Reviews

Single Dad Romeo (Damon Baudin), eighteen, unemployed, lives with his acerbic alcoholic mother Barb (Belinda McClory) in Splott, a deprived area of Cardiff.  He’s the sole carer for his tiny baby, Niamh, whose mother abandoned her and ‘Romy’.  No way Barb is helping financially or otherwise; it’s his stupid choice, he can live with it – even though he can scarcely afford nappies.  He’s exhausted with feeding, cleaning the baby’s endless poo, and lack of sleep.  But Niamh is the centre of Romy’s life; we might even feel that

Tempest Theatre presented this stellar production for a very short season. A beautiful story, told with understanding and great feeling, I can only wish that the season was longer and that more people were given the opportunity to appreciate this little gem of show.

As an iconic love story, the 1990 film Ghost is on the list of many people’s top 100 films. The central idea of love after death has touched everyone at some time, and the theme of “Unchained Melody” (beautifully constructed by Alex North back in 1955) is part of our psyche. That, and the astonishing scene where the ghost embraces his love as she sits at the Potter’s wheel, are moments we remember.

Brett Weymark described this interpretation of Rachmaninoff’s Vespers as “a special performance that sits somewhere between ritual, concert and theatre”. It is indeed special – because Weymark had the vision of the choir moving into different formations signifying the four phases of the All-Night Vigil of the liturgy: sunset to night, through the night to dawn and the new day – Vespers, Compline, Matins and the First Hour.

How he achieved this is typical of Weymark’s inspiration and drive!