Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Elise Davison on October 18, 2010 at 9:28

i'm watching this space with interest - the play has provoked some strong responses in people and generated a lot of debate and discussion (sometimes quite heated!). Generally people seem to have either loved it or hated it but everyone seems to have an opinion - on the style, the set, the venue, the script, the direction......ohhh and isn't that what theatre is all about, isn't that what keeps it alive! Love it!

Looking forward to reading more posts....
x

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Permalink Reply by carmen medway-stephens on October 19, 2010 at 9:08

I actually said last week 'I am sick of going to theatre waiting to have an opinion on it'. Can't I just go and be entertained and enjoy what I am watching for a change...but yes this is what theatre is all about

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Permalink Reply by Iain Goosey on October 19, 2010 at 10:04

I agree with Elise. Love Steals Us seemed to spark so many heated debates and discussions amongst audience members. This is what I enjoyed most, theatre that had a message at its heart and a point to make! It was an event that got everyone engaged and talking!

I thought the show worked on a number of levels; a great venue, fantastic performances and also a touching script.

I think the division of the play worked very well.  I didn't feel that this was confusing but made the audience work a bit as they adjusted to the knew style.  The fragmented nature of the second half in comparison with the 'real time' of the first, allowed us to follow the characters and witness their development in a different light. I throughoughly enjoyed seeing the development and journey of the characters over a span of time and helped me understand and engage more with all of them. Overall it was very interesting to see the play bounce between styles.

I think the piece dealt brilliantly with the themes of loss and grief, something everyone in the audience connected with and related to. The play made more of a general statement on the turmoils of teenage life. For me that was enough, without it potentially descending into a verbatim piece about the difficult subject of suicide in Bridgend. Some however may argue that it was a missed opportunity. That theatre should be there to explore, challenge and overcome very difficult subjects?

I really loved the venue and it seemed to add to the realism of the piece. I'm still convinced that the distant music in the first act was live sounds coming from the next room and not pre recorded!
Being completely honest I do feel that the set got slightly in the way of the characters and the story I was following. As director, if you were to produce it again in the future, would you ever consider 'stripping back' the set? Just presenting a typical club, some microphones and a great story? Was it an intention to fight the literal aspect of the play?
I'd love to see the show again in the future and could imagine it taking place in so many bar/clubs throughout the country.

Altogether I thought the show was fantastic, one of my highlights of the year! 

What I will take most though from this show in Bridgend is seeing how great theatre can be away from the confines of an actual theatre venue. This production in a dingy club in Bridgend could never be replicated to the same extent on stage.

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Permalink Reply by National Theatre Wales on October 20, 2010 at 6:06

Thanks Iaian, really thoughtful and useful. Lots to reflect on.

It's also been great to read the views of the Young Critics from Bridgend, who came to the show after a workshop on how to be a theatre organised by Bridgend Arts Officer Guy O'Donnell and supported by our Creative Associate Catherine Paskell and critic Ben Bryant. The young critics have come up with smart, interesting responses to the production:

here's one by Jemma Llewellyn

and one by Chesley Gillard

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Permalink Reply by Kirsty Sedgman on October 21, 2010 at 0:09

Hi,

I'm a doctoral student at Aberystwyth University and am performing research into the audiences of NTW's first year of work. I agree; Love Steals was such an exciting and thought-provoking performance, I'd love to hear what everyone thought about it. I'm watching this forum with interest. I've also prepared a quick online questionnaire about this and NTW's other shows, so if you have a couple of minutes to fill it in I'd be grateful - and please pass the details along to anyone you meet with an opinion about the show! This research is independent, so honest answers welcomed, but has the support of NTW and is a really important part of my studies:

http://www.ntw-research.org.uk

For more information about my project please visit the website, send me an email at kis09@aber.ac.uk, or message me on the Community. I hope you'll be able to help me with this, as any responses I can gather will be making a huge contribution to my research and to a field of study which up until now has been neglected

Many thanks,

Kirsty Sedgman

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Permalink Reply by Gareth Clark on October 24, 2010 at 2:19

I was walking this morning to the shop and ‘Love Steals Us’ entered my train of thought. There were some real positive and inspiring elements to the show and as an experience, for me, it rates as one of the best NTW has served up so far. Having spent time in Bridgend recently there appeared to be a number of topical issues being discussed, two young men squaring up to each other bare chested outside Witherspoons in the afternoon was certainly one, but no reference to suicide – not to say this is not being discussed but maybe shelved for a while as other pressing matters enter the everyday. The play thankfully did not talk directly about suicide and the work was more thorough I thought for that as it’s the issues that lead to desperation that should be analysed/debated/depicted, and this certainly attempted that.

The two halves of the show worked best for me in taking us, the audience, out of a comfort zone that the first half allowed us to enter. The perfect length and smart dialogue bordered sufficiently on the banal to build a sincerity, believability in the two characters and their plight. The second half was suitably jarring and that uncompromising set appered to become the actor’s chagrin, restricting and suffocating any real opportunity to develop interesting movement. At the time this frustrated me and perhaps on reflection it still does but it created an inescapable landscape that worked with some of the characters and less with others. I certainly don’t think the story was difficult to follow but I wonder if the rest of the club could have been used to develop some of the piece or whether the monologues may have been interesting to hear one at a time….seeing Lee’s mother in the centre of that constructed shrine alone for example seemed more relevant than Scott, who looked less obviously emotionally embroiled.

Do you consider this having a life out of Bridgend and would it work outside of Wales as a touring production?

Ended up buying a celeriac in the shop…… they scare me a bit…looks unworldly.
Ideas for recipes gratefully received.

Gareth

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Permalink Reply by Rachel Williams on October 24, 2010 at 12:08

Hi,
As one of the 'Young Critics' in Bridgend I reviewed the play, and although I did not attend the workshop - I came onto the scheme a little later, the first weekend of the play in fact - I approached it with an open mind and armed with my garnered research.

Here's the link to my review:

http://community.nationaltheatrewales.org/profiles/blogs/reviewing-...

One thing I did not add to the review, expanding one part of it (as it was getting quite long already) was the plays challenge to 'traditional' theatrical rules. I have been told countless times in theatre classes to never have two characters talk together without the interaction of 3rd or 4th characters for more than a minute or so and the same with monologues. It can frustrate people. Yet for that 'rule' the tempo of the first half remained consistent and flowing: the injections of humour working particularly well. The second half did occasionally feel stunted though: a little stop and start as characters took their turns to speak yet I felt it was quite easy to ignore as the stronger emotional emphasis gripped you, drawing the audience in.

The debates have certainly raged about the play some loving it and some hating it I’ll agree but I seem to have come down in the middle oddly. I enjoyed it, found it thought provoking and it is excellent to see theatre with a genuine point to make but I came away from the show not quite fully convinced by it and I’m still not quite sure why.

One thing I do hope is that it has a great show life outside of Bridgend and that other venues give it the performance it deserves.

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Permalink Reply by National Theatre Wales on October 25, 2010 at 12:15

Thanks Gareth and Rachel for your very interesting and useful replies.

Gareth, I think the question about movement is really interesting - it was great to have a real physical challenge for me and the actors to deal with on stage - but perhaps we could have let it inspire more movement in the second half, rather than simply being a maze.

Rachel, your review was great to read, particularly the ways in which you related it to your experience of coming from Bridgend.

The young critics reviews have been very inspiring to read. Here's another from Jane Louise Maiden

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Permalink Reply by bridget keehan on October 27, 2010 at 2:24

I liked the split, the sense of gulf between life before & after the death of someone you love, but I felt slightly confused whilst watching the second half about how much time had passed since the crash.
Whilst I can understand why the choice was made not to reference suicide directly I am not sure it was the best choice. Perhaps I would feel differently if I came from Bridgend but I think the stigma attached to suicide is reinforced by silence.
The design was strong and worked to free up my imagination.
One aspect of the play i struggled with is the character of Lee who never quite came 'alive' - and i don't think that was just down to him being a character we never meet. Consequently i felt quite distant from the second half.
As Elise says it's a piece of work that provokes strong responses, all good stuff.

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Permalink Reply by Anneliese Evans on November 1, 2010 at 0:12

Hello, my name is Anneliese Evans and I am 23 years old. I am interested in music, films and theatre and I am a young critic.

Love steals us from loneliness – A play that brings an understanding of what it is to be young and in love. It also shows how situations can get out of hand and result in a tragic event. This play is filled with colourful characters and played perfectly with brilliant acting from all cast members, particularly by Nia Roberts whose portrayal of the grieving mother was heartbreaking to watch. Their characters emotions were felt by the audience and caused us to empathise with them in every situation. It pulls no punches and is brutally honest when it comes to showing family and friends mourn the loss of their loved one. It clearly portrays the ups and downs of a few different relationships, especially the ones between Becky and Mags, as this is the most heartbreaking. We watch them cope with their loss in two separate ways and slowly get over it. This play has been cleverly written and causes the audience to empathise with all the characters as we witness events from each one. As well as having a sad element, there are a lot of humorous moments that lightens the dark mood. Anyone who has been on a night out in Bridgend or even anywhere else can relate to this play and it shouldn’t be missed. This is probably a scene that people have viewed briefly as an outsider; here in this play they are involved in the storyline. The settings, being Bridgend town, the graveyard and their homes were shown as best as they could have been, however it was sometimes hard to see where the characters were meant to be.
At times the play seemed too dark and came off depressing in certain acts such as when we watch the characters grieve. For a young audience this is hard to watch and the play could have had a few more humorous moments.
The musical numbers were enjoyable to watch as we got to see the actors other talents and they did not disappoint. Matthew Trevannions performance towards the end was one of the best and most entertaining moments of the play.
The play is mainly aimed at young people as it has a lot of young references in, such as the characters being young, the language used, and the situations they get into. Whereas most people have experienced the feelings the characters are going through it is initially aimed at the youth of Bridgend and surrounding area. The play will help young people understand the consequences of a death and how people deal with issues in their own way, showing there is no normal way to do anything, which a lot of young people don’t understand.
The script was interesting but as someone from Bridgend it hit a raw nerve, as this is a side to the town that I and a lot of other people find unnerving and upsetting. It is very blunt in its approach to a very delicate subject which some viewers may find disturbing. However this may be viewed as honest and doesn’t skirt around these unsavoury aspects of youth.
The end was rounded off nicely as the characters learnt to accept the death and Mags told Katrin she didn’t blame her for what had happened, showing that she had come to an end in the mourning of her son. It was nice to see Katrin moving on with her life and after the devastation she had to deal with in her youth. I feel that the overall message for the play was to show hope and positivity of moving on in any situation.

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Permalink Reply by National Theatre Wales on November 12, 2010 at 6:54

Thanks to everyone who's gotten involved in this follow up discussion around Love Steals Us. it's been really energising and useful. The input of the young critics has been particularly exciting - thank you guys - really interesting to read your posts on here alongside your reviews.

I liked the discussion best the more specific it got - both very focussed comments like Gareth's question about movement, but also specific analysis of a person's own feelings as an audience member, such as Rachel's comments on what the piece made her feel both in particular moments and overall.

It's also been interesting to get beyond the 'day after' feeling of most reviews. A lot of the contributors here have talked about how their feelings have developed over time.

Inspiring and invigorating for me as a director certainly. And an experiment worth repeating I think. I will take this debate off the front page next week and replace it with one about The Dark Philosophers. I'm not the director of our current show of course, so the debate with me will be slightly different, but the main character in this hasn't been me anyway - it's been you. Thanks!

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