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The Green, Green Grass of Home: Mr Jones An Aberfan Story - Finborough Theatre

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A life of hope and promise, interrupted, lies at the heart of Mr Jones: an Aberfan Story. The play follows two young people in Aberfan before and after the disaster that killed 144 people, including 116 children. It’s an emotional coming-of-age tale of intersecting lives, family, love, and the shock of tragedy. With two vivid performances and strong characterisations, you feel immersed in 1960s Welsh small-town life. It’s now running at the Finborough Theatre , after performances at the Edinburgh Festival and across Wales.  The Aberfan disaster is well known in the UK but perhaps less so elsewhere. The facts of the tragedy are confined to the programme notes rather than in the piece. On 21 October 1966, the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on a mountain above Aberfan engulfed a local school, killing many. The play avoids the causes and negligence, instead focusing on those working and building lives in the town.  Writer-performer Liam Holmes plays Stephen Jones, a...

Scenes from Westminster Tube Thursday 23:16. An all-too familiar notice of service disruptions across the underground network this evening as the city escapes another round of bombings. Fortunately this time there is plenty of evidence that has been left behind. I was coming home from an evening at the Hampstead Theatre and with all the service disruption it was a bit of a roundabout route...

Watching the footage this evening on the television as people describe the scramble to get out of Warren Street tube today seems all the more close by. Afterall I use that station a few times a week. Tonight I returned home to my street covered in discarded police tape. For most of the evening Tottenham Court Road was a pedestrian mall, but by midnight the road had reopened. Posted by Picasa

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