Post by Jazz on Nov 5, 2006 21:41:13 GMT 1
Vivien Parry is currently in "Memory". This is a review of the new play she's in
Previews & Reviews
Back to the future
Nov 3 2006
By Gill Isted
If he's excited at the prospect that the world premiere of his new play, Memory, is drawing ever closer, no-one would guess.
Award-winning, unassuming Welsh playwright Jonathan Lichtenstein seems almost reluctant to discuss the work, though a hint of pride creeps in at mention of the fact one of his plays has been translated into German and recently opened in Dresden.
The Pull Of Negative Gravity, the story of a Welsh soldier's return from the war in Iraq and the effects on his family, won him a Fringe First award for innovation and outstanding new writing at the 2004 Edinburgh Festival and has since toured to Australia and New York, in each case wining huge critical acclaim.
His first play, Station, was described as 'a confident debut from a promising new writer' when it opened in London in 2000. He also has two radio plays to his credit.
Given the fact that Memory (performed in English by a seven-strong cast of Welsh actors) is set in East Berlin in 1990, shortly after the infamous wall was pulled down, and moves on to Israel where, over a decade later, a new wall was built, coupled with the fact that his surname is certainly not typically Welsh, I have to ask about the play's origins.
'People are always asking me where I'm from and I say I'm from mid Wales and I'm Welsh. My father was originally from Berlin but he never spoke much about that and the family settled in Wales where I grew up.
'Of course I was influenced by what he experienced, but this play is not about his experience.
'Then again, all writing has to be autobiographical because if you haven't experienced a thing, you can't write about it with conviction.
'What has always intrigued me is the way memories are passed from one generation to another. I think about this as being very much a Welsh play because it has to do with the past infiltrating the present and how it is locked into the future, which is something we can't escape despite our best intentions.
'The thing for me is that memory infuses the person and informs the way we are now, it is a very active thing.
'It's a haunting play, about Eva, who is Jewish, whose present life is very controlled but the memories of the past begin to haunt her. When the wall comes down she is visited by her grandson who has come from Britain to find out what really happened. He must know but she won't tell because it is her life, she witnessed it all, it does not belong to anyone else.
'Generations later, the Israeli security wall goes up in Bethlehem - an historic parallel which means this play not only recalls the past but is extremely topical today.'
Jonathan reveals that he visited Israel for the first time a few weeks ago.
'I thought that if they were going to put this play on, I'd better go there. It's an amazing country - Jerusalem is incredible, so small but so much history, so many cultures, so many disputations.'
Memory sees the return to Clwyd Theatr Cymru of Vivien Parry who, for the past two years, has enjoyed working in London's West End playing the lead role in the hit musical Mamma Mia.
Other familiar faces from the Clwyd company include Lee Haven-Jones (Danny in Night Must Fall); Oliver Ryan (Billy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest) and Simon Nehan, recently seen in The Grapes Of Wrath. uMemory can be seen in the Emlyn Williams Theatre at Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, until November 25. Ring the box office on 0845 330 3565 for details.
Previews & Reviews
Back to the future
Nov 3 2006
By Gill Isted
If he's excited at the prospect that the world premiere of his new play, Memory, is drawing ever closer, no-one would guess.
Award-winning, unassuming Welsh playwright Jonathan Lichtenstein seems almost reluctant to discuss the work, though a hint of pride creeps in at mention of the fact one of his plays has been translated into German and recently opened in Dresden.
The Pull Of Negative Gravity, the story of a Welsh soldier's return from the war in Iraq and the effects on his family, won him a Fringe First award for innovation and outstanding new writing at the 2004 Edinburgh Festival and has since toured to Australia and New York, in each case wining huge critical acclaim.
His first play, Station, was described as 'a confident debut from a promising new writer' when it opened in London in 2000. He also has two radio plays to his credit.
Given the fact that Memory (performed in English by a seven-strong cast of Welsh actors) is set in East Berlin in 1990, shortly after the infamous wall was pulled down, and moves on to Israel where, over a decade later, a new wall was built, coupled with the fact that his surname is certainly not typically Welsh, I have to ask about the play's origins.
'People are always asking me where I'm from and I say I'm from mid Wales and I'm Welsh. My father was originally from Berlin but he never spoke much about that and the family settled in Wales where I grew up.
'Of course I was influenced by what he experienced, but this play is not about his experience.
'Then again, all writing has to be autobiographical because if you haven't experienced a thing, you can't write about it with conviction.
'What has always intrigued me is the way memories are passed from one generation to another. I think about this as being very much a Welsh play because it has to do with the past infiltrating the present and how it is locked into the future, which is something we can't escape despite our best intentions.
'The thing for me is that memory infuses the person and informs the way we are now, it is a very active thing.
'It's a haunting play, about Eva, who is Jewish, whose present life is very controlled but the memories of the past begin to haunt her. When the wall comes down she is visited by her grandson who has come from Britain to find out what really happened. He must know but she won't tell because it is her life, she witnessed it all, it does not belong to anyone else.
'Generations later, the Israeli security wall goes up in Bethlehem - an historic parallel which means this play not only recalls the past but is extremely topical today.'
Jonathan reveals that he visited Israel for the first time a few weeks ago.
'I thought that if they were going to put this play on, I'd better go there. It's an amazing country - Jerusalem is incredible, so small but so much history, so many cultures, so many disputations.'
Memory sees the return to Clwyd Theatr Cymru of Vivien Parry who, for the past two years, has enjoyed working in London's West End playing the lead role in the hit musical Mamma Mia.
Other familiar faces from the Clwyd company include Lee Haven-Jones (Danny in Night Must Fall); Oliver Ryan (Billy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest) and Simon Nehan, recently seen in The Grapes Of Wrath. uMemory can be seen in the Emlyn Williams Theatre at Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, until November 25. Ring the box office on 0845 330 3565 for details.
