stage


MT T Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay


Wed 20-Sat 23 Apr


Most people who grew up in close- knit south Wales communities will know a grandmother is an important part of family life. For kids that feel a bit different, nans are often the source of queer cultural touchstones, through their record collections or even their wardrobe.


Writer-performer and theatre creator Luke Hereford, a Royal Welsh College Of Music & Drama graduate who’s worked as a theatre director since 2016, has paid tribute to his own grandma with his autobiographical solo show and writing debut, Grandmother’s Closet (And What I Found There).


Set to feature songs by female icons from Kate Bush to Judy Garland, Madonna to Tori Amos and Björk, it promises to be a loving ode to one Joan Hereford – Luke’s “ultimate enabler”, who helped him love his own queer identity. As well as celebrating those surprising


cheerleaders in a queer person’s life, Grandmother’s Closet is also about memories, and while Joan is still with us, nobody’s memories remain crystal clear, no matter how young we are.


Growing up queer in 1990s Caldicot likely wasn’t a sea of rainbow ags and LGBT representation, making Joan’s house – a huge feature in the play – sound like a haven of glamour and dress-up.


Grandmother’s Closet promises to be a moving and uplifting piece; take your own nan along to a performance if you’re lucky enough to still have them around. (Accordingly, and thoughtfully, Wales Millennium Centre are running a dementia-friendly matinee on Sat  pr.


Tickets: . Info: wmc.org.uk


CHRIS WILLIAMS


HOW TO BE WELL IN A


WORLD THAT IS SICK? Aberystwyth Arts Centre Wed 27-Fri 29 Apr


Jackdaw Theatre co-founder Bethan ear first performed a work-in- progress version of this show in public at 2019’s Machynlleth Comedy Festival, and has been developing it into its present form since then. How To Be Well In A World That Is Sick? comes with a laundry list of content warnings: suffice to say that it is not what many would define as comedy, although the multi-disciplined Dear does note the inuence of clowning movement in her stage presence.


She describes herself as a storyteller foremost, and HTBWIAWTIS? is billed as unvarnishedly autobiographical, with references to and depictions of sexual violence, trauma and fraying mental health. That these are topics with painfully wide resonance, and that everyone’s experiences in such matters are unique to themselves, are statements of equal truth, and this is also a show about the corrosive effects of capitalism, patriarchy and Western society. Inclusion of nude scenes and the extreme nature of some content mean this is for ages 18 and older.


Tickets: £8-£12. Info: aberystwythartscentre. co.uk NOEL GARDNER


36


MARY ROSE Torch Theatre, Milford Haven Sat 30 Apr


J. M. Barrie’s play Mary Rose, which opened in 1920, has been overlooked for much of the century hence, either despite or because of the overwhelming impact of his definitive work, Peter Pan. The two differ in important ways – Mary Rose isn’t really one for a family outing – but also have common thematic ground, both essentially meditations on the loss of youth and how it might be avoided.


Mary Rose herself is introduced as a tween who vanishes while holidaying in Scotland’s extremities, returning a month later apparently unbothered by the event. Later on, history repeats itself, Mary this time disappearing for over 20 years. Her second comeback is more sinister than the first: it seems she hasn’t aged a day.


Spending several decades in the wilderness itself before being revived in the 2010s, Mary Rose is produced by Worthing’s Conn Artists


combines Barrie’s original vision with some new twists on the set design and music fronts.


Theatre Company and


Tickets: £20/£18. Info: torchtheatre.co.uk NOEL GARDNER


THE WONDERFUL


WIZARD OF OZ New Theatre, Cardiff Wed 20-Sat 23 Apr


We’re confident that the allotted space for this preview is not best used by reiterating the premise of this musical, now the best part of a century old and probably performed somewhere in the world every day of every year. So let’s assume that you have a working knowledge of The (Wonderful) Wizard Of Oz, with all its Dorothies and witchy dingdongs and tin men and not being in Kansas, and give a big hand to the company responsible, Cardiff’s Orbit Theatre.


Orbit have been putting on musicals for over 50 years – much-loved ones, invariably, but often being performed in the city for the first time – and can rightfully call itself Cardiff’s leading amateur theatre group. This might though give a misleading impression, as it very much operates by pro standards as well as employing many people on the production side. Having initially booked The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz into this venue for June 2020, then, Orbit have toughed out the last 24 months to make their well- deserved comeback.


Tickets: . Info: newtheatrecardiff.co.uk


NOEL GARDNER


NOFIT STATE: SABOTAGE


Pembrokeshire County Showground Fri 8-Sat 23 Apr


NoFit State return to west Wales this month with Sabotage, an innovative new big


Rebellious and gritty with poignant and thought-provoking elements, it opens as part of a wider exploration of NoFit State’s place theatrical landscape.


top circus spectacular. in the


Inuenced by the last two years of events and conversations, and the company’s subsequent reections on their own position, the show explores themes of belonging and boundaries. NoFit’s energy and showmanship are channelled into darker, more theatrical setting that seeks to challenge the status quo and start new dialogues through the timeless language of circus.


t times reective and emotive, at time raucous and joyous – in true NoFit State fashion, Sabotage always promises to be captivating. Created for adults but suitable for all ages, it’s resident in the big top for a fortnight in April, but if you can’t catch it there, it’ll be coming to Bangor, Merthyr, Cardiff and parts of England later in the year.


Tickets:  Info: ofitstate.or HARI BERROW


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