GYPT Show Reviews

Gwent Young People’s Theatre production of ‘Castle’s in the Air’ proved to be something of a unique delight.

Realised for the stage by the performers themselves from translations by Steve Badman, the show comprised a collection of Danish folk tales, some of which carried a cautionary message, others having a distinctly macabre quality.

The commitment and panache with which the company set about presenting these engaging narratives, ranging from the convoluted to the fleeting, held the audience spellbound by the genuinely magical quality of what was unfolding on the stage.

As well as sensitive and enchanting performances from all the actors, the production was notable for some tremendously imaginative feats of stagecraft, the transmogrification of a group of fisher-folk into a pike being particularly noteworthy.

The particular brilliance of the piece was that it enabled the translator and his co-director Gary Meredith to fully involve the entire company not just in the interpretive side of theatre but in the creative process as well.

As such, this superb theatrical event must count as one of the most successful ventures of this ever-ambitious and adventurous company.

Chris Hall