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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...
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Opera and horseplay: Falstaff

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The Royal Opera's updated production of Verdi's Falstaff received mixed reviews from the audience on Tuesday night. Most people loved the performances, but when it was time for the production team to head onstage, there were some very audible boos (not to be confused with Audioboos ). The gentleman next to me booed. He had had been tut tutting throughout most of the opera (particularly as the curtain went up revealing a dazzlingly bright 1950s kitchen in the second act), so it probably was not a surprise, but he did it with such gusto the sound reverberated around. It is great that so many people are so passionate about Falstaff. It's a wonderful opera about a man who gets his comeuppance. While the production does update the setting from Elizabethan England to 1950s England, for the most part this change does not get in the way of the proceedings. The final scene in the second act in that kitchen was a little clunky and mistimed so much that it was obvious to most of ...
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