Carmarthen Journal Articles - Fragments of Ash

Fragments of Ash Review

•  Every so often a performance is put on that is unmissable. This is how I felt about Fragments of Ash performed by Notional Theatre. Physical Theatre is a form of performance that is very close to my heart after studying it at A-Level. This combined with an incredibly powerful concept made this piece a work of theatre art! Notional theatre excel in bringing a new stylised way of theatre to the stage, one that leaves you as an audience unbelievably captivated. Fragments of Ash posed the question "What can turn an ordinary mother into a suicide bomber" with a stimulus as hard hitting and controversial as this I was intrigued at how this would be displayed visually. The use of such a minimal set was enough as Tracey Biggs who played the part of British mother Eleanor was bold enough. Her ability to perform such raw emotion left me as well as other members of the audience with tears streaming down our faces and lumps in our throats, as we saw the fulll extent of just how everyday individuals lives can be effected by the sadness and atrocities that happen at war. The whole caste was strong Sam Harding a recent graduate who played a multiple of characters was as equally brilliant and even though I had never personally been in a similar situation as the one he found himself in I could easily identify with every characterisation. I thought the use of harsh, almost ugly movements was critical and being such a fan of the work of Pina Bausch I felt that her work as a choreographer definitely had an effect of the use of physical theatre and stylised contemporary movements throughout this piece. The efforts of Rebecca Alexander, Dick Bradnum and Janine Cooper were also highly commendable. I must also mention the work of writer and director Terry Victor who has developed a piece that is such an eye opener, its brutal with a softness around it making it easier to digest. Fragments of Ash is a fantastic physical theatre performance, and throughout every review that I have done has to be the one that has left the biggest impression. I cant think of anything that could have been changed to make any improvements, it really was simply fascinating with a powerful message to be taken on board by all those who see it.