Marine Furet praises Feral Monster, the latest production from National Theatre Wales.
With Feral Monster, the National Theatre Wales makes a success of a queer story rooted in the first-person experience of its writer, Bethan Marlow, with imaginative and pacey direction from Izzy Rabey.
Jax (Rebecca Hayes), ‘pronouns she/they, whatever’, is a teenager living in an unnamed town in rural Wales with their Nan, played with energy and warmth by Carys Eleri, and cousin Cuz (Leila Navabi). A musical with a rich soundtrack full of grime, R&B, pop and drum and bass influences composed by Nicola T. Chang, the show also delivers several enjoyable boppy numbers and highly physical choreographies.
Protagonist Jax lives a quiet life surrounded by their friends and is content with staying out of trouble until the arrival of Ffion, a bubbly vision in rainbow colours played by Lily Beau. The pair immediately embark on a horny relationship that quickly reveals differences in their budding sense of their identities.
The show hits out at condescending visions of working-class characters reduced to the role of deserving poor and whizzes through issues of classism, identity and mental illness at a heady pace.
There is something refreshing about a story that doesn’t make ‘being queer’ a plot in itself. Rather, Jax’s sceptical response to Ffion’s overbearing insistence on ‘educating’ them about their identity feels appropriately tongue in cheek. Ffion’s middle-class, articulate approach to exploring their gender identity jars with Jax’s, quietly confident in their queerness but reluctant to define it. This doesn’t trivialise or invalidate either character’s identity but makes their class differences all the more poignant, as Ffion moves through life untroubled by the preoccupations that affect Jax’s and her family’s day to day.
The show is carried by a chorus of endearing characters, like a best friend performed by Nathaniel Leacock and a chirpy chippy owner played by Geraint Rhys Edwards. The show is well served by a clever set design from Cara Evans, who created a shape-shifting bus stop that can just as easily turn into a nightclub and becomes the recognisable focal point of the group’s social life. Jax’s chaotic emotions and intrusive thoughts are acted out by cast members who take turns expressing their fears, desires, shame and anger as they make their way through the world, a very literal but effective device.
The show hits out at condescending visions of working-class characters reduced to the role of deserving poor and whizzes through issues of classism, identity and mental illness at a heady pace. It’s an ambitious mix for a 75-minute production, which sometimes diminishes its ability to do justice to some characters’ dilemmas and personal tragedies, but doesn’t take away from the resounding achievement of this production. ‘Queer, Welsh and rural’, Feral Monster is now aptly embarking on its pan-Wales tour after a much-applauded opening week in Cardiff until the 22nd of March.
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