The Dark Philosophers

From August 2011

Maybe 10am was just a bit too early for my brain to engage but I found it really hard to understand what was going on in The Dark Philosophers, a joint production between National Theatre Wales & Told by an Idiot.

It was only speaking to another member of the audience after the performance (curiously, a man skiving from a criminology course) that I began to understand that there were two separate but interconnected narratives. One based on the novel of the same name by Welsh writer Gwyn Thomas, the other being the author's real life.

It made for a scrappy time-jumping affair (including a reconstruction of Thomas being interviewed by Michael Parkinson's on the latter's 1970s TV show) but hugely enjoyable nevertheless. Gwyn Thomas was described as 'the true voice of the valleys' and the Welsh tradition of story telling comes over very well, stories which for the most part are as darkly comic as they are bleak.

And imaginative use of wardrobes.

The Dark Philosophers, Traverse Theatre, until 28th August