We are fans of ‘site-specific’ theatre and admirers of much of NTW’s work. But there has to be a reason to make people stand for hours and wander round an enormous warehouse. In the case of the mysteriously bracketed {150}, I don’t really know what it was.

The evening started outside the warehouse (luckily it was a dry evening) with a long piece in Welsh over loud-speakers that wasn’t translated. We walked in past a booming over-amplified preacher whose Welsh words were apparently translated, but the sound quality was too poor to decipher anything at all. At times in the evening, the female narrator’s voice was also unclear over the various sound effects. Younger people might not have these problems but once you get to our age, it does get harder.

15 minutes into the performance, I was considering leaving by an emergency exit – not a good start.

First impressions count, and it took some time to get over that initial irritation. There were things to enjoy. Nicely crafted vignettes and tableaux illustrating moments from the Patagonian Pioneers’ experiences. An enjoyable “Eisteddfod” performed by enthusiastic local school children.

There were probably 90-100 enjoyable minutes hiding inside the 140 minutes over which the performance took place, but the negative distractions broke into any sense of continuity.

Strip out the girls dancing in what was possibly a stylised version of a period costume, drop the artificial story of the made-good Pobol-y-Cwm actress returning to her roots in the Welsh colony and a few other unconnected symbolic pieces and there was a worthwhile evening. Forget the gimmicky fluorescent plastic boxes, add some live music and it could be a winner. None of which is to criticise the effort of the individuals involved, but the overall vision was disjointed and unfocused. I have a feeling that a better piece might have resulted form a smaller budget.

There seemed to be an assumption that the audience would know all about the history that was involved. The Welsh speakers would certainly have been familiar with the story, and as an Anglo-Welshman I know the outline. But with no explanation of why these people emigrated and little about who they were or the communities they came from, it would have been hard for anyone new to Wales to understand.

Apparently, there was a more narrative play put on in London some 25 years ago. Clearly Creator and Director Marc Rees wanted to do something different this time.

This was our third site-specific theatrical performance in two weeks, and I might just be getting nostalgic for the proscenium arch, comfortable seats and an interval with an ice-cream.