stage
THE BOY WITH TWO HEARTS Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay Sat 2-Sat 23 Oct
The Wales Millennium Centre has collaborated with Hamed Amiri and his family to bring their extraordinary story, The Boy With Two Hearts, to the stage, and it’s one which could inspire viewers and give insight into one family’s struggle for freedom and safety.
Driven out of Afghanistan due to Hamed’s mother speaking out against a fundamentalist leader, the family embark on an arduous and dangerous journey across Europe, passing through vast and daunting countries as big as Russia – the United Kingdom being their targeted oasis. The family’s crisis is exacerbated by their eldest son’s life- threatening heart condition; as such, the story has been described as a ‘love letter’ to the NHS, which provided the medical care that the family needed.
The Boy With Two Hearts promises to mesmerise and deeply touch all those who witness it. A story of bravery, trial and heroism, the play was developed from the book written by Amiri, which reviews conclude to be a highly emotive read, so we expect the stage production to be similarly moving.
The Boy With Two Hearts - Shamail Ali
The real-life characters of the story, meanwhile, have been described as ‘saintly.’ Let’s not forget that the catalyst for their treacherous journey was the bravery and integrity of Hamed’s mother in
standing up for equality and women’s rights in Herat.
The production comes at an uncanny time given the instability of current affairs in Afghanistan, offering viewers an authentic look into the experiences of asylum seekers leaving the country. This heartbreaking adaptation will hopefully broaden and shift the perspective of immigration in the United Kingdom and worldwide – imparting a better understanding of why refugees flee their homelands by elaborating on this family’s background and the strength of character and determination that is required to set out on such a journey.
The production’s creative team, assembled by Wales Millennium Centre, is led by Amit Sharma with a cast made up of Afghan performers Shamail Ali (Hessam), Farshid Rokey (Hamed) and Ahmad Sakhi (Hussein), who play the Amiri brothers, as well as the award-winning Afghan vocalist and composer, Elaha Soroor. They are joined by Dana Haqjoo and Géhane Strehler.
Tickets: £15.
029 2063 6464 /
wmc.org.uk YASMIN GRANT
COMPANY OF SIRENS:
HITCHCOCK REDUX Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff Tue 12-Sat 16 Oct
Two plays, linked by more than just the tragedies at the heart of their narratives, are being presented by Company Of Sirens in a unique double bill that draws on the power of film and memory to create a new and complex work.
Twelve Cabins Twelve Vacancies and Souvenirs Of A Killing are two plays by Chris Durnall that were influenced hugely by the films of Alfred Hitchcock. But the influence isn’t the usual artistic borrowing of theme or style. During his father’s fatal illness, Durnall was absorbed by the showing of Psycho on terrestrial TV. The memory of that time is now coloured by Hitchock’s black and white masterpiece, and so too is Twelve Cabins Twelve Vacancies. The tragic events that stimulated Souvenirs Of A Killing – the abduction and death of a friend – will, for Dunrall, forever be linked with viewing Vertigo at the local cinema.
The power of art to pervade our memory and tie it to events in our real life is strong and quite beyond our control. In this two- hander, Durnall and Angharad Matthews draw back the curtain of recollection and teeter at the fine edge of reality to question how we remember.
Tickets: £15.
029 2031 1050 /
chapter.org JOHN-PAUL DAVIES
BRIDGET CHRISTIE Aberystwyth Arts Centre Mon 1 Oct
Bridget Christie’s late 2021 tour,
many tours currently taking place, was originally supposed to happen last year. While it may be stretching a point to call this limbo period beneficial for the Gloucestershire-born comedian, during it she has turned 50, meaning she can be described as that age in the context of her show, Who Am I?: a menopausal march through myriad ailments and complaints brought on by the passage of time. Would audiences have accepted this from a mere 49-year-old? We will never know.
Lasting the thick end of three months and finishing shortly before Christmas, Christie’s itinerary is not for the faint- hearted, or people unwilling to drive from, say, Aberystwyth to Leicester during the day. Neither is it her first rodeo, of course, Who Am I? being her 13th fully realised standup show. Some of those have also toured the UK, others have been more residential – A Bic For Her, from 2013 and probably Christie’s best-known material, first found life as the proverbial Edinburgh smash. Earlier this year she presented a four-part Radio 4 series, Mortal, consisting of gnomic musings on existence and beyond recorded at home as, seemingly, voice memos. Its comedic mix of insularity and insight will hopefully be reflected in this set.
Tickets: £18.50.
aberystwythartscentre.co.uk NOEL GARDNER
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BLAIR ST. CLAIR Glee Club, Cardiff Bay Mon 1 Nov
Rescheduled from March 2020, two- time Drag Race contestant Blair St. Clair returns to the UK in November – stopping off for one night in Wales at Cardiff’s Glee Club. After finding success on the American pageant scene, the baby- faced queen became the first to represent Indiana on the reality competition show, where she earned a sweet and naive reputation – memorable on Season 10 of Drag Race for her retro frills and love of Broadway, despite being allegedly named after Gossip Girl’s self-described “crazy bitch,” Blair Waldorf.
Fighting her inner demons on her original season (and topping the dance album charts when iTunes was still a thing) set the stage for her to return – a new woman – on All Stars 5, where, despite no challenge wins, she made it to the final four, showcasing a new ‘mature’ wardrobe and tricks of the wig tech trade.
Hosted by Scottish drag artist Ru Jazzle and supported by Slay! queens, Blair’s appearance will include the usual VIP meet and greet, and with no social distancing at the venue, any photos you take with her may be moderately less awkward without a two metre gap. (Usual health and safety precautions still apply, however.)
Tickets: £20/£35 VIP. 0871 4720400 /
glee.co.uk HANNAH COLLINS
ANFAMOL Various venues across Wales Wed 29 Sept-Fri 22 Oct
Anfamol writer Rhiannon Boyle has had a bountiful 2021 so far. A play, Safe From Harm, broadcast by Radio 4 this January; Kill Me Now, a comedy written with theatre company Dirty Protest, featured in the livestreamed Edinburgh Fringe; and latest play Anfamol visiting eight Welsh locations (Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardigan, Llanelli, Swansea, Rhosllanerchrugog and Caernarfon) over three weeks.
It’s a tale of motherhood and pandemics, seen through the lens of Ani, the mother in question. Affluent yet gloomy, with her singledom and extended family issues contributing to this, she chooses pregnancy via sperm donor. Shortly after giving birth, Wales goes into lockdown and it’s just her and the baby, at home. A life change, but not the type Ani was hoping for.
With its protagonist played by Bethan Ellis Owen, best known from Pobl Y Cwm, Anfamol is a Welsh-language production (a first for Boyle) – though producers Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru’s language access app Sibrwd is available for real-time English translations.
Tickets: £10-£15.
theatr.cymru/portfolio/anfamol NOEL GARDNER
Kirsten McTernan
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