I’m very excited today. I’m excited because tonight I’m
going to watch Run Amok’s fourth production Flowers of the Dead Red Sea written
by Ed Thomas which is being performed by Rhodri Brady and Matt
Christmas. I’m excited because having seen two of their first three productions
I am waiting with baited breath to see what this company are going to do next.
Now quite a lot of you are going to ask some questions after
the first paragraph – Who are Run Amok? Who is Rhodri Brady? Who is Matt
Christmas? Also worryingly a lot of people, even in Wales are going to say –
who is Ed Thomas?
Let’s deal with the easy one – Ed Thomas is the co-creator,
executive producer and writer of Hinterland. Yes that Hinterland, the one that
everyone is talking about at the moment because it was filmed in Ceredigion and
is ambitiously setting its sight to be the new Nordic- noir thriller. Who would
have thought five years that Nordic noir thriller would be a genre?
I should state at this point that you shouldn’t go to see
Flowers of the Dead Red Sea because you like Hinterland or Nordic noir
thrillers, it is not Hinterland – there is no detective, no murder mystery –
there is however two butchers in an extremely darkly comic and absurdist play.
Now long before Ed Thomas began to focus on television and
film writing he was a playwright – he was a playwright in the 90’s in Wales, he
created his own theatre company and then he gave up on theatre in Wales and
headed to the safer world of television and film. You can’t really blame him –
playwrights are ignored, playwrights are not produced, playwrights don’t have
their voices nurtured – in Wales anyway. This genuinely is an extremely rare
opportunity to see a play by Ed Thomas – it hasn’t been produced in over 20
years.
So Run Amok – who are they? Founded by Artistic Directors
Izzy Rabey and Jonathan Patton – Run Amok has been on an impressive trajectory
of performing ambitious, complex and challenging texts. They are a student
company – a company of recent graduates, Jonathan is currently in London
studying for an MA and Izzy is about to head to London to do an MA. Now though
the ground is heavy with student companies in towns and cities with theatre
departments, and those student companies walk through the ashes of student
companies which have walked there before – from those ashes emerge the
companies of the future. As far as I’m concerned that phrase emerging theatre –
that’s where it’s from – it’s the companies that make it through those first
few years of being a student company. I have absolutely no doubt that Run Amok
are going to become one of the leading voices of Welsh theatre - well they will be if we give them a reason
to be, if we support them and nurture them. It is really hard being an emerging
company in Wales, people don’t know the company, they dismiss them as yet
another young student company. But Run Amok are different- they have one foot
in London and one foot in Wales – though admittedly that foot is Izzy Rabey’s
extremely rooted foot.
The foot in London is a good thing too because they have
forced the work of a Welsh playwright into a theatre in London – Welsh written and produced theatre is very
rarely seen in London. Let’s face it it’s rarely seen in Wales. It is barely –
if ever seen outside of Cardiff. Welsh theatre companies touring work – you can
count them on one hand. Welsh companies touring work by Welsh writers – I’m
really struggling now. Yes there are exceptions but as someone working and
writing within the theatre industry in Wales – I really hope we can find our
way to more than exceptions. But don’t go to watch Flowers of the Dead Red Sea
because you want to support one of the exceptions – though that is a good
reason to see it.
Run Amok are a company to be watched –not only in a watch a
meteoric rise as you read reviews and articles about them over the next few
years – but as an experience of live theatre. Live theatre which is guaranteed
to make you laugh and think. Most importantly live theatre which will include
performances from Rhodri Brady and Matt Christmas. This is the thing
which excites me the most about going along tonight to see Flowers of The Dead
Red Sea – I literally can’t wait to experience the chemistry between these two
amazing performers. Performers who are new, magically untrained and untarnished , and
offer so much promise for exciting futures, put them together with the words of
Ed Thomas , the direction of Izzy Rabey, scenographic design from Maisie
Baynham and sound designed by Kyle Arrowsmith and you are absolutely guaranteed
an amazing experience of emerging theatre at its very best.
Flowers of the Dead Red Sea by Ed Thomas, by Run Amok is at
Aberystwyth Arts Centre 1st May, Rosemary Branch Theatre 8th
and 9th May and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Richard Burton
Theatre 10th May. The Aberystwyth Arts Centre performance includes a
post-show talk with Ed Thomas.
Ed Thomas wrote new monologues as trailers for the show
which were filmed by Pete Telfor for Culture Colony which you can view on
YouTube here
Joe and Mock
Joe and Mock
Follow the company at www.facebook.com/RunAmokTheatreCompany
and @TheatrRunAmok
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