logo
Play on Banksy artwork in Port Talbot at Torch Theatre

Play on Banksy artwork in Port Talbot at Torch Theatre

The Sherman Theatre's co-production with Theatr3, Port Talbot's Gotta Banksy, will be performed at the Milford Haven theatre on May 20.
The show will examine the effect of Banksy's 2018 mural Season's Greetings, which appeared on a Port Talbot steelworker's garage, on the community.
The script is based on more than 100 hours of interviews with residents, conducted over six years, and tells the story of the Port Talbot Banksy in the community's own words.
Paul Jenkins and Tracy Harris, artistic directors of Theatr3, wrote the play, with Mr Jenkins directing.
Mr Jenkins said: "This will be the first time the story of the impact of a Banksy on a community has been told on stage, and the people whose remarkable stories we gathered have plenty to say.
"It's been an extraordinary process, generating a script full of anger but also incredible resilience and laugh-out-loud humour."
The play will be performed by Jalisa Andrews, Matthew Bulgo, Holly Carpenter, Ioan Hefin, Simon Nehan, and Kerry Joy Stewart.
Sherman Theatre's chief executive, Julia Barry, said: "This is truly a south Wales story that speaks to the world; one that made global headlines, unfolded in a town with a huge artistic reach and whose community's voices demand to be heard.
"We're delighted to bring this new play to audiences in Wales."
The play will be performed at the Torch Theatre on Tuesday, May 20, at 7.30pm.
Tickets are £22, £20 for concessions, and £15 for under 26s.
For more information, visit the Torch Theatre website or call the box office on 01646 695267.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Lowestoft students inspired by Banksy, Britten and The Darkness
Lowestoft students inspired by Banksy, Britten and The Darkness

BBC News

time16 hours ago

  • BBC News

Lowestoft students inspired by Banksy, Britten and The Darkness

Composer Benjamin Britten, The Darkness and Banksy are being cited as positive influences for young people in an English seaside students from three different high schools in Lowestoft have used the inspirations to help them write the 2025 Suffolk Day words, focusing on a "brighter future" for Britain's most easterly town, have been read at the Houses of Parliament ahead of a ceremony in Lowestoft on Suffolk Day - which is taking place on Saturday 21 Day, inspired by Yorkshire Day, was started in 2017 and is celebrated on the summer solstice, as Ness Point is the first to see the sunrise. Lily-Rose and Tilly from Benjamin Britten Academy, Beth and Ella from Ormiston Denes Academy, and Willow and Naomi from East Point Academy each wrote parts of the starts with: "We want to tell you about the bright future that awaits Lowestoft. A place where creativity and community thrive."Beth, 15, included references to Suffolk councils declaring a climate crisis in 2019, and pledging said: "It does provide our area with hope, because we can see the impact it has had on our local area." The proclamation continues: "Art and culture are the bright future of Lowestoft."We are the birthplace of Benjamin Britten and his inspirational music that transcended the globe. "We are the canvas for Banksy's spraycation. We are home to three flourishing theatres. "Moreover, Lowestoft was the maiden voyage for the award-winning band The Darkness."Lily-Rose said: "There's a lot of art around the town. They've done lots to incorporate arts and culture where we live." The proclamation continues: "As we look ahead, Lowestoft stands tall as a beacon of progress and pride - a town where the spirit of innovation meets the warmth of tradition."From our historic roots to our forward-thinking future, we are a community united by purpose and place."The Suffolk Day ceremony includes presenting medals to celebrate community achievements, and moves to a different host town each year events in Lowestoft coincide with the annual First Light Festival, which takes place on the beach on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 June. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Haverfordwest Children's Festival's summer line-up
Haverfordwest Children's Festival's summer line-up

Western Telegraph

time21 hours ago

  • Western Telegraph

Haverfordwest Children's Festival's summer line-up

The festival will run from Monday, July 28, to Saturday, August 2. The town will transform into a vibrant playground for young people, offering a variety of activities. The week-long event includes music, science and technology workshops, and printmaking sessions. The event is designed to spark every child's imagination with activities ranging from song-writing workshops to hands-on marine biology sessions. Young engineers can also build a clock and explore the wonders of the ocean in hands-on marine biology sessions at Pembrokeshire College. The Torch Theatre team will run a workshop imagining the myths and legends of the future. Children's Laureate Wales, Alex Wharton, will headline the festival finale at Haverhub on Saturday, August 2. He will perform a combination of poetry, rap, and songs. The festival, now in its third year, was founded by local parents and educators. Its aim is to nurture children's imagination, confidence, and curiosity during the school summer break. The event provides opportunities for children to discover new interests, learn skills, and enjoy creative experiences in Pembrokeshire. The festival has received support from the Arts Council of Wales. This support has helped to expand the programme and offer subsidised low-price tickets, ensuring accessibility for all. Tickets can be booked online at the Haverfordwest Children's Festival website.

Tony Awards laud android rom-com Maybe Happy Ending and history-making Purpose
Tony Awards laud android rom-com Maybe Happy Ending and history-making Purpose

North Wales Chronicle

time3 days ago

  • North Wales Chronicle

Tony Awards laud android rom-com Maybe Happy Ending and history-making Purpose

Its star, Darren Criss, had won the leading actor in a musical award just minutes before. He also hosted the Tonys pre-show. The best new play trophy at Sunday's Tony Awards went to Purpose, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' drawing-room drama about an accomplished black family exposing hypocrisy and pressures during a snowed-in gathering. It caps a remarkable year for Jacobs-Jenkins, who in addition to winning back-to-back Tonys — his Appropriate won best play revival in 2024 — earned the Pulitzer Prize for Purpose. Jacobs-Jenkins becomes the first black playwright to win for best new play since August Wilson took home the trophy in 1987 for Fences. He urged Tony viewers to support regional theatres. Purpose was nurtured in Chicago. Kara Young — the first black female actor to be nominated for a Tony Award in four consecutive years — became the first black person to win two Tonys consecutively, with the featured actress in a play trophy for her work in Purpose. Young thanked her parents, Jacobs-Jenkins, her cast and director Phylicia Rashad. 'Theatre is a sacred space that we have to honour and treasure, and it makes us united,' she said. Sunset Blvd., with Nicole Scherzinger starring as a fallen screen idol desperate to reclaim her fame, won best musical revival, handing composer Andrew Lloyd Webber his first competitive Tony since 1995, when the original show won. The current version is a stripped-down, minimalist production. Sarah Snook took home the trophy for leading actress in a play for her tireless work in The Picture of Dorian Gray, where she plays all 26 roles. 'I don't feel alone any night that I do this show,' Snook said, dismissing the idea of her play as a one-woman show. 'There are so many people onstage making it work and behind the stage making it work.' Downtown cabaret star Cole Escola took home the best actor in a play trophy for playing a deranged, repressed and over-the-top ahistorical version of Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh Mary!, beating such Hollywood stars as George Clooney and Daniel Dae Kim. Sam Pinkleton won best director for Oh, Mary! and thanked Escola, saying he taught him: 'Do what you love, not what you think people want to see.' Francis Jue won best actor in a featured role in a play for his work in a revival of Yellow Face. He said he was gifted his tuxedo from another Asian actor who wanted him to wear it to the Tonys. 'I'm only here because of the encouragement and inspiration of generations of wonderful, deserving Asian artists who came before me,' he said. 'To those who don't feel seen,' he added. 'I see you.' Jak Malone won best actor in a featured role in a musical for the British import Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical, playing a woman every performance. He hoped his win could be a powerful advocacy for trans rights. Eureka Day, Jonathan Spector's social satire about well-meaning liberals debating a school's vaccine policy, won the best play revival trophy. It made its off-Broadway debut in 2019. The original cast of Hamilton, including creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, did a victory lap all dressed in black to mark the show's 10th anniversary on Broadway, with a medley including My Shot, The Schuyler Sisters, History Has Its Eyes on You and The Room Where It Happens. First-time host Cynthia Erivo kicked off the show from her dressing room in Radio City Music Hall, unsure of her opening number as the stage manager urged her to get to the stage. As she made her way through the backstage warren, she ran into various people offering advice until she reached Oprah Winfrey, who advised: 'The only thing you need to do is just be yourself.' Erivo then appeared at the stage in a red, spangly gown with white accents, hip cocked, as she launched into the slow-burning original song Sometimes All You Need Is a Song, written by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Initially alone with just a pianist, Erivo's soaring voice was soon joined by dozens of members of the Broadway Inspirational Voices choir, all dressed in white, making her look like a powerful strawberry in a bowl of whipped cream. In her opening comments, she singled out first-time nominees Louis McCartney, Sadie Sink, Escola and 'an up-and-comer that I think you're going to really be hearing quite a bit about — George Clooney'. She noted that the 2024-2025 season took in 1.9 billion dollars (£1.46 billion), making it the highest-grossing season ever and signalling that Broadway has finally emerged from the Covid-19 blues. 'Broadway is officially back,' Erivo said. 'Provided we don't run out of cast members from Succession,' a nod to appearances this season by former co-stars Snook and Kieran Culkin and last season by Jeremy Strong. She and Sara Bareilles duetted for a moving in memoriam section, singing The Sun Will Come Out from Annie, and honouring its composer Charles Strouse as well as George Wendt, Richard Chamberlain, Athol Fugard, Joan Plowright, Quincy Jones, Linda Lavin, James Earl Jones and Gavin Creel. Erivo was an amiable host, at one point appearing in the second mezzanine to comment that everyone likes the view from theatre balconies — except perhaps Abraham Lincoln. She had fun with Winfrey later on, telling her to check under her chair, where she found a gift bag with a toy automobile. 'You get a car!' Erivo cracked. The best book and best score awards went to Maybe Happy Ending, a rom-com between androids, with lyrics written by Hue Park and music composed by Will Aronson. Its director, Michael Arden, won — 'Happy Pride!' he said — and it also picked up best scenic design of a musical. Justin Peck and Patricia Delgado won for choreographing Buena Vista Social Club, and Peck noted a song from the renowned original album was played at their wedding. The musical takes its inspiration from Wim Wenders' 1999 Oscar-nominated documentary on the making of the Cuban album. Best costumes in a play went to Marg Hornwell for The Picture of Dorian Gray, while Death Becomes Her won the musical counterpart, a win for Paul Tazewell in a year where he also became the first black man to win an Oscar for designing costumes, for Wicked. 'I have dressed so many of you out there,' he said from the podium. Harvey Fierstein, the four-time Tony winner behind Torch Song Trilogy and Kinky Boots, was honoured with a lifetime achievement Tony and became emotional during his speech: 'There is nothing quite like bathing in the applause of a curtain call, but when I bow, I bow to the audience, with gratitude, knowing that without them I might as well be lip-syncing showtunes in my bedroom mirror. 'And so I dedicate this award to the people in the dark.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store