Both intimate and breathtaking in its scope, this daring exploration of loss will leave you breathless.Summary
Rating
Excellent
Finding a way to make one of the most harrowing disasters in the UK’s history work as a counterpoint to a love story is a true feat of daring. Writing this as your first play and playing the title role yourself raises the stakes to dizzying heights. And staging such a huge idea in such a small space is surely setting yourself up to fail. Apparently not though. Mr Jones – An Aberfan Story is a remarkable piece of theatre that is at once both intimate and breathtaking in its scope.
Writer Liam Holmes (who also plays the title role of Mr Jones) originates from a town not far from Aberfan, where, in 1966, 144 people including 116 young children died when a colliery spoil tip collapsed and engulfed a primary school and surrounding houses. With astonishing empathy, he has managed to capture the depth of loss of an entire generation that is still felt almost sixty years later.
Holmes centres his play on a simple love story that unfolds between two childhood friends. The narrative shifts subtly back and forth in time, including some conversations with an unseen figure. The effect is simple and pulls you in from the outset. Holmes displays phenomenal energy throughout, never once missing a step in his role as he negotiates the emotional rollercoaster that the drama represents.
Similarly, Rhiannydd Andrews as the object of his affections, Angharad Price, gives a sterling and sensitive performance. Of particular note are the two silent sequences in act two in which the delicate interplay between the two characters is orchestrated perfectly. I’m a firm believer that theatre works best when you do more with less and this play is a perfect example of this.
Another effective touch is the use of an immersive experience. Whilst, as in introvert, I found walking into a pre-show bar full of characters from a Welsh rugby club in full drunken sing-a-long mode a bit intimidating, once the play started I totally understood why director Michael Neri employs this tool, setting the drama within a wider context without overwhelming the depth of feeling that comes from having the action honed in on the two central characters like a well-focused macro lens.
The only downside to this intimacy occurred because a very loud fan or some kind of air conditioning in the ceiling was blasting throughout the production. This may have had to be on because the director felt it necessary to have dry ice pumping out throughout the entire play, or it may just be how the theatre was designed, but it had the unfortunate effect of making it incredibly hard to hear certain (important) lines. Indeed, the dry ice caused one audience member to leave in each act due to a coughing fit. It’s astonishing that a creative team can pull off something so amazing and yet not see the effect that this simple technical oversight has on the overall presentation of their work. Sadly, there will be only one more performance before this closes, so I hope they have the chance to put this right before their last night.
However, I do feel that as more and more people see this production, word will spread and I foresee it working extremely well on a larger stage. This work, and the incredible performances that propel it, deserve a much, much wider audience, and Liam Holmes is certainly a name to watch.
Written by: Liam Holmes
Directed by: Michael Neri
Produced by: Liam Holmes and Thomas Moakes
Set design by: Alexane Puertolas
Sound design by: Liam Holmes
Lighting design by: Oscar Burr
Mr Jones – an Aberfan Story is playing at the Union Theatre until Saturday 1 March.
