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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...

Theatre: Joan Rivers A Work In Progress by a Life in Progress



I asked my friend Adam if he wanted to see Joan Rivers in her show and his response (in his best Joan voice) was, "Doo eye??? Doo eye ever???" Such is the pull of Joan Rivers with gay men. They love her. Can't get enough of her. Well, it was a silly question for me to ask.

So there we were on Wednesday night in the Leicester Square Theatre watching her new show. The show is part drama, part autobiography, and part stand up routine and it is great from start to finish. Joan doesn't quite look like she does in the picture when she first walks on, but that is part of the story as well. Being Joan Rivers she doesn't hold back talking about ageing. And she goes into every detail about things that drop...

I always love a filthy mouth and as Joan herself says (to paraphrase of course as I was laughing too much to really note the line), "When you reach 75 why can't you say motherfucker if it gives you enjoyment?" Well she says a lot more than that during the course of the show... She also mixed things up a little during the course of the evening including berating the audience for being a bit retarded, getting a gay man in the front row to help her with her zip, took the piss out of her actors, and she even let two members of the audience ask her questions (I think they thought it was a masterclass)...

All told it was a hilarious evening with Joan and she made the show her own. I was not as familiar as Adam was with her routines or her life (I think he should consider doing her act as he even corrected her chronology of events - although I shudder to think how he would look in one of her wigs), so the show was an extra treat for me. It runs through September, and then there are repeat performances in December and January. Definitely one to catch.

Incidentally I was impressed by the newly refurbished Leicester Square Theatre. It is a different sort of space (which the West End needs) and has two bars in the main theatre as well. There are also some fantastic acts coming up over the next few months that will also be worth looking out for...

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