SWANSEA ASSEMBLY and SHELF LIFE
This is an extract from the blog I write approx weekly to promote the 40 Group Activities of Swansea U3A (University of the Third Age) which also discusses items of particular interest to me, hence for example non party politics, jazz and theatre.
THE SWANSEA ASSEMBLY, NATIONAL THEATRE WALES
Around ten of us from the Jive Group
took part with a fifteen minute demonstration including getting
newcomers to join in order to kick-start the evening with the first of
several short performances, the rest being cabaret singing and theatre
sketches. The walls were hung with a collection of excellent
enlargements of photographs taken of us at our Jive Group practice the
previous day.
The space was divided into four tables
equipped with nibbles, wine and olives, and each new arrival was
assigned to one of the colour coded groups. Four leaders were assigned
to the groups to lead discussion on Swansea, Facilities, ideas for
Swansea Town Planners, supporting Asylum Seekers, supporting Teenagers
Leaving local authority Care. A pile of bricks were on each table and
members were asked to chalk comments on in chalk to remind them of key
points in the discussion. Each group had about 6/8 participants, the
groups discussed an aspect for around 20 minutes, then after a short theatrical performance the topic leaders rotated and each group discussed a different topic.
Following the order my group followed
FACILITIES (my term). Lead by Senior
Labour Councillor and Chairman of Volcano Theatre, David Phillips
The least successful of the groups
because leader and participants were finding their way. The main
observations were the absence of good shops, whereas years ago Swansea
was the equal of Cardiff. My beef was the lack of good public
entertainment when my family and grandchildren were on holiday for one
or two weeks in their Christmas or Easter holidays. My advocacy of
Jazzlands which equals or exceeds any jazz venue in Cardiff, to which I would add Taliesin.
'Swansea was the End of Ambition' for
several of us, but we had stayed for positive reasons, in my case
associated with the superb natural environment of Swansea Bay (winter
exploration, sailing and swimming in summer), Gower and Brecon Beacons
for mountain walking.
More should be made of the Grand
Theatre. Why shouldn't it be a centre of excellence in theatrical terms
like the Royal Theatre in Bath?
TOWN PLANNING
Sorry I forget the architect's name but
he was advocating preserving the castle with a large overhanging roof
as a way of enabling it to become a distinctive, visited, feature at
the centre of the city
Them he went back to the plan which
would have given Swansea a new 'heart' around the Grand Theatre. Joan and I both remember the publicity around the recent architectural award for
the new library in Lewisham, but it was news to me that this was the
design originally developed then rejected for Swansea's Year of
Literature. (A missed opportunity equivalent to the rejection of the
prize winner for Cardiff's Millenium Centre). Instead of which we got a
restoration of what is now the Dylan Thomas Centre, highly desirable in
itself, without moving towards unification of the city centre and with
nothing like the long term use that the library would have given us.
To me that makes all the more attractive
the other plan he reminded me of, the idea for the main Oystermouth
Road being an underpass to free up pedestrian access across the city
centre, which day by day expresses ever more dichotomy, with the library
being relocated to the Civic Centre, Dylan Thomas Centre, Industrial
Museum, original museum (Royal Institution of South Wales as was) all
near the sea front, Whereas shops, central bus station, railway station,
theatre and castle are dispersed in the more traditional centre.in the.
He also presented a plan for a mini
barrage around Swansea Bay as an amenity ring with the added advantage
of generating electricity from tidal movement. Remember though that
electricity cannot be stored and without large scale water storage the
generation would be as cyclic as the tide and bear no correlation with
demand.
I know Joan found this the most
interesting group discussion of all.
CARE LEAVERS
Describing the huge problems facing
young people leaving care in this country, housing, very low income (£50
Job Seekers Allowance), no aspiration, no qualification. It was an
almost insoluble burden for those trying to help such people find their way
in the world, no wonder many turned to drugs.
ASYLUM SEEKERS
Another discussion leader trying to
grapple with a very difficult task,
helping them through the legal battle to prove they were genuine asylum seekers rather than illegal
immigrants, rendered almost impossible because they were allowed only 5
hours free consultation with a lawyer.
The secondary school teacher in the
group said that school leavers, let alone the population at large, did
not understand the huge moral difference between asylum seekers who
faced persecution or even death if they returned to their own country,
and economic migrants who also arrived by illegal means hoping for a
better life.
A surprising fact to me was that the
majority currently seeking asylum in Swansea were mainland Chinese, who
had run into trouble with the Chinese state for trade union or other
political reasons.
PRESENTATIONS
Finally each group was asked to find two
people to present via microphone and video camera a two minute summary
of their group's key observations.
Emma was keen to put forward her views
from my group, whereas I was happy to opt out until it was obvious that
someone had to help her with the presentation. In the event like the
other groups we made a joint presentation for Emma's chosen topics of Care Leavers and Asylum Seekers. My contribution
was to say that I considered that the major problem with care leavers
was caused by the complete failure to deal with their problems whilst
they were in care. Since they were leaving care without qualifications,
without aspiration, and in consequence with little likelihood of finding
jobs it was hard to see a satisfactory conclusion.
As regards Asylum one key reflection was
that secondary education leavers needed to understand and be able to
evaluate moral values. In the past we may have relied on the churches to
teach such issues - but as an atheist I recognise it as vital part of
the armoury of good citizens.
Steven Allen
As one of the very latest to join
Swansea U3A, attracted initially perhaps by the activity of the Jive
Group and intended to be part of our display on the night, it was
interesting to see him seized for a role in one of the theatrical
presentations. He has obvious talent in that direction, so it looks as
though we have another valuable U3A new member.
We jivers all stayed to enjoy the whole
meeting and the feedback I got from our members towards the meeting was
entirely favourable. The vibes from the National Theatre Wales group
were likewise. One suggestion from me is that the Discussion Leaders
ought to have worn name tags with an indication of affiliation.
The second observation is that I thought
the event was inadequately served by the publicity I saw. Not until the
night did I understand the real form of the occasion with the key
objective being to create discussion, the jive being a way to break the
ice and theatrical presentations being the means chosen to break the
evening up and showcase some of the issues to be discussed. I know this
was a first off for National Theatre Wales and no organiser could be
expected to know how it would turn out, but with a more complete prior
understanding I would have been able to publicise it better to U3A
members, and a number of them would have been keen to contribute, even
though the event clashed with the second prime ministerial debate on TV.
SHELF LIFE
Having discussed with David Philips, the poor review in the Guardian, by Lyn
Gardner who is normally particularly supportive to new theatrical ideas,
I decided to change my original decision not to go and Joan and I just
squeezed into a nominally full house at the last minute on Saturday
evening. Not myself a past lover of Volcano Theatre, who I saw murder a
Shakespeare play in the Grand a couple of decades ago, I must say we
both found it an enjoyable evening and one we are pleased not to have
missed.
I found the presentation unfocussed but
with some excellent moments, though without doubt innovative and
therefore very interesting. I personally prefer text based theatre, with
a strong message which leaves you thinking, and found many of the
physical theatre aspects both pointless and distracting (not that I
object to distraction by naked young women!). The use of space, outside,
in the store room, and around a circular dinner table in the beautiful
old library building, was excellent, but we are still unsure what the
message was.
Readers of this blog will be aware of my
love of 'theatre in the round' - what better venue could there
be than this circular library room with its glass dome! Thinking as I
do of how to develop theatre in Swansea I see this as the rich man's
alternative to Bristol's Tobacco Factory. We lived in Stoke-on-Trent
during the inauguration of their Victoria Theatre (in the round) in the
early sixties by the now famous trio of Peter Cheeseman, Stephen Joseph
and Alan Ayckbourn, who was then an actor. If they could do it in the
cultural wilderness of Stoke we could surely do it here and put Swansea
on the theatrical map. Whilst we are here how about the Grand Theatre
emulating the quality theatre of Royal Theatre Bath. We could not
emulate Bristol's Old Vic without a quality theatre school.
THE SWANSEA ASSEMBLY, NATIONAL THEATRE WALES
Around ten of us from the Jive Group
took part with a fifteen minute demonstration including getting
newcomers to join in order to kick-start the evening with the first of
several short performances, the rest being cabaret singing and theatre
sketches. The walls were hung with a collection of excellent
enlargements of photographs taken of us at our Jive Group practice the
previous day.
The space was divided into four tables
equipped with nibbles, wine and olives, and each new arrival was
assigned to one of the colour coded groups. Four leaders were assigned
to the groups to lead discussion on Swansea, Facilities, ideas for
Swansea Town Planners, supporting Asylum Seekers, supporting Teenagers
Leaving local authority Care. A pile of bricks were on each table and
members were asked to chalk comments on in chalk to remind them of key
points in the discussion. Each group had about 6/8 participants, the
groups discussed an aspect for around 20 minutes, then after a short theatrical performance the topic leaders rotated and each group discussed a different topic.
Following the order my group followed
FACILITIES (my term). Lead by Senior
Labour Councillor and Chairman of Volcano Theatre, David Phillips
The least successful of the groups
because leader and participants were finding their way. The main
observations were the absence of good shops, whereas years ago Swansea
was the equal of Cardiff. My beef was the lack of good public
entertainment when my family and grandchildren were on holiday for one
or two weeks in their Christmas or Easter holidays. My advocacy of
Jazzlands which equals or exceeds any jazz venue in Cardiff, to which I would add Taliesin.
'Swansea was the End of Ambition' for
several of us, but we had stayed for positive reasons, in my case
associated with the superb natural environment of Swansea Bay (winter
exploration, sailing and swimming in summer), Gower and Brecon Beacons
for mountain walking.
More should be made of the Grand
Theatre. Why shouldn't it be a centre of excellence in theatrical terms
like the Royal Theatre in Bath?
TOWN PLANNING
Sorry I forget the architect's name but
he was advocating preserving the castle with a large overhanging roof
as a way of enabling it to become a distinctive, visited, feature at
the centre of the city
Them he went back to the plan which
would have given Swansea a new 'heart' around the Grand Theatre. Joan and I both remember the publicity around the recent architectural award for
the new library in Lewisham, but it was news to me that this was the
design originally developed then rejected for Swansea's Year of
Literature. (A missed opportunity equivalent to the rejection of the
prize winner for Cardiff's Millenium Centre). Instead of which we got a
restoration of what is now the Dylan Thomas Centre, highly desirable in
itself, without moving towards unification of the city centre and with
nothing like the long term use that the library would have given us.
To me that makes all the more attractive
the other plan he reminded me of, the idea for the main Oystermouth
Road being an underpass to free up pedestrian access across the city
centre, which day by day expresses ever more dichotomy, with the library
being relocated to the Civic Centre, Dylan Thomas Centre, Industrial
Museum, original museum (Royal Institution of South Wales as was) all
near the sea front, Whereas shops, central bus station, railway station,
theatre and castle are dispersed in the more traditional centre.in the.
He also presented a plan for a mini
barrage around Swansea Bay as an amenity ring with the added advantage
of generating electricity from tidal movement. Remember though that
electricity cannot be stored and without large scale water storage the
generation would be as cyclic as the tide and bear no correlation with
demand.
I know Joan found this the most
interesting group discussion of all.
CARE LEAVERS
Describing the huge problems facing
young people leaving care in this country, housing, very low income (£50
Job Seekers Allowance), no aspiration, no qualification. It was an
almost insoluble burden for those trying to help such people find their way
in the world, no wonder many turned to drugs.
ASYLUM SEEKERS
Another discussion leader trying to
grapple with a very difficult task,
helping them through the legal battle to prove they were genuine asylum seekers rather than illegal
immigrants, rendered almost impossible because they were allowed only 5
hours free consultation with a lawyer.
The secondary school teacher in the
group said that school leavers, let alone the population at large, did
not understand the huge moral difference between asylum seekers who
faced persecution or even death if they returned to their own country,
and economic migrants who also arrived by illegal means hoping for a
better life.
A surprising fact to me was that the
majority currently seeking asylum in Swansea were mainland Chinese, who
had run into trouble with the Chinese state for trade union or other
political reasons.
PRESENTATIONS
Finally each group was asked to find two
people to present via microphone and video camera a two minute summary
of their group's key observations.
Emma was keen to put forward her views
from my group, whereas I was happy to opt out until it was obvious that
someone had to help her with the presentation. In the event like the
other groups we made a joint presentation for Emma's chosen topics of Care Leavers and Asylum Seekers. My contribution
was to say that I considered that the major problem with care leavers
was caused by the complete failure to deal with their problems whilst
they were in care. Since they were leaving care without qualifications,
without aspiration, and in consequence with little likelihood of finding
jobs it was hard to see a satisfactory conclusion.
As regards Asylum one key reflection was
that secondary education leavers needed to understand and be able to
evaluate moral values. In the past we may have relied on the churches to
teach such issues - but as an atheist I recognise it as vital part of
the armoury of good citizens.
Steven Allen
As one of the very latest to join
Swansea U3A, attracted initially perhaps by the activity of the Jive
Group and intended to be part of our display on the night, it was
interesting to see him seized for a role in one of the theatrical
presentations. He has obvious talent in that direction, so it looks as
though we have another valuable U3A new member.
We jivers all stayed to enjoy the whole
meeting and the feedback I got from our members towards the meeting was
entirely favourable. The vibes from the National Theatre Wales group
were likewise. One suggestion from me is that the Discussion Leaders
ought to have worn name tags with an indication of affiliation.
The second observation is that I thought
the event was inadequately served by the publicity I saw. Not until the
night did I understand the real form of the occasion with the key
objective being to create discussion, the jive being a way to break the
ice and theatrical presentations being the means chosen to break the
evening up and showcase some of the issues to be discussed. I know this
was a first off for National Theatre Wales and no organiser could be
expected to know how it would turn out, but with a more complete prior
understanding I would have been able to publicise it better to U3A
members, and a number of them would have been keen to contribute, even
though the event clashed with the second prime ministerial debate on TV.
SHELF LIFE
Having discussed with David Philips, the poor review in the Guardian, by Lyn
Gardner who is normally particularly supportive to new theatrical ideas,
I decided to change my original decision not to go and Joan and I just
squeezed into a nominally full house at the last minute on Saturday
evening. Not myself a past lover of Volcano Theatre, who I saw murder a
Shakespeare play in the Grand a couple of decades ago, I must say we
both found it an enjoyable evening and one we are pleased not to have
missed.
I found the presentation unfocussed but
with some excellent moments, though without doubt innovative and
therefore very interesting. I personally prefer text based theatre, with
a strong message which leaves you thinking, and found many of the
physical theatre aspects both pointless and distracting (not that I
object to distraction by naked young women!). The use of space, outside,
in the store room, and around a circular dinner table in the beautiful
old library building, was excellent, but we are still unsure what the
message was.
Readers of this blog will be aware of my
love of 'theatre in the round' - what better venue could there
be than this circular library room with its glass dome! Thinking as I
do of how to develop theatre in Swansea I see this as the rich man's
alternative to Bristol's Tobacco Factory. We lived in Stoke-on-Trent
during the inauguration of their Victoria Theatre (in the round) in the
early sixties by the now famous trio of Peter Cheeseman, Stephen Joseph
and Alan Ayckbourn, who was then an actor. If they could do it in the
cultural wilderness of Stoke we could surely do it here and put Swansea
on the theatrical map. Whilst we are here how about the Grand Theatre
emulating the quality theatre of Royal Theatre Bath. We could not
emulate Bristol's Old Vic without a quality theatre school.
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