iolo Morganwg will be making 32 performances of The Outsider until December 4.

DAVID CORNOCK

^©David Cornock