The last post on this blog talked about the amazing experience that, the team of ten of us, had in Nova Scotia.....and what a time it was. I, for one, didn't think that the excitement of Nova Scotia would be replicated quite so soon. Boy, was I wrong. Last Tango in Blackwood has been amazing and we are now Wales Champions, and will go on to the British Final in a few weeks time. A number of people have asked me, how it came about - choosing the play and the choices, in terms of production. Well, this is the story of Tango - so far......it goes on a bit...as does the author and director!! I would get a cup of tea and settle down to read this one!
We have competed in the Gwent Festival and been lucky enough to be Wales finalists on four consecutive occasions, prior to 2008. Again this year, we won the Gwent Festival - which is five years on the trot....something to be very proud of. We also made it through to the Wales final for the fifth consecutive year...again, something not to be sniffed at. The difference this year, was that we weren't doing a Vic Mills' play but something quite different. The choice of Last Tango in Little Grimley, came about due to my attendance at the Guild of Drama Adjudicators Conference in September last year. Here I listened to (and met) the playwright David Tristram (the writer of Last Tango), and heard others speak passionately about the most performed one act play in the UK......which I had heard of in passing, but had never seen. He was a very reserved man who spoke with much modesty about his work. After the conference, I resolved to read the play that so many people had raved about in Worcester. I promptly did my usual with such a resolution - nothing! As some of you know, we were going to do a Jim Sweeney play called Danny's Wake - a black comedy, which is a two hander. We were assured of the rights to perform by a third party, and that we were free to cut the required 20 minutes out of it - for competition purposes. In January, I heard that Jim Sweeney had retained the rights and that, whilst he might not oppose the cuts, he would have to approve them - which I quite understand....the trouble that I had, was time. I was about to complete the Panto and then move into casting and rehearsing the play....I had about two weeks left to make a decision - either go with the cuts to Danny's Wake and risk not being approved, and then not having a play at all to do.....or, drop that play in favour of another. What to do.....well, on reflection the first option seemed too risky - so I decided that we needed to do another play (s) - but what? I then recalled my resolution to read Last Tango....and called Teresa at the DAW offices in Cardiff for a copy. It arrived at BLT the next day and I read it within 20 minutes....and thought that it was very funny and that we should do it. However, there was something as a director, that bothered me. I couldn't put my finger on it, but knew that before casting and rehearsals, I would need to resolve this problem. More of that in a bit. I would also need to have another play alongside Tango - but what?? In my research I came across David Tristram's Website where I got more of an idea of what the man was about and also viewed a 10 minute preview of his latest work - Late Entry. This, I found to be hilarious, and a real challenge for me as a director. So, without reading it - I chose that play to run alongside Last Tango (NB...you make think that not reading a play is madness...and yes I would concur with this - however, it is not without precedent at BLT....the director of Neville's Island - that highly imaginative production, some years ago, had only read the 1st act when it was chosen - yes, okay that was me too).
So with the plays chosen, it was on to casting. A reading was held, just after the Panto, and was very well attended....and I had a bit of a job casting the plays - as the choice I had, especially amongst the ladies, made it very difficult. For Last Tango, I had made my mind up pretty quickly....Mr Rosser as Bernard, Mrs Price as Margaret, Ms Collins as Joyce and El Presidente as Gordon....in hindsight that was easy, though there were some difficult choices to make - especially amongst the chaps. Late Entry, I was able to cast Graham J. Evans as the adjudicator and, after another reading / audition, I gave the part of the actress to a BLT newcomer - Claire Williams. Rehearsals started and progressed nicely for both plays. But what of the problem that I had with Last Tango, I hear you cry?? Well, it hit me on my 2nd reading of the play ....there were a few flaws in writing - not in terms of dialogue, but with the flow of the piece. Those who have seen our production, will understand that the pace of the play is one of it's key components to success. It has to flow, in my opinion, from prior to a word being spoken to the last lighting cue.....and there was the crux of my problem...the stage directions were a barrier to this. There are four scenes in Last Tango and three scene changes.....it was here that I started the process of directing the play....not with any of the characters or the text, but with the staging. The staging, was the foundation of the entire piece. The idea of the cast moving the furniture came first, then that they should set the scene at the beginning followed, and perhaps the most important feature, the music, came last. Once I had these component parts sorted I knew that, with the cast and tech crew that I am blessed with, Last Tango could be a very funny play (the major hurdle that I then had was convincing my cast, that I wasn't bonkers).
Alongside all of these thought processes, I was directing Late Entry, which was an absolute joy. The two actors I had were very different, in terms of experience, but they worked so well together. Even though I have had many plaudits this year, in terms of Sheep and Tango, one of my proudest moments was seeing a newcomer to our stage (and a newcomer to 'straight' theatre') - Claire Williams, performing the huge role of the actress, with such passion and conviction. To see her grow through the rehearsal process as an actress was fantastic, and as much as Tango has achieved this year, I am very proud of Graham and Claire and what they did with Late Entry.
The Gwent Festival happened in March @ BLT, with David Hedley Williams adjudicating. This was the second festival of the Wales competition - there were 6 others. Having been involved as the host venue for a number of years, it was nice to be in the thick of it by organising the festival with Richard Williams of the Congress and Lynn Phillips of the Dolman. We managed to have a great 3 night festival, which was reasonably attended, and were lucky to have Josie D'Arby and Ken Caswell there on the Saturday night for the awards. Both plays performed very well - with Late Entry on the Thursday and Last Tango in Blackwood closing the festival on Saturday. As an aside, David Tristram allows all groups to change the name and certain lines within the play - to localize it....thus the change from Little Grimley to Blackwood. The adjudication for Late Entry was very good, and David H-W came up with some useful suggestions - which were later incorporated into the play run in April. The performance of Last Tango that Saturday and the adjudication that followed it was outstanding. The way in which the cast attacked the whole thing,was just as I had wanted it....brilliant. The audience loved it - with some people nearly apoplectic in the audience, with laughter. David H-W concluded that he had seen this play many times before, and had even adjudicated one the week before at another festival. I won't say too much on what was said, for modesty purposes, and also that it might spoil people's enjoyment of future performances.....lets just say that it was excellent, and that I (and the rest of the team) were very pleased.
The results of the Gwent were then announced and, we had won again! As I mentioned earlier, this was the 5th year on the trot and I was very proud to pick up Best Director again. Late Entry wasn't among the prize winners - which I thought was a real shame, due to the enormous amount of work that Claire and Graham J. had put in. It was a great production, of which I am enormously proud.
As is the case with this competition, you have no idea who you are up against in other areas, and even though you had won your own festival, if you would progress to the Wales Final. Well, I found out by sending a text message at 630am Nova Scotia time to Gary Thomas at DAW offices in Cardiff - who then rang me back!! That 5 minute call cost me a small fortune! Anyway, it was confirmed that we had got through to the Wales Final - which I was also helping to organise, as it was to be held at the Blackwood Miners Institute on June 6th and 7th. Rehearsals for Tango were difficult - as we had already started Frost and that one member of the cast and myself were in Canada. I am grateful to Jerry Grummitt for helping out whilst I was away. The cast prepared themselves in the run up to the Wales Final and I worked on some additional detail, that I thought about during the original performances. I also decided that the ending was weak - so we worked on a change to that.
The day of the performance, we had our tech hour - which went well, apart from the lighting board failing for 10 minutes! Yve had work committments - so Peta stood in, so that we could run the techy bits of the show.....we decided to keep the action to exactly the same dimensions as in BLT...a wise move, that comes from some learning at previous finals and whilst taking Sheep to Canada. We were last to perform on the Friday night....the cast were nervous and had a 'line rehearsal' in the dressing room just before going on. After they had completed this, I was able to tell them that Rose had won best supporting actor, for Brassed Off and in Improbable Fiction. So they went on stage with some good news and a smile on their faces. The performance was amazing, as they worked so well together as a team. Lines were faultless and the pace / attack was just brilliant. The audience were with them from the start and gave them all a huge ovation at the end. I was, and am, so proud of them - including Nye - who came up with such a simple but effective lighting design.
At a Wales Final you are up against the top 6 productions from all over the Principality - so its tough. I was also acutely aware that the play I had chosen was a popular one - but, in essence, was too popular. I had a feeling that due to this, and as good the production is, we didn't stand a chance of winning the title. What the team did though, was give their all, and I couldn't have asked more of them....they were superb.
Paul Fowler was the adjudicator at the Wales Final and had spent a long time on his adjudication for Telstars and New Tabs. My thoughts of winning faded very quickly, when he started our adjuication by announcing that he had seen this play over 30 times, and that when he had the list through of finalists, his heart sank at the prospect of seeing it again. What was to follow though changed my mind - that is that, we might have a chance.....he spoke for 15 minutes on Last Tango and came up with only one minor suggestion. The rest, was a quarter of an hour of how much he had enjoyed it and that how the choices made in the production, had not only covered the holes in writing (see earlier comments up the page by me), but had eradicated them. Well, at the end of that, I was chuffed....and so were the rest of the team.
The Saturday night was a bit of a blur - watching 3 excellent productions from North Wales. We then had the adjudications, followed by the awards themselves. All the confidence, that we might just win had left me by this point....even though, none of the adjudications were as positive as ours. To cut to the chase, there are only three awards at the Wales Final.....Best performance, Best Presentation and The Maynard Cup - The Wales Title. Once all the speeches were done, I was sitting on stage, as I have done on two previous occasions, trying to look relaxed and casual about all of this (those that know me well, will understand that I am not a competitive person in most senses - Cardiff City lose, I can get over it quickly - but this title, is something that I have been passionate about for 5 years...and winning it for BLT means the world to me).....I was trying to do what they do in the Oscars - smile sweetly in the face of defeat!!! The first award announced was that of best performer - both Trev and Huw were nominated, but the award went to an actor from North Wales, who gave a great performance in a Tennesse Williams play, that evening. The next award was Best Presentation - and we had won! Well, you would think that I would be pleased - and I was, especially for Nye and Pete who had worked so hard on this aspect of Last Tango.....but I wasn't....why??? Well, this prize can be seen as 2nd place....so I thought thats it - pipped again! Paul Fowler then told us what we were all there to hear - the winner of the Wales Title......and when he started his announcment with "and I never thought that I would ever say this' I knew that we had won. 'The winner of the Wales One Act Theatre Festival is Last Tango in Blackwood'. It's difficult to describe what that was like.....I felt elation but moreover, a sense of pride for the cast and crew of all the productions that we had taken to the Wales Finals over the past five years. Well, all hell broke loose and I had Peta crying on my shoulder....and lots of phone calls and texts bouncing around. As I write this, a week later, it has finally sunken in that we are Wales Champions!!
The next step is to do it all again at the British Final on July 4th in Swansea. It will be another great day for BLT in a year of great adventures for the best little theatre in the world! Well done to all at the theatre, I am proud to be a part of such a great team. I hope that this long winded explanation of Last Tango hasn't bored you too much....come along to Swansea on 4th July to see for yourselves what all the fuss is about.
Neil
So with the plays chosen, it was on to casting. A reading was held, just after the Panto, and was very well attended....and I had a bit of a job casting the plays - as the choice I had, especially amongst the ladies, made it very difficult. For Last Tango, I had made my mind up pretty quickly....Mr Rosser as Bernard, Mrs Price as Margaret, Ms Collins as Joyce and El Presidente as Gordon....in hindsight that was easy, though there were some difficult choices to make - especially amongst the chaps. Late Entry, I was able to cast Graham J. Evans as the adjudicator and, after another reading / audition, I gave the part of the actress to a BLT newcomer - Claire Williams. Rehearsals started and progressed nicely for both plays. But what of the problem that I had with Last Tango, I hear you cry?? Well, it hit me on my 2nd reading of the play ....there were a few flaws in writing - not in terms of dialogue, but with the flow of the piece. Those who have seen our production, will understand that the pace of the play is one of it's key components to success. It has to flow, in my opinion, from prior to a word being spoken to the last lighting cue.....and there was the crux of my problem...the stage directions were a barrier to this. There are four scenes in Last Tango and three scene changes.....it was here that I started the process of directing the play....not with any of the characters or the text, but with the staging. The staging, was the foundation of the entire piece. The idea of the cast moving the furniture came first, then that they should set the scene at the beginning followed, and perhaps the most important feature, the music, came last. Once I had these component parts sorted I knew that, with the cast and tech crew that I am blessed with, Last Tango could be a very funny play (the major hurdle that I then had was convincing my cast, that I wasn't bonkers).
Alongside all of these thought processes, I was directing Late Entry, which was an absolute joy. The two actors I had were very different, in terms of experience, but they worked so well together. Even though I have had many plaudits this year, in terms of Sheep and Tango, one of my proudest moments was seeing a newcomer to our stage (and a newcomer to 'straight' theatre') - Claire Williams, performing the huge role of the actress, with such passion and conviction. To see her grow through the rehearsal process as an actress was fantastic, and as much as Tango has achieved this year, I am very proud of Graham and Claire and what they did with Late Entry.
The Gwent Festival happened in March @ BLT, with David Hedley Williams adjudicating. This was the second festival of the Wales competition - there were 6 others. Having been involved as the host venue for a number of years, it was nice to be in the thick of it by organising the festival with Richard Williams of the Congress and Lynn Phillips of the Dolman. We managed to have a great 3 night festival, which was reasonably attended, and were lucky to have Josie D'Arby and Ken Caswell there on the Saturday night for the awards. Both plays performed very well - with Late Entry on the Thursday and Last Tango in Blackwood closing the festival on Saturday. As an aside, David Tristram allows all groups to change the name and certain lines within the play - to localize it....thus the change from Little Grimley to Blackwood. The adjudication for Late Entry was very good, and David H-W came up with some useful suggestions - which were later incorporated into the play run in April. The performance of Last Tango that Saturday and the adjudication that followed it was outstanding. The way in which the cast attacked the whole thing,was just as I had wanted it....brilliant. The audience loved it - with some people nearly apoplectic in the audience, with laughter. David H-W concluded that he had seen this play many times before, and had even adjudicated one the week before at another festival. I won't say too much on what was said, for modesty purposes, and also that it might spoil people's enjoyment of future performances.....lets just say that it was excellent, and that I (and the rest of the team) were very pleased.
The results of the Gwent were then announced and, we had won again! As I mentioned earlier, this was the 5th year on the trot and I was very proud to pick up Best Director again. Late Entry wasn't among the prize winners - which I thought was a real shame, due to the enormous amount of work that Claire and Graham J. had put in. It was a great production, of which I am enormously proud.
As is the case with this competition, you have no idea who you are up against in other areas, and even though you had won your own festival, if you would progress to the Wales Final. Well, I found out by sending a text message at 630am Nova Scotia time to Gary Thomas at DAW offices in Cardiff - who then rang me back!! That 5 minute call cost me a small fortune! Anyway, it was confirmed that we had got through to the Wales Final - which I was also helping to organise, as it was to be held at the Blackwood Miners Institute on June 6th and 7th. Rehearsals for Tango were difficult - as we had already started Frost and that one member of the cast and myself were in Canada. I am grateful to Jerry Grummitt for helping out whilst I was away. The cast prepared themselves in the run up to the Wales Final and I worked on some additional detail, that I thought about during the original performances. I also decided that the ending was weak - so we worked on a change to that.
The day of the performance, we had our tech hour - which went well, apart from the lighting board failing for 10 minutes! Yve had work committments - so Peta stood in, so that we could run the techy bits of the show.....we decided to keep the action to exactly the same dimensions as in BLT...a wise move, that comes from some learning at previous finals and whilst taking Sheep to Canada. We were last to perform on the Friday night....the cast were nervous and had a 'line rehearsal' in the dressing room just before going on. After they had completed this, I was able to tell them that Rose had won best supporting actor, for Brassed Off and in Improbable Fiction. So they went on stage with some good news and a smile on their faces. The performance was amazing, as they worked so well together as a team. Lines were faultless and the pace / attack was just brilliant. The audience were with them from the start and gave them all a huge ovation at the end. I was, and am, so proud of them - including Nye - who came up with such a simple but effective lighting design.
At a Wales Final you are up against the top 6 productions from all over the Principality - so its tough. I was also acutely aware that the play I had chosen was a popular one - but, in essence, was too popular. I had a feeling that due to this, and as good the production is, we didn't stand a chance of winning the title. What the team did though, was give their all, and I couldn't have asked more of them....they were superb.
Paul Fowler was the adjudicator at the Wales Final and had spent a long time on his adjudication for Telstars and New Tabs. My thoughts of winning faded very quickly, when he started our adjuication by announcing that he had seen this play over 30 times, and that when he had the list through of finalists, his heart sank at the prospect of seeing it again. What was to follow though changed my mind - that is that, we might have a chance.....he spoke for 15 minutes on Last Tango and came up with only one minor suggestion. The rest, was a quarter of an hour of how much he had enjoyed it and that how the choices made in the production, had not only covered the holes in writing (see earlier comments up the page by me), but had eradicated them. Well, at the end of that, I was chuffed....and so were the rest of the team.
The Saturday night was a bit of a blur - watching 3 excellent productions from North Wales. We then had the adjudications, followed by the awards themselves. All the confidence, that we might just win had left me by this point....even though, none of the adjudications were as positive as ours. To cut to the chase, there are only three awards at the Wales Final.....Best performance, Best Presentation and The Maynard Cup - The Wales Title. Once all the speeches were done, I was sitting on stage, as I have done on two previous occasions, trying to look relaxed and casual about all of this (those that know me well, will understand that I am not a competitive person in most senses - Cardiff City lose, I can get over it quickly - but this title, is something that I have been passionate about for 5 years...and winning it for BLT means the world to me).....I was trying to do what they do in the Oscars - smile sweetly in the face of defeat!!! The first award announced was that of best performer - both Trev and Huw were nominated, but the award went to an actor from North Wales, who gave a great performance in a Tennesse Williams play, that evening. The next award was Best Presentation - and we had won! Well, you would think that I would be pleased - and I was, especially for Nye and Pete who had worked so hard on this aspect of Last Tango.....but I wasn't....why??? Well, this prize can be seen as 2nd place....so I thought thats it - pipped again! Paul Fowler then told us what we were all there to hear - the winner of the Wales Title......and when he started his announcment with "and I never thought that I would ever say this' I knew that we had won. 'The winner of the Wales One Act Theatre Festival is Last Tango in Blackwood'. It's difficult to describe what that was like.....I felt elation but moreover, a sense of pride for the cast and crew of all the productions that we had taken to the Wales Finals over the past five years. Well, all hell broke loose and I had Peta crying on my shoulder....and lots of phone calls and texts bouncing around. As I write this, a week later, it has finally sunken in that we are Wales Champions!!The next step is to do it all again at the British Final on July 4th in Swansea. It will be another great day for BLT in a year of great adventures for the best little theatre in the world! Well done to all at the theatre, I am proud to be a part of such a great team. I hope that this long winded explanation of Last Tango hasn't bored you too much....come along to Swansea on 4th July to see for yourselves what all the fuss is about.
Neil
