roundup
WHAT’S ON OUR RADAR THIS MONTH. Q&A
BOOK NOW
Mike Pearson The director talks about National Theatre Wales’ hotly anticipated The Persians
Mike Pearson is the director of The Persians, the sixth of National Theatre Wales’s productions. It’s based on the original text by Aeschylus and has been rewritten by Kaite O’Reilly. Pearson will bring it to life in the surreal setting of a live firing range in the Brecon Beacons that’s used as an urban warfare training ground by the military and is scattered with buildings and tanks.
What’s The Persians about? Well, it’s about Hubris – that’s something we don’t feel so much these days. And it’s about youthful adventure which goes very wrong. So it’s about the fall of empire. It’s about a distant war that’s lost. And it’s about how people deal with certain kinds of loss.
The setting is unique. What can the audience expect to see as we’re lead through the military village?
I think the first thing I want the audience to have is the same experi- ence we all had the first time we went there, and the thing is it’s a place of rehearsal for warfare, and so it’s very theatrical in its nature. I think that we’ve tried to avoid really over-theatricalising it again. So the audience meets on a bridge, then we take them on coaches across the ranges to the particular site, then they get an opportunity to walk through the site prior to the commencement of the perfor- mance. And the site is so unusual that I hope that it will have a really unsettling effect on the audience.
Lots of people I’ve spoken to are predicting this to be the high- light of NTW’s calendar. Do you think it will be? No pressure then! I just think every production in the first year is unique and is trying to do something different, and so I can’t really compare it. I think each one of the productions has been accessible in a different kind of way. I think what’s great for me, really, is to be able to work with a style of performance that we have a certain tradi- tion of in Wales, but within this context of a national theatre. BEN BRYANT
Cilieni Village, Brecon Beacons, Wed 11-Sat 21 Aug. Tickets: from £10. Info: 01874 611622 /
www.theatrbrycheiniog.com
BUZZ 06 “It’s about
how people deal with
certain kinds of loss”
Welcome To Wales Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Wed 29 Sept Tickets: £40/£25 Info: 0844 847 1530 /
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
John Bishop
St David’s Hall, Cardiff Fri 26 Nov Tickets: £20
Info: 029 2087 8444 /
www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk Scissor Sisters
Cardiff International Arena Mon 6 Dec Tickets: £30
Info: 0844 847 1530 /
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Aled Jones
St David’s Hall, Cardiff Fri 10 Dec
Tickets: £24.50 Info: 029 2087 8444 /
www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk
Status Quo Fri 10 Dec
Cardiff International Arena Tickets: £34.50 Info: 0844 847 1530 /
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Bullet For My Valentine Sat 11 Dec
Cardiff International Arena Tickets: £22.50/£20 Info: 0844 847 1530 /
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Katie Melua Sun 12 Dec
Cardiff International Arena Tickets: £32.50 Info: 0844 847 1530 /
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68