All Blog Posts (7,658)

Day 10.3 - The School Run - Hereford

The train, which had been overflowing with school children chattering about drugs and their boyfriends, returns to a state of peace and quiet. All but for the gentle rumble of the train and the laboured breathing of a rather sturdy looking gentleman to my left. A red brick and a green metal structure filled in with green wooden panels, their paint worn away, fades… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on March 9, 2010 at 21:30 — No Comments

Day 10.2 - Missing Hour - Leaving Shrewsbury Station

I did sleep. The inflatable travel cushion came in handy. As I exited the train at Shrewsbury I passed an old man carrying a number plate. I saw him again a few minutes later in the coffee shop where he directed me to the much needed sugar. Pigeons are flocking about the bridge as we pull away from the station. I am not in my seat No. 20 F as the Man in 21 F is so fast asleep it seems unfair to wake him. Especially as the train is… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on March 9, 2010 at 20:30 — No Comments

Day 10.1 - Departure - Somewhere between Aberystwyth and Borth

I should probably try and sleep. It is 5:15am and I am on the Arriva Trains Wales service bound for Birmingham New Street. I will get off before that. Shrewsbury, change for Cardiff. Then Ystrad Mynach and finally a bus to Blackwood. I should get in some time around 10:30am. As the train travels between Aberystswyth and Borth all that can be seen through the window… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on March 9, 2010 at 18:30 — No Comments

Day 9 - Sudden Panic - Aberystwyth

The sudden panic in question relates directly to the task that I have set myself for day 10. I have booked myself onto the 5:14am train from Aberystwyth tomorrow morning. I should arrive in Blackwood some time after 10:00am. I will then spend the day meeting people connected to the NTW and observing rehearsals before jumping back on the train and arriving back in… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on March 9, 2010 at 11:30 — No Comments

Day 8 - The Tree House - Aberystwyth

I meet with Alan Chamberlain in the tree house in the afternoon. The morning is spent in the National library working through emails and missing the delivery of my new computer. Still no sign of the laptop, so I call apple repairs in London and am told that it is on the way. One or two pieces of equipment would make life a great deal easier.… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on March 8, 2010 at 11:00 — No Comments

Look at this opportunity to get into the Theatre Sandbox!



Theatre Sandbox : making

space for great ideas…

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Added by Catherine Paskell on March 8, 2010 at 1:47 — No Comments

Day 7 - Sunday Swimming - Aberystwyth

I wake up early and take my daughter swimming at the local pool. I spend most of my time under water, it is other worldly. She spends most of her time attached to my back like a horse rider. I'm not sure she appreciates my own very real need to breathe.



I arrange to meet Alan tomorrow at 12:30 to discuss the project. I also learn how to publish my blog to Facebook and the NTW community simultaneously. This results in almost instant feedback from… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on March 7, 2010 at 12:30 — No Comments

Multi-Tasking, Isn't It?

One of my favourite details in Alan Harris's play, A Good Night Out in the Valleys (Go as You Please), which opens for preview on Thursday, is that everyone and everything 'doubles up'. The idea came about in two ways. When we were running a workshop in Ammanford Miners Institute (with the fabulous Mess Up the Mess youth theatre) as part of the research for the show, we noticed that a lot of the local shops seemed to be doing a 'two in one' kind of business - the first one we noticed was… Continue

Added by National Theatre Wales on March 7, 2010 at 0:30 — 1 Comment

Day 6 - End of the First Week - Aberystwyth

It's Saturday and despite not getting to bed until 3:30 in the morning I still wake up before 9. The problem with being busy is that immediately on waking a thousand thoughts enter your head and as a consequence going back to sleep isn't really an option. The first week of the project is almost over and I feel pleased with the progress that I have made. Despite much aimless wandering on Monday and Tuesday I soon found direction and the interview with Mike Pearson on Thursday along with a… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on March 6, 2010 at 9:30 — No Comments

45th Anniversary of Pinter's The Homecoming

45 years ago yesterday, The New Theatre premiered Pinter's The Homecoming to a shocked audience. In yesterday's BBC Radio Wales broacast Benedict Nightingale, The Times's outgoing theatre critic, remembered the occasion.



It's short, but it's a nice little insight into a very important moment in Wales's theatrical past.



Go here: (24 minutes in)…
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Added by Ben Bryant on March 5, 2010 at 23:57 — No Comments

Day 5.5 - Breakfast of Champions - Downstairs at the Commodore cinema Aberystwyth

Today (Friday) ended somewhere around 3am on Saturday morning in the Castle pub in Aberystwyth. I can't be sure if I am blogging Day 5 or day 6. A combination of both perhaps. Day 5.5.


Much of Friday was spent in the…
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Added by Dr Tom Payne on March 5, 2010 at 16:30 — No Comments

Nearly there..it just needs an audience

This is the last friday blog from me. So ill cut the gush and get to the point. This week has been about fine tuning. If you liken the process to creating a menu ..then

Week 1 - we looked at the recipe and did the shopping for ingredients.Week two we looked at the bill and said blimey we cant afford that!..no we didnt really..sorry i digress....

Week 2 - we prepared the courses and picked out our favourite parts of the meal.

And the following…

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Added by Julie Barclay on March 5, 2010 at 8:00 — No Comments

And here comes the fear.....

Hello blog peeps.

Ok, so I know that by now you are all used to the comedy blogging genius of Mr Boyd "Bertolt" Clack, but I thought you should know something of the other side of the rehearsal process.

It is a method I like to call "Sheer Bloody Panic"!!!!! (a good name for a band methinks?!)

So, as some of you may know, we've had a bit longer than usual to rehearse 'A Good Night Out....' and that has been invaluable to all of us. We…

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Added by Amy Starling on March 4, 2010 at 11:07 — 2 Comments

Day 4 - Mike Pearson Interview 1 - Aberystwyth

The first action of the project arrived today in the form of an interview with Mike Pearson about The Persians. We meet in his office and negotiate the space with a rather large video camera. Mike sits against the wall in the corner and I set the camera up with seeming confidence, thanks Dorian. The camera is definitely secure in it's mount… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on March 4, 2010 at 11:00 — No Comments

Day 3 - Camera Training - Aberystwyth

Video camera training with Dorian in the department of Theatre, Film and Television, Aberystwyth. I can now safely mount and remove the camera from the tripod. I should also be able to achieve decent quality sound tomorrow when I meet with Mike. I have a few concerns over the availability of the cameras and while I have been given assurance that one will always be available I'm not sure that this is the right way to go. I think I need a less conspicuous… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on March 3, 2010 at 11:30 — No Comments

Introducing our New Critics!

Academi and National Theatre Wales are really excited to introduce our 4 New Critics to the National Theatre Wales community. Click on their names to discover who they are and be taken to their profile pages. Some have their own online blogs too. They will be posting their reviews of National Theatre Wales shows on here and will be generally engaging in all sorts of online conversations, just like all of you already do.…



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Added by Catherine Paskell on March 3, 2010 at 6:53 — No Comments

Meeting for Radio Dramatists - aspiring and established

The Writers' Guild of Great Britain is pleased to announce a meeting with Kate McCall, Senior Producer, Radio Drama BBC Wales.

Kate will be talking about her work at the BBC, her relationship with writers and the current radio…

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Added by Othniel Smith on March 3, 2010 at 0:11 — 3 Comments

Day 2 - The National Library - Aberystwyth

I have been surprised by the amount of traveling that I have done over the last two days. I had imagined myself sat at a desk for the best part of three years and as yet there is not even the slightest hint of a table, unless of course it were the kind you eat from. I was sat on the stairs in the departmental building for a time this morning. Waiting for a signature. On reflection this wasn't the best use of my time, however… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on March 2, 2010 at 10:30 — No Comments

Lotte van den Berg & Merel de Groot workshop opportunity in Vienna!



WHERE YOU ARE / public space in Jerusalem, Vienna and Kinshasa…

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Added by Mathilde Lopez on March 2, 2010 at 1:30 — No Comments

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