THE WORLD'S END

THE WORLD’S END

Since living in Cardiff I have managed to see one play in Welsh, but only on a surtitled night. So, it was a first for me to watch a Welsh play in an evening there was no translation.

I can’t say I had high hopes for the show and only agreed to accompany Anne to the Sherman theatre to see “The World’s End” = “Fe Ddaw’r Byd I Ben” as it was more convenient than on a translated night?

Two American evangelists are convinces of the imminent end of the world leading Sarah to return to Wales to spend the remaining days with her family. At the same time her father kills himself (offstage) and we gradually discover that all the characters had troubles in some way.

Obviously not understanding the language was a problem. , but not such a disadvantage as I had been expecting. I knew that certain English words had no Welsh equivalent , “having a wank”, “pleasuring myself” etc and the scenes with the Americans were an unexpected bonus. However, it was generally quite easy to follow and the staging ( on two levels) was very impressive indeed.

It had been billed as a work in progress but it looked like the finished product to me. The acting was of a very high standard ensuring that the characters didn’t lapse into melodrama or caricature. For me, the star was Siw Hughes as the mother who had the audience roaring with unexpected rude speech and a hilarious drug taking scene. I lost a lot of the humorous lines but it was great watching the rest of the audience laughing hysterically.

For a new play it was quite long (over two hours) and definitely needs some trimming. They seemed to have a perfect ending with most of the cast standing on the kitchen table showing off their lovely Welsh voices in unexpected “Climb Every Mointain” and more traditional Welsh tunes but there were a few more plot explaining scenes to follow. That would be my only suggestion to change the final scenes and leave the audience with the visual memory of that table top moment.

Despite not understanding over half the dialogue I still enjoyed this play a lot more than many plays I had seen in English.

An unexpected delight.