On Bear Ridge at The Royal Court

Rhys Ifans is his own master class at playing scruffy, if not downright unkempt characters, from Spike in Notting Hill, via rough sleeper, Danny, in Protest Song to his latest offering, John Daniel in Ed Thomas’s On Bear Ridge at The Royal Court.  Commissioned by National Theatre Wales, this post-apocalyptic play premiered at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff in September.

Set in what once was a butcher’s shop, Ifans, the butcher, John Daniel and his wife, Noni (Rakie Ayola) inhabit this derelict space (designed by Cal Dyfan) alongside their slaughter boy (at least he was when the shop had customers) Ifan William (Sion Daniel Young).  Now no-one comes near and almost the only sound to be heard on Bear Ridge - a remote, mountainous area in what is obviously Wales - is that of jet engines roaring overhead.

This is a somewhat strange play with an inscrutable text that very gradually lets out the fact that it has a preoccupation with loss.  The loss of community, family, society and, importantly, language.  But, wisely, there is also much left unsaid, with Co-Directors Ed Thomas and Vicky Featherstone, allowing Mike Beer’s sound design to fill in the empty spaces.

What we do discover is that Ifan’s character is, according to him, the last speaker of the much mentioned ‘old language’.  We naturally assume that this is Welsh, but it’s never mentioned, so all we know for sure is that it’s a dead language.  As dead as Noni and John Daniel’s son, a philosophy student who, as his old dad says, ‘is the only one of our family who ever thunk’.  That the previous inhabitants and erstwhile customers of the butcher’s shop are also dead is never specified.  What is plain is that Noni, John Daniel and Ifan William are now the sole inhabitants of this barren area.  This makes the arrival of a stranger quite a traumatic experience, especially as he is a gun toting army Captain (Jason Hughes) seemingly even more traumatised than his hosts.  No-one is quite sure what he’s done, seen and, more importantly about to do with his loaded pistol.

If all this seems too dreary and morbid for words, think again.  There is a tremendous amount of humour, with Ifans masterfully uttering understatement after understatement and turning his scruffy old trousers into almost another character.  Completing his ensemble with red gilet that has seen better days and scruffy old bowler hat, he brings a lyricism to the often poetic nature of Thomas’s script.  It’s no wonder that he was so lauded when playing King Berenger in Patrick Marber’s recent version of Exit The King at The National.

There are tear jerking moments, too, especially when Rakie Ayola touchingly describes what happened to their son.  But hers isn’t a one-dimensional performance.  Noni also has a fire in her belly; she may be filled with a grief that won’t shift, but there’s a sternness to her character that belies her gentleness.

On Bear Ridge can be said to be an elegy to Ed Thomas’s childhood Welsh village and the blurring of his memories of it.  Whatever the criticism might be about its slow-moving pace, there can be no doubt that the play is based on truth and a large dollop of affection and I really enjoyed it.