Pontypool - Wales Millennium Centre Review
The horror movie genre is well known for covering a large array of different themes and tropes, from the more subtle paranormal format, through to full out action and gore-fests. But up until this date it has only really been the paranormal and ghostly that have successfully crossed over onto the stage. Yes, Ghost Stories, 2.22: A Ghost Story or even The Woman in Black are great pieces of theatre, but they haven't been able to create the visceral grittiness of a zombie movie. Well Step forward Pontypool, a new production from the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff.
Based on Tony Burgess' original tale, (but transported from Canada to Wales) the show all takes place in a basement radio studio where shock jock Mazzy is trying to record the morning breakfast show, whilst outside, the start of a viral apocalypse rages. The opening scenes all cleverly set up the mundanity of the production team's day to day routine, but it isn't long before they start to realise something very extraordinary is happening around them.
And this is perhaps the most telling things about this show - we genuinely believed that the one location setting would mean that we would just be distant viewers to the upcoming apocalypse. In fact that's how it starts, but as is clear from the production scenes below, the team aren't safe in their location and the virus has a very unusual way of spreading.
What then follows is an intense study in chaos and mistrust as the main antagonists try to figure out how to survive, and more importantly how NOT to spread the virus. Which is an interesting concept that plays on the duality of language in Wales. Warnings are issued in Welsh as the virus is believed to travel through English words. Else where a Welsh resident bemoans the fact that she never sent her kids to Welsh language lessons. Throughout the play there are constant references to the Welsh/English divide - including topical jabs at the recent riots and demonstrations in England . There are obviously also references and parallels with a certain real life 2020 virus that we all would rather now forget about!
Of course you cant have any sort of "zombie" story without some gore and Pontypool delivers this well. The verbal descriptions of what the infected do to their victims is just horrifying, but the slow transformation of one character is subtly completed on stage, through blackouts or dropping out of sight in the recording booth. One special effect truly shook the audience, with a scene of such gross exploitation that wouldn't look out of place in Hollywood movie. To achieve such an effect in a live stage performance was just stunning!
But it isn't just about the story and the horror. The show is a technical masterpiece (especially in the sound department) with pre-recorded sections, radio jingles and tunes being eloquently faded in and out, so we can always focus on the main actors. Added to that is the impressive lighting production that provides sudden blackouts, mood lighting, and most specifically during one attack scene, a sense of urgency and realness to the fight happening on stage. To match this technical achievement - all the cast, but most specifically LLoyd Hutchinson as Mazzy and Victoria Briar as Rhiannon, bounce off the enormous challenge of staging such a production, whilst bringing a human side to a very non human situation. That they can do this whilst getting bloodier by the minute, is no mean feat, and their emotional journey throughout the show, centre pins the whole story.
Ok. the nature of the infection is a bit far fetched (even if it is true to the source material) but in summary, Pontypool is an impressive piece of theatre that mixes great drama with a sprinkling of social commentary, a lot of humour and just the right amount of gore!
Based on Tony Burgess' original tale, (but transported from Canada to Wales) the show all takes place in a basement radio studio where shock jock Mazzy is trying to record the morning breakfast show, whilst outside, the start of a viral apocalypse rages. The opening scenes all cleverly set up the mundanity of the production team's day to day routine, but it isn't long before they start to realise something very extraordinary is happening around them.
And this is perhaps the most telling things about this show - we genuinely believed that the one location setting would mean that we would just be distant viewers to the upcoming apocalypse. In fact that's how it starts, but as is clear from the production scenes below, the team aren't safe in their location and the virus has a very unusual way of spreading.
What then follows is an intense study in chaos and mistrust as the main antagonists try to figure out how to survive, and more importantly how NOT to spread the virus. Which is an interesting concept that plays on the duality of language in Wales. Warnings are issued in Welsh as the virus is believed to travel through English words. Else where a Welsh resident bemoans the fact that she never sent her kids to Welsh language lessons. Throughout the play there are constant references to the Welsh/English divide - including topical jabs at the recent riots and demonstrations in England . There are obviously also references and parallels with a certain real life 2020 virus that we all would rather now forget about!
Of course you cant have any sort of "zombie" story without some gore and Pontypool delivers this well. The verbal descriptions of what the infected do to their victims is just horrifying, but the slow transformation of one character is subtly completed on stage, through blackouts or dropping out of sight in the recording booth. One special effect truly shook the audience, with a scene of such gross exploitation that wouldn't look out of place in Hollywood movie. To achieve such an effect in a live stage performance was just stunning!
But it isn't just about the story and the horror. The show is a technical masterpiece (especially in the sound department) with pre-recorded sections, radio jingles and tunes being eloquently faded in and out, so we can always focus on the main actors. Added to that is the impressive lighting production that provides sudden blackouts, mood lighting, and most specifically during one attack scene, a sense of urgency and realness to the fight happening on stage. To match this technical achievement - all the cast, but most specifically LLoyd Hutchinson as Mazzy and Victoria Briar as Rhiannon, bounce off the enormous challenge of staging such a production, whilst bringing a human side to a very non human situation. That they can do this whilst getting bloodier by the minute, is no mean feat, and their emotional journey throughout the show, centre pins the whole story.
Ok. the nature of the infection is a bit far fetched (even if it is true to the source material) but in summary, Pontypool is an impressive piece of theatre that mixes great drama with a sprinkling of social commentary, a lot of humour and just the right amount of gore!
Links:
Wales Millennium Centre website
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