The Dark Philosophers
Two braying actors shift a piece of furniture: “Two goats move a table; a fringe first, surely.” You catch the drift of The Dark Philosophers, a spirited piece of physical theatre by the National Theatre of Wales, in association with Told by an Idiot, based on the stories of Welsh bard Gwyn Thomas, who died in 1981.
But a little of this ingratiating stuff goes a long way, and once the actors have established that Thomas was a bit of a rogue with more than a touch of his namesake Dylan about him, the show flounders to find a sustaining energy.
The stage is piled high with cupboards and wardrobes, creating a mountainous environment in the Rhondda Valley, where the writer in a mask supervises his own characters and provides a biographical outline, too.
Kneehigh writer Carl Grose draws on two main narratives — involving a new farm hand in a remote outpost, and the tyranny of a legendary mountain-owner and empire-builder, represented by a rather limp puppet — and director Paul Hunter animates them with lightning character sketches, chapel songs and anthems and a surprise re-enactment of Michael Parkinson’s television chat show, with Thomas guesting alongside Billy Connolly and Dolly Parton.
A hard-working company of eight certainly earn their stripes in scenes of poverty, friendship, parlour songs, brawling tumblers and horizontal mining, but the show occasionally makes you wish you were watching Under Milk Wood instead.
