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Articles
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Articles |
Welsh Theatre - Mold to CardiffThe two main centres of Welsh theatre are Mold - because it is the home of Clwyd Theatr Cymru - and Cardiff, the Welsh capital. North Wales Clwyd Theatr Cymru is, in spite of its Welsh name, little different from major producing theatres anywhere else in the United Kingdom. It presents a mixture of its own productions (September to March) and visiting companies during the rest of the year. Its own productions are a blend of modern and classic plays. Built in 1976, it has two houses: the Anthony Hopkins Theatre seats 580, whilst the Emlyn Williams has space for 200. In the recent - and discredited - Welsh Arts Council plan for the development of theatre in Wales, CTC was designated the National Theatre of the English Language, a title which it has held, de facto if not de iure, since it opened. CTC is the only producing theatre in North Wales: Theatr Gwynedd in Bangor does describe itself as an "arts centre and producing theatre", but, in fact, production is only a small part of its activities. The large (1500 seats) North Wales Theatre (Theatr Gogledd Cymru) in Llandudno is a receiving house, whilst Theatr Fach on Anglesey, which also describes itself as a producing theatre, caters mainly for amateurs and youth theatre and only seats 110. Cardiff Unlike London and Edinburgh, the other capitals of mainland Britain, Cardiff cannot boast a large number of theatres. In fact, there are really only two major theatres in the city: the Sherman and the New. The latter is a receiving house which seats 1145, whilst the Sherman (two houses: main house 468 seats, studio 163 max.) mixes its own productions with work by visiting companies. Its concentration is on the educational side, running eleven youth theatres and producing Young People's Theatre of a high quality, but it is also a venue for experimental work. There are other performance venues in the city, of course: the famous St David's Hall, home of the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, is a leading international concert hall; the Cardiff International Arena (seating 5500) is a multi-purpose venue which, like all others of its type, is much more suited to music, pop concerts and spectacular events than to drama, whilst the Bute Theatre is very small - 106 - and, being part of the Welsh College of Music and Drama, is only available for non-college performances on a hire basis out of term time. The other Cardiff venue famed for its theatre is the Chapter Arts Centre. Small (three auditoria: 120, 40 and 60 seats), it has a reputation for contemporary performing arts in general and is willing, on occasion, to co-produce work. Elsewhere in Wales Surprisingly Wales' second city, Swansea, does not have a full-time producing theatre. The 1019-seater Grand is a big receiving house, the Penyrheol Theatre is primarily an educational venue, presenting both amateur and professional companies, although the council's priority is professional, and the Dylan Thomas Theatre (156 seats) is an amateur house. The 330-seater Taliesin Arts Centre belongs to the University of Wales and serves both the university and the local community. Building-based production companies, in fact, are rare in Wales. There is really only one more: the Torch at Milford Haven (mid-Wales). This is a three/four weekly rep, seating 297. It does have a good reputation, and completes a trio of producing theatres, one in each part of Wales: north, mid and south. Occasionally a theatre in a seaside tourist area - like the Grand Pavilion in Porthcawl - will put on a summer season. There are, of course, a number of receiving houses scattered throughout Wales, and then there are those which are more than willing to bring in companies which try to expand theatre's boundaries. Aberystwyth Arts Centre's Theatr y Werin, for instance, tries to show as wide a range of the best in the performing arts as possible. Finally, two curiosities: there are very few private theatres (i.e. theatres owned by an individual family) left in the UK, but Wales has two. The most well-known is the Adeline Patti Theatre in Abercrave, Powys, which seats 150. It was built in 1891 at Craig y Nos Castle and was once owned by Adeline Patti, the singer, and used for performances by herself and her friends. It is a Grade 1 listed building. The other - not at all well-known: in fact, I only know about it because a company I was associated with in the seventies played there - is Clovers, an outdoor theatre on a clifftop in Tenby. It has to be said, however, that, although Wales does not compare to England or Scotland in the extent of the provision of building-based theatre, but it does support a wide range of small companies, operating in English, Welsh and bilingually, including a number which concentrate on theatre in education. They are the subject of our next page. NEXT>> Companies Articles Indices: |
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