April was an exciting month of activity at The Riverfront Theatre & Arts Centre; there was a packed programme of shows in both the main and studio theatre, the Easter holidays saw the introduction of more amazing workshops, community projects ramped up and Wonderland finally opened in the basement space!
Shows
April saw the return of National Theatre Wales to The Riverfront’s stage with their brand-new dark, playful and piercing show for ages 12+, Petula. The surreal bilingual show introduced us to Pwdin and his eccentric family as Pwdin attempted to escape his reality in search of his missing cousin Petula. The Riverfront were fortunate enough to receive two Community Critic reviews for this show which can be found online at: Take part in an activity, programme or event | Community Arts (newportlive.co.uk). You can also find out more about becoming a Community Critic on this page.
Further shows for families and young people during April came from Woman Like Me: The Little Mix Show, Twirlywoos Live and The Tiger Who Came to Tea. - Woman Like Me brought hundreds of young audience members to the theatre, complete with new outfits, face glitter and great fun as many experienced their first ‘grown up’ theatre show. Twirlywoos Live and The Tiger Who Came to Tea invited younger audience members to immerse themselves into the worlds of their favourite TV and literary characters during a series of performances across the Easter holidays.
For drama fans there was Absolute Certainty? which explored the relationship between two brothers and a best friend when family secrets, a school-boy crush and a drunken night out were thrown into the mix. This powerful piece explored feelings around family and sexuality, with audience members invited to stay behind after the performance and join an engaging discussion about the show and its themes.
After the success of their smash-hit Christmas show Dragma and the Deviants returned during April with Dragma’s Late Night Bingobox. Having finally recovered from her Christmas hangover, Dragma and her devilishly defiant granddragdaughters from the House of Deviant brought audiences another madcap evening of bonkers bingo with some pretty unique prizes!
Fans of Strictly Come Dancing were delighted with an evening of dance, song and variety in The Ballroom Boys: Act 2. The show saw the return of Strictly favourites Ian Waite and Vincent Simone, who together with their incredibly talented dance partners performed wonderful dance routines including the Viennese Waltz, the Foxtrot, the Rhumba and an incredible Argentine Tango.
There was again a range of musical performances for all tastes during April including The Bon Jovi Experience, Totally Tina, The Johnny Cash Roadshow and Thank ABBA for the Music, all of which were well received and enjoyed by The Riverfront’s diverse live music audiences.
A range of community groups also took to the stage this April including the young people from The CAST and Rob Shaw Academy. The young people received much praise for their starring appearances, with one audience member who attended Rob Shaw Academy’s Legally Blonde commenting:
‘The show was amazing! I was pleasantly surprised at the level of talent of all the actors. The singing was brilliant too. It was a lovely evening and it felt so wonderful to be entertained by such inspirational and talented youngsters.’
Wonderland
Developed by our Community Arts Development Officer Sally Anne-Evans in partnership with Escape Rooms Newport and UV theatre company Hummadruz, April saw The Riverfront’s basement space transformed into Wonderland. The interactive and immersive experience allowed visitors to immerse themselves into the world of Alice in Wonderland, complete with Mad Hatters Tea Party, an upside-down room, croquet game and a special room where they can see themselves shrink and grow in front of their very eyes! In addition to the standard experience, selected dates saw Hummadruz perform in the space, HATCH youth theatre have given special themed performances and there were adults only evenings complete with DJ and cocktails. Wonderland even saw one happy couple get engaged in the space! Throughout April the Wonderland experience was visited by over 3,000 people, we were also delighted to welcome a number of local schools, guests from Sparkle and Newport Live staff for their annual staff conference, it’s was a wonderful wonderland experience for the curious
Cinema
April saw over 500 people welcomed to the cinema at The Riverfront with Sing 2 and The Duke proving to be the most popular screenings seeing a full house.
The second instalment of popular animated comedy Sing, Sing 2 brought back favourite Buster Moon as he and his friends tried to persuade reclusive rock star Clay Calloway to join them for the opening of a new show. The Duke transported audiences back to 1961 as Kempton Bunton, a 60 year old taxi driver played by Jim Broadbent, steals Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London.
Documentary The Real Charlie Chaplin was screened for one day only. The documentary took a look at the life and work of Charlie Chaplin and featured an in-depth interview he gave to Life magazine in 1966.
Other films during April included Death on the Nile directed by Kenneth Branagh, Cyrano starring Peter Dinklage and The Eyes of Tammy Fay which featured Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield portraying the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.
Workshops
Our free Saturday morning Crafty Saturday activities continued throughout April with families n enjoying arts and craft activities on a different theme each week. April included create air dry clay mushrooms inspired by Wonderland, and there was a special day of activity celebrating Ramadan which included lantern and card making, a story time and a quiz.
Young people from Newport’s Home Education Network attended a range of free weekly workshops at the Riverfront and had the opportunity to work with arts practitioners Nazia and Steph. The workshops explored a range of mediums including paper, watercolour and clay, and range of themes including a series based on Van Gough. In addition to these special workshops for the Home Ed network, local artists also collaborated to bring a creative workshop for Newport’s Roma community. The workshop included activity from Steph with her street fairies mosaic and prints, Heidi weaving Welsh landscapes, Sol creating Celtic masks inspired by nature and Nazia with her nature inspired postcards.
Over the Easter Holidays there were a range of workshops for young people of all ages including Drama Club, Tots Easter Disco, Oh Susannah! Sewing Club and Creative Maker’s Club, giving young people the opportunity to get creative in a range of ways.
Stori Lab with writer, teacher and editor Dylan Moore drew to a close in April as young people got the opportunity to finish the book they had been working on during the 6 week course.
The Riverfront’s popular weekly workshops Hubble Music and Movement, Hatch Youth Theatre, Ceramics for Adults, Rubicon Dance classes, Lle Creu and Capoeira also continued throughout April.
Other Activities
Newport’s annual Walk for Dementia took place again this April. The walk jointly organised by Newport Live and Newport County AFC in aid of the Alzheimer's Society began at The Riverfront at 11am on Sunday 24 April and encouraged participants to join in and walk the 3k circular route around the city centre.
The Talking Shop, in partnership with Omidaze, Youth Cymru and Welsh Government was launched in TinShed Theatre’s Unit 9 in Friar’s Walk. Open in the run up to the local elections, The Talking Shop© was a free public space for all, which encouraged and promoted cultural and democratic participation. It was a place for the public, artists and creatives to come together to find new creative ways to understand our UK democracy and take part in it. Visitors were given the opportunity to pop in have a cup of tea, share ideas, be inspired and informed.
The Riverfront also continued its work with The (Future) Wales Coast Path, a yearlong series of creative events and installations guided by artist Alison Neighbour, exploring the impact sea level rise could have on the coastline of Wales, and our relationship to land and water. A lighthouse sculpture has been installed outside The Riverfront which includes a light which flashes when tides are high at the Bay of Bengal where sea level rise is already a daily threat and which has a similar tidal schedule to the Newport riverfront.
Keep up to date with everything that’s coming up at The Riverfront and find out how you can get involved in upcoming events or workshops online at newportlive.co.uk/Riverfront.
