Emily Garside Hela by Mari Izzard rounds off The Violence Series at The Other Room. A series of three plays, interconnected thematically and all existing in the same ‘world’. A gripping thriller of a piece, Hela is a ‘locked room drama’ in which the bigger picture issues we saw in […]
Jon Gower A loyal try scorer for Bridgend, grounding the ball almost 300 times in his playing career for the club, this autobiography of Welsh rugby’s first black icon helps explain that ready gift. The natural speed quickly manifested in childhood, where he had to race his seven sisters to […]
Chris Paul For those uninitiated a quick explanation. Amanda Palmer, previously of the respectable punk duo Dresden Dolls, is an American singer-songwriter. She is almost as famous for being an independent artist as she is for her music. This is because she liberated herself from the pernicious clasp of […]
Yes, we all know that ghosts don’t exist, but it’s one thing to believe that and another not to walk slightly faster through the graveyard when you’re alone after dark… Halloween may have become a tacky American import, but it’s spooky foundations are believed to be in the pagan Celtic […]
Mark Rees Nothing quite encapsulates the spirit of Halloween like the flickering face of a finely-carved jack-o’-lantern. Much like the pumpkin into which it is sculpted, the glowing eyes and grinning grimace have been well and truly hacked into the holiday itself, thanks in large part to its association with […]
Nathan Abrams, Professor of Film at Bangor University The film Solomon & Gaenor celebrates its twentieth birthday this year. It is a rare creature – a Jewish film set in Wales. Two versions were shot – one in Welsh and one in English and thus Welsh, English, Hebrew and […]
Emily Garside In a push for theatres to (rightly) support new writing, we’re often in danger of overlooking the ‘classics’. And while there is a balance to be struck, the Sherman’s new production of Hedda Gabbler makes a good case for strong classical repertoire in a season. There is, […]
Jon Gower The latest phase of the Library of Wales project – which aims to represent and republish highlights of Wales’ literary heritage in English – has seen some fairly recent titles get a new airing. Rachel Trezise’s dark and troubled quasi-autobiographical novel ‘In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl’ […]
Ifan Morgan Jones Until recently Welsh literature had not had an awful lot to say about contemporary politics. Even overtly political novels such as John Osmond’s Ten Million Stars are Burning and Porth y Byddar has tended to look back at pre-devolution battles, both won and lost. Perhaps Wales’ authors […]
Emily Garside The second in ‘The Violence Series’ at The Other Room, after American Nightmare, is Tess Berry-Hart’s The Story. Directed by David Mercatali it is a cleverly constructive and engaging piece of theatre that balances storytelling and human engagement with a reflection on bigger issues. The Story focuses on […]
