DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR WRITES AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL PLAY TONYPANDEMONIUM

 

During its centenary year, the Park & Dare Theatre will play host to the first play from Dylan Thomas Prize-winning author Rachel Trezise – Tonypandemonium, a raucous, raunchy, hilarious, heartbreaking and autobiographical account of a daughter’s fraught, decade-spanning relationship with her beautiful, fun-loving and alcoholic mother.

Three young actresses from local comprehensive schools will perform the role of the daughter, Danielle – Tamarra Brabon, Molly Elson and Sarah Williams. The lines between stage and auditorium will be blurred as the Tonypandemonium spills into the stalls.

“You just know it’s going to be one of those nights. Hormonal teenager and neurotic mother under one terraced roof? My father’s got a word for it: Tonypandemonium.”

Rachel says: “The Park & Dare Theatre has always seemed like part of me, stood eminent on Station Square in Treorchy where I’ve lived most of my life. I had no idea when I started writing my first play that it would eventually be staged by National Theatre Wales in that very theatre as part of their residency to celebrate the building’s centenary. What a thrill for me to be able to premier my work in my hometown, a couple of miles from where the play is actually set!”

The cast includes Siwan Morris, Berwyn Pearce, Adam Redmore and Dean Rehman. Danielle will be played by three local schoolgirls, Tamarra Brabon, Molly Elson and Sarah Williams.

Alongside this new production, National Theatre Wales will host a month-long residency at the Park & Dare Theatre, throughout October 2013 (see separate press release), called Made in Treorchy.

Writer Rachel Trezise was born in the Rhondda valley in south Wales, where she still lives. She studied at Glamorgan and Limerick Universities. Her novel In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl won a place on the Orange Futures List in 2002. Harpers & Queen magazine voted her New Face of Literature, 2003. In 2006, her first short fiction collection Fresh Apples won the Dylan Thomas Prize. She was writer in residence at the University of Texas, Austin in 2007. Her most recent novel is Sixteen Shades of Crazy. Her second collection of stories, Cosmic Latte, was published in the Spring.

Director Mathilde López trained at Central Saint Martin’s in Performance Design, has a Masters in Theatre Directing from Birkbeck College and was a founding member of National Theatre Wales. Her company, August 012, focuses on bringing international contemporary plays to and staging others in Wales, and commits to developing ideas and innovative staging with actors, designers, musicians, creative technicians and the community. The company’s work is constantly shaped and questioned by the way we live here and now, and is therefore structurally relevant to the nation and the people living here today. Directing credits include: Cien Años (London/Prague), Yvonne, Princess Of Burgundy (Hoxton Hall), Hotel Europa, La Suspension du Plongeur and Prometheus Bound (Cochrane Theatre/Hoxton Hall), Crosswired (East London Dance/Barbican Centre), Serious Money (Waking Exploits/Chapter), De Gabay (development week I and II, National Theatre Wales), Man on the Moon (George Orange/Wales Millennium Centre), Pornography (Waking Exploits/Chapter and touring), Who Killed The Elephant? and Caligula (August 012/Chapter). She previously worked as an assistant director and literary manager for Theatre Royal Stratford East, free-lanced for ITV, BBC and BBC Wales as a production designer and with Carl Fillion on LA Celestina and 1984, both projects directed by Robert Lepage and produced by Ex Machina (Quebec).

Siwan Morris’ theatre credits include: A Good Night Out in the Valleys (National Theatre Wales), Cloakroom (Sherman Cymru), Knives in Hens (Bath Theatre Royal), Midsummer Knights Dream, Suddenly Last Summer, King Lear, Equus, Flora’s War, Hosts of Rebecca, Rape of the Fair Country, The Journey of Mary Kelly and The Rabbit (Clwyd Theatr Cymru), The Seagull (Bristol Old Vic), Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night (RJ Williamson UK Tour), The Merchant of Venice and The Winter’s Tale (Ludlow Festival Theatre), Feast of Snails (Lyric Theatre) and Gas Station Angel (Fiction Factory/Royal Court). Television credits include: Wolfblood, Whites, Casualty, The Bench, Tales of Pleasure Beach and Doctors (BBC), New Nation (Mentorn Cymru), Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (ITV), Caerdydd (Fiction Factory), Con Passionate (Apollo), Skins (Channel 4/E4), Antigone, Belonging and Social Action (BBC Wales), Mine All Mine (Red/ITV), 20 Things To Do Before You’re 30 (Tiger Aspect), The Bill (Talkback Thames), The Marvellous Handshake (Satellite Productions), A Mind to Kill (Fiction Factory/ITV Wales), Sister Lulu (Gaucho/Channel 4), Sucker Fish (Teliesyn). Film credits include The Devil’s Vice (University of Wales) and The Machine (Pandora Films).

Berwyn Pearce trained at The Central School of Speech and Drama.

Theatre credits include: Sky Hawk (Clwyd Theatr Cymru), The Real Valleys (Dirty Protest), Little Dogs (National Theatre Wales/Frantic Assembly), Deffro’r Gwanwyn (Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru), Keeping the Faith (CSSD) and the Wanamaker Festival (Shakespeare’s Globe). Television credits include: Pobol y Cwm (S4C).

Adam Redmore’s theatre credits include: Follow (Finborough Theatre), School for Scandal and Dr Faustus (Greenwich Theatre), Double Falsehood (The Union), Serious Money (Waking Exploits), Clytemnestra (Sherman Cymru), The Rover (Hampton Court) and Caligula (August012). Television credits include The Bill (ITV), Silent Witness and Doctors (BBC). Radio credits include If You’re Reading This (BBC Radio 4).

Dean Rehman had his first professional engagement with Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco, in 1992. Over the next four years he worked extensively in California. In 1997, Dean moved to New York City to study acting at The Stella Adler Conservatory and worked in theatres in Manhattan for the next five years. In 2002, Dean spent a year in Dublin working with Red Rua Theatre before returning to his native Cardiff. Since then, he has worked with a number of companies including Wales Actor’s Company, Ruth is Stranger than Richard, Theatr Na Nog, Hijinx, Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Sgript Cymru, Sherman Cymru, Shock N Awe, Theatre West Bristol, Bristol Old Vic and National Theatre Wales. He is an associate actor with Give it A Name. Television credits include: Caerdydd, Pen Talar and Gwaith Cartref (S4C). Film credits include: Colonial Gods (Clwyd Theatr Cymru).

The Park & Dare Theatre dominates the skyline of Treorchy, in the Rhondda fawr valley. Its construction in 1913 was funded by the miners of the local Park & Dare Collieries. Owned and operated by Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC Cultural Services, together with the Coliseum Theatre, Aberdare and the Muni Arts Centre Pontypridd, it forms RCT Theatres – an ACW Revenue Funded organisation. Tonypandemonium and NTW’s residency at the theatre are two of the many events and productions planned to celebrate its centenary in 2013. Full details of all the celebrations can be found on the RCT Theatres website at www.rct-arts.co.uk.

 

Listings Information

 

National Theatre Wales presents

TONYPANDEMONIUM

Written by Rachel Trezise
Directed by Mathilde López
At the Park & Dare Theatre, Treorchy

Designer: Jean Chan

Lighting Designer: Ceri James

Composer: Gareth Evans

Emerging Director: Rachael Boulton

The cast includes Siwan Morris, Berwyn Pearce, Adam Redmore and Dean Rehman. Danielle will be played by three local schoolgirls, Tamarra Brabon, Molly Elson and Sarah Williams.

Dates: 10th-19th October 2013 (exc. Sunday)

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: Park & Dare Theatre, Treorchy

Box Office: nationaltheatrewales.org/tonypandemonium

Park & Dare Theatre: 08000 147 111

Tickets: £8

Recommended for ages 14+.