The Village Social my Response
It is a couple of days since I witnessed a performance of The Village Social (NTW) at Dolau Community Hall in Powys (November 11th). I’ve been taking my time working out how to respond because my initial feelings were strong and it probably wouldn’t be very constructive to let that splurge loose. The performances and production standards were entirely professional and are not my concern, however I will take issue with the play.
It was a filthy night with a monsoonal type rain storm which was exceptional even by Mid Wales standards. It was a dramatic natural phenomenon which could have been in keeping with the stormy intentions of the play. However the rainstorm was dangerous and real but the play, despite the noise and bluster, only managed to be irritating and to be honest baffling.
If I took the play as a model or even a metaphor for life in rural Wales I would be high-tailing it towards the nearest city- which is presumably what the NTW Company did at the end of the run.
The world that the play conjures is problematic. Yes we all can laugh at farts, bodily fluids and what I used to think of as English postcard humour but if that stance is not undercut by real life universal questions from the playwright then what is the point? You just end up with a condescending mishmash populated by stereotyped characters which leave the audience uninvolved. We don’t know why the characters behave like they do, there is no complexity, there are no outside influences- no job losses, no school closures, no wind farms (ie real rural concerns). The characters are stereotypes so all we can do is laugh at their ridiculous behaviour- we can dismiss them because we are not like them, we are not implicated and yet we can titter because we know someone who is a bit like them.
I did think at one point that we had been lulled into false security and the playwright was going to enable us to look at our relationship with outsiders in rural Wales. Although that thought was clearly present any difficult questions disappeared under a smokescreen of really weird Pagan Mysticism and over the top stagecraft. To top it all our stereotypical village committee were absolved from any responsibility for their actions because they were under the influence of psycotropic drugs. Game over...no one got hurt.
The production desperately wanted to involve the audience but the techniques used were pantomimic, were fun and fine but not emotionally engaging. I am sure that NTW’s intention is to actively engage and challenge its audience not confuse it but I fear that is what you did.
The whole Bacchanalian thing went over my head, in fact I only picked that up in one of the reviews afterwards and I’m sure the playwright isn’t saying ‘take more drugs and understand the world’ but what was he saying?
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Comment by Wyn Mason on November 23, 2011 at 10:18
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I was present at the same show as Richard, the one in Dolau, and had also stuggled to get there through torrential rain, but my response is on the opposite end of the spectrum - I loved it! I found it wonderfully refreshing, bold and courageous. Rich in its influences, I thought, e.g. Rocky Horror Show and Cabaret (the film). And what were the playwrights saying? Surely it was about the dark forces that lie just beneath the surface, within society, within us all. An undercurrent of fascism, even, lurking behind a veneer of niceties. So, something quite universal, in fact, and not particularly about rural Wales - it's certainly a Welsh play that could cross borders, I can see it being succressfully performed in rural France, Germany... and even being made into a film. In fact, I'm a filmmaker myself, and have a tendancy to prefer naturalistic performances, but on this occasion I thoroughly enjoyed the total theatricality of it. As Brecht once said, one's capacity to think remains intact when you laugh, and there's plenty to think about in the world at this particular historical junction, and I don't think these playwrights can be accused of shying away from that. An impressive mix of politics and entertainment - well done, Dafydd and Ben!
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Comment by Chas Nicholson on November 16, 2011 at 23:45
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This play went down a storm in Llansilin. The village hall was completely sold out (150) and for most of the people there, it was an evening they will remember for a very long time. The actual story, Dion's story, which explains what had been going on may have baffled some folk. Not everyone understands 'psychotropic drugs'. There is no point in criticising the play for things it did not set out to deal with (wind farms, world poverty, etc).
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Comment by Adam Somerset on November 14, 2011 at 23:59
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Matt, if you're looking for an opposite opinion mine is at the other end of the spectrum. I would have tried to be at Dolau but that enterprising company Frapetsus was doing one night at Builth.
What I heard twice were audiences raising the roof- one in the heart of Y Fro, one a half dozen miles from the border. I may be fairly typical in that I am a member of the committee that keeps one of the show's venues going, via a mix of grant applications, huge amounts of voluntary activity, and sheer tenacity. (Many were built quickly and never meant to endure eighty or ninety years.)
There are things to be said about the heartland, (wind farms would be more convincing if they loomed over Hay or Ruthin!) but that is a different piece of theatre. As for stereotypes one of the characters was so close to life (better not say who) as to be scary
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Comment by Matt Ball on November 14, 2011 at 4:33
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Thanks for your thoughts Richard. I'm sorry if you found the Village Social irritating & baffling, as you're right we do want to engage and challenge, but also to entertain.
Over the year we'll put on a range of work that is performed in different contexts and presents a variety of opinions. I won't speak for the writers (Dafydd & Ben) and suggest what they were trying to say, as they had their platform through the piece and that obviously didn't connect with you; but if we thought the work had nothing to say about the world in which we live it wouldn't be part of our programme.
I hope you're not put off by your experience, and will give another NTW show a go at some point in the future.
I'd be interested to know if anyone had a similar or oposite reaction to the show?
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