Moving On

After 13 years of doing publicity for Newport Playgoers I’m moving on to pastures new. I’ve written millions of words and taken hundreds of photos to promote Playgoers’ productions and enjoyed every minute. Now it’s time to hand over to someone new. Anyone looking for news of NPS productions can find it at dolmantheatre.co.uk.

Graduating from Hit Film to Stage Success

It launched Dustin Hoffman’s career and was one of the most iconic films of the ‘60s. Now ‘The Graduate’ is coming to Newport’s Dolman Theatre.

“Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs Robinson?” asks Ben (Chris Harris). (PHOTO: PHIL MANSELL)

Benjamin (Chris Harris) is initiated into sex by Mrs Robinson (Kate Summers) (PHOTO: PHIL MANSELL)

Audiences can follow the disastrous sexual odyssey of Benjamin Braddock as he is initiated into sex by the woman he always addresses as Mrs Robinson.

She is a middle-aged married woman with a drink problem, who also happens to be a friend of his parents.

Mrs Robinson (Kate Summers) is not happy when Benjamin (Chris Harris) starts dating her daughter Elaine (Catherine Morgan). (PHOTO: PHIL MANSELL)

They pressure him to date a girl of his own age and complications arise when the girl is none other than Mrs. Robinson’s daughter Elaine.

A sparkling satire on middle class, aspiring America, the play offers a fascinating take on the expectations of parents and the reflected glory of designer offspring.

The Graduate is at the Dolman Theatre from Tuesday 10 – Friday 13 May at 7.15 pm, with a matinee performance on Saturday 14 at 2.30 pm. To book tickets call 01633 263670 or visit www.dolmantheatre.co.uk.

Ben’s (Chris Harris) proud parents (Rob and Claire Jacob) welcome him home from college. (PHOTO: PHIL MANSELL)

Vintage Nordic Noir Comes to Newport

Long before television became captivated by so-called Nordic Noir dramas, the Norwegian playwright Ibsen was writing controversial brooding stories with strong female characters taking the lead.

Sofia Helin as Saga Norén and Sofie Gråbøl as Sarah Lund.

Before Sarah Lund and Saga Noren there was Helene Alving in ‘Ghosts’, a play being presented by Newport Playgoers at the Dolman Theatre.

In this brooding tale of suppressed Scandinavian sexuality, Helene is a woman who has spent her life suspended in an emotional void after the death of her cruel but outwardly charming husband.

Graeme Johnson as Manders, Clare Drewett as Helene, Jerry Grummitt as Jacob and Stuart Moss as Oswald in ‘Ghosts’. (PHOTO: PHIL MANSELL)

She is determined to escape the ghosts of her past by telling her son, Oswald, the truth about his philandering father.

But on his return from his life as a painter in Paris, Oswald reveals how he has inherited the legacy of his father’s dissolute life and is being destroyed by syphilis.

Oswald (Stuart Moss) is nursed by his mother (Clare Drewett) and Regina (Fay Grummitt). (PHOTO: PHIL MANSELL)

This tale of family relations, malicious infections and distorted Victorian morals was considered shockingly indecent when it premiered in 1882.

Director Ruth Ferguson gives ‘Ghosts’ chilling new life in this production.

“The ghosts in Ibsen’s great play are not spirits but the dead ideas and customs that we inherit and find it almost impossible to escape,” she said.

Stuart Moss as Oswald and Fay Grummitt as Regina. (PHOTO: PHIL MANSELL)

‘Ghosts’ by Henrick Ibsen is at the Dolman Theatre from Tuesday 12th – Friday 15th April at 7.15 pm, with a matinee performance on Saturday 16th at 2.30 pm. To book tickets call 01633 263670 or visit www.dolmantheatre.co.uk.

The Cast of ‘Ghosts’ (PHOTO: BEN JONES)