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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...

Mixed race privilege: White @ovalhouse


I always knew what I was. I was mixed race. I was... And so begins Koko Brown’s monologue White. It’s about being mixed race and being an outsider and growing up in modern Britain dealing with labels when sometimes none really fit.

It’s currently playing at the Ovalhouse Theatre as part of its Autumn Series of shows.

Koko Brown uses spoken word, live vocal looping and multimedia to create a powerful and compelling statement on how we view people.


Whether it’s the black girl in the corner, who like’s Panic! At the Disco. Who doesn’t get why she’s always cast as Scary Spice. Who stumbled onto a Black Lives Matter march.

The vocal looping creates a series of songs to comment on the various stages of her young life.


It’s fascinating for both it’s assured performance and uncertainty with what happens next.

It would make a great double bill with  Joe Sellman-Leava’s piece Labels.

In the meantime, you can catch it at the Ovalhouse until 25 November.

Next up at the Ovalhouse is The Sex Workers Opera, which combines theatre and music to showcase the lives of sex workers... Warts and all (or so to speak).

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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