Buzz Magazine November 2013 | Page 24

FROM SGT. PEPPER TO
DYLAN THOMAS

upfront

NEXT year marks the centenary anniversary of Dylan Thomas’ birth. To celebrate
Sir Peter Blake will be unveiling a collection of Thomas themed artwork at The
National Museum, Cardiff.
The exhibition will officially launch the year-long festival, Dylan Thomas 100,
which will celebrate the life and works of the Swansea writer. It consists of over
200 watercolours, collages and drawings depicting many characters, dream
sequences and scenes from the fictional Welsh town of Llareggub. The setting of
Thomas’ well renowned play Under Milk Wood.
Blake has said he has been working on this collection for over 25 years. He fell in
love with the play when he first heard it on the radio, back when he was a student
in The Royal College of Art.
Blake’s best known work is probably the sleeve for The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts Club Band LP. He came to light in the late 1950s during the pop
culture revolution as his unique style combined modern references with fine
art. He has also designed album covers for The Who, Band Aid and Oasis. Not
one to live in the past, Blake launched a redesign of the famous Sgt. Pepper image to
celebrate his 80th birthday. Using modern desktop software, rather than the plywood
cut-out images of the original, he disproved the theory you can’t teach an old dog new
tricks, educating himself in the modern technology of today’s pop culture.
So after 25 years, Blake is finally getting to share his long term love of Thomas with
the public. The exhibition aims to combine unique visual images with the spoken word.
Blake has admitted that he still listens to a recording of the play at least twice a week
so there is no doubt that this will be a wonderfully detailed exploration of the play.
The exhibition will act as a platform for related events, including a special evening
lecture on Wed 4 Dec which will include readings, a performance and a programme
of learning activities for formal educational groups. DENIECE CUSACK

pic: © COURTESY OF SIR PETER BLAKE

BIG BROTHER
IS WATCHING
SINCE its release over 60 years ago, 1984 has remained a relevant and constant
warning about a society we so desperately want to avoid. Now, Headlong Theatre
and Nottingham Playhouse bring Orwell’s masterpiece to stage, re-imagined for our
contemporary world of mass surveillance and censorship. Observing the original
text via the medium of a present-day book club, 1984 will make the comparisons
between the dystopian nightmare of Winston’s world and our own unavoidable.
1984 will present the world both inside and outside of Winston’s head, looking at the
human desire for freedom and understanding, countered by The Party’s omnipresent
control and observation. From this, one can expect a blur of confusion, constantly
coming up against blocked avenues of exploration, with Winston left with no choice
but to discover his humanity through love – the greatest revolutionary act. The
details remain tantalisingly absent: clarity is not the nature of this production.
“We’ve been trying to be as faithful to Orwell as we possibly can,” explains one
of the adapters and directors, Duncan Macmillan, “which means trying to be
intellectually rigorous with it. It’s a very good story and the ideas in it, political
ideas and philosophical ideas, are really complicated. I think it could have been
really easy to do it slightly more ‘dumbed down’ and undersell the political ideas
in favour of big theatre and entertainment. I think audiences have been really
responding to the fact that they haven’t been patronised and we are actually
delivering the complexity of the intellectual argument of Orwell’s novel.”
For lifelong fans of Orwell’s text this is an almost must-see, but even for those
still yet to read the book, it is almost impossible that the ideas and threats of the
original text have passed them by. With previous productions including King Lear
and Marlowe’s Faustus, Headlong are continuing to produce thought-provoking and
iconic work and it looks like 1984 will be no different. LAUREN SOURBUTTS
1984, Sherman Cymru, Cardiff, Tue 5-Sat 9 Nov. Tickets: £15£25. Info: 029 2064 6900 / www.shermancymru.co.uk
BUZZ 24

Llareggub: Peter Blake Illustrates Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk
Wood, National Museum, Cardiff, Sat 23 Nov-Sun 16 Mar.
Info: 029 2039 7951 / www.museumwales.ac.uk