Posts

Showing posts with the label Dan Parr

Featured Post

The Green, Green Grass of Home: Mr Jones An Aberfan Story - Finborough Theatre

Image
A life of hope and promise, interrupted, lies at the heart of Mr Jones: an Aberfan Story. The play follows two young people in Aberfan before and after the disaster that killed 144 people, including 116 children. It’s an emotional coming-of-age tale of intersecting lives, family, love, and the shock of tragedy. With two vivid performances and strong characterisations, you feel immersed in 1960s Welsh small-town life. It’s now running at the Finborough Theatre , after performances at the Edinburgh Festival and across Wales.  The Aberfan disaster is well known in the UK but perhaps less so elsewhere. The facts of the tragedy are confined to the programme notes rather than in the piece. On 21 October 1966, the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on a mountain above Aberfan engulfed a local school, killing many. The play avoids the causes and negligence, instead focusing on those working and building lives in the town.  Writer-performer Liam Holmes plays Stephen Jones, a...

Meanwhile somewhere in rural England: Weald @Finborough

Image
Weald, the new play by Daniel Foxsmith  currently playing at the Finborough Theatre , is a funny and   intriguing piece about rural life in England and the bond between men. The premise is that Jim arrives home after six years away in need of work at a livery yard. It is only temporary as he needs the work. Sam, the older man and father figure to him, reluctantly agrees. As they get back to work, it is as if they were picking up where they left off. But in the years since Jim left, both have changed. The harsh economic realities for both of them mean that things are going to be as they were before.