Episode 2: The "Madoc" pantomime rehearsals begin in Bangor
The Welsh Theatre Company's headquarters in Bangor was the former Tabernacle Chapel in the centre of town. The technicians included the carpenter, Glyn Richards, the lighting director, Huw Roberts and the sound engineer, Rolant Jones. The overall manager was Gwynfryn Davies or "Wil Tabs" as everyone knew him.
The rehearsals went well and since the cast were all experienced singers, the musical content varied from traditional Welsh songs and original songs by Cefin Roberts. Another panto tradition is audience participation. Emyr particularly enjoyed the improvisation that would inevitably result from working with children. He quickly built a rapport with each individual child. After two weeks of performances at Theatr Gwynedd, it was time for us to begin the tour of Wales.
1977
The cast of "Madoc". Left to right: Mari, Cefin, Gari, Sian, Wyn, Iona, Ronnie, Falmai and Bryn.
On Tuesday, January 4th, we travelled down to Pontyberem to begin a week of performances in the Memorial Hall. The first night went very well, but very few tickets had been sold for the following night, so Dafydd Thomas, the Tour Manager, decided to cancel the performance. The company were pleased to have an unexpected night off, but what do we do in Pontyberem on a cold Wednesday night in January? The answer came from Ronnie, "Ryan is doing a panto at the Grand Theatre in Swansea, why don’t we go and see it"?
Ronnie contacted the Producer of the panto, John Chilvers, and reserved four tickets for the same evening and off we went to see, "Babes in the Wood". Ryan was playing "The Good Thief" and playing "The Bad Thief", was the famous actor, Glyn Houston.
Ryan was in charge of the stage from the start. I don’t know how Ronnie felt, watching his ex-partner having so much fun not only with the audience but also with his fellow players. It was only three years since Ronnie appeared at the Grand with Ryan in the panto, “Dick Whittington”. If he was feeling down, he didn't show it. After the show, we went to the theatre bar to meet Ryan. Although they had been separated for three years, the two of them were still very close friends. The embrace between them at the start of our meeting was just as if they were two brothers. It was a wonderful night; Ryan was full of fun and stories about his adventures with Ronnie over the years. It was unforgettable, especially because within three months, on April 22nd, Ryan had died in New York. A great loss to the world of Welsh entertainment.
The remainder of the week went reasonably well but the strain of performing eight shows per week had an effect on Emyr’s health. For the main performer, each show was a physical test. After 66 performances over 9 weeks, Emyr was tired and ready for a break. But, as we were now full-time performers, we had to make sure we were earning enough every week. I therefore made sure we had enough bookings in February, March and April.
We were welcomed by the associate producer, Len Marten and a little later Hughie Green himself arrived. It was a large room with all the candidates sitting on chairs in front of a long table alongside a small performance area where we set up my Wurlitzer piano and Elwyn’s bass amplifier. There were two candidates performing before we were called. We began our audition with a song and then Emyr went straight into his stand-up routine" The audition went down well with Hughie responding positively with the words, "That was brilliant, Gari, we'll allocate a spot for you in 1978”. "That was a successful day", said Elwyn in the car on the way home.
However, during the summer of 1977, Michael Grade was appointed Director of Programmes at London Weekend Television, and as part of his plan, "new brooms sweep clean", he decided to cancel, "Opportunity Knocks". By the spring of 1978, Hughie Green was out of work!
Back in Colwyn Bay, we were preparing for the 1977 summer season. During the winter, Ronnie had introduced us to an agent from South Wales, Michael Davies. From May onwards, Mike booked us into several clubs in the area and also for the summer season. He had booked us into two-holiday camps in Newquay, on the west coast of Wales. Every other Tuesday we were at Holimarine Holiday Park and at the Traeth Gwyn Caravan Park, every other Wednesday night. This meant that we worked 24 nights out of 28 nights from the 20th of June to the 17th of September.
The heavy schedule affected Emyr, he was tired and feeling depressed. By November he was ready to take a break from performing for a period over the winter. Elwyn and I were grateful for the break, however, since we now depended entirely on our income from music, we had to find work quickly. Elwyn returned to running his record shop and me? I received another call from Wilbert Lloyd Roberts. The Welsh Theatre Company wanted me to write the songs for their next panto, “Jac of the Jungle” which was based on the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk”.
1978
Gari Williams and Company in 1978
1978 was a quiet year for the brothers. They appeared at only 2 venues during the summer season, The Hydro Hotel in Llandudno and the Golden Gate Holiday Camp in Abergele. I was offered and accepted the post of resident musician at the holiday park in Newquay where we had appeared during the summer of 1977. It was not an enjoyable experience. The contract expired on September 22nd and I remember jumping into my Ford Fiesta and driving up north on that Saturday morning, September 23rd with hope in my heart that I would never have to accept a gig like that in the future!
Back in the north, on October 2nd, I had a meeting with Wilbert Lloyd-Roberts, the director of the Welsh Theatre Company. regarding the panto for 1978-79. He mentioned a script had been written and that he was considering Emyr for a principal role in the production.
The rehearsals began on November 21st and the cast was as follows: Gari Williams, Sue Roderick, John Pierce Jones (Arthur Picton of C'mon Midfield), Tony Jones (Tony and Aloma), Ifan Huw Dafydd, Mal Henson, Dafydd Hywel and Marian Fenner. The rehearsals continued for 4 weeks with the actors developing their characters while I taught them the songs I had written for the show. The band consisted of Paul Westwell, on drums and on bass guitar, Maldwyn Stevens.
On December 13th, the company moved into Theatr Gwynedd where the set was installed and the stage lighting design completed. On December 15th, the company staged the first technical performance and by the end of the day, it was clear that the show was far too long. The script needed a substantial edit so Wilbert worked with the director, Gray Evans on a re-write. the following day, the actors and technicians met to read the edited script. A few cuts had been made but not enough. The show was opening at 7 o'clock on Tuesday night, December 19th! Wilbert and Gray continued to work through the weekend, producing a completely rewritten first half of the show. One scene had been edited down to a short speech by the Witch (Sue Roderick). "This is a very difficult situation", said Emyr, "if the audience doesn’t pay attention to that speech, the panto will make no sense to them".
Despite the script problems, the panto was well-received by the Welsh language press. The theatre critic of the weekly newspaper, "Y Cymro" (“The Welshman”) wrote, "The hero was Eli Babi, played by Gari Williams, who worked very hard to save the panto despite the weak script”. There was also praise for Dafydd Hywel and for the band, "...they were a worthwhile asset to the night". But for this critic, the highest praise went to the costume designer and the gentleman who painted the set, Mr. Charles Williams. Personally, I felt that the comedy timing between Emyr and John Pierce Jones was particularly good.
After two weeks in Bangor, we embarked on another tour of Wales beginning at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff, followed by Theatr y Werin Aberystwyth, Theatr Clwyd in Mold, the Entertainment Centre in Llanelli, Theatr Ardudwy, Harlech. the Town Hall, Pwllheli, the Town Hall, Maesteg and the tour ended on February 23rd at Fishguard High School. It was now time to concentrate on our next project: “The Gari Williams and Company Tour of the Far East”. On the following Sunday at 9-00 p.m., we were in a queue at London Heathrow waiting to board a Qantas Boeing 747 bound for Singapore.
More about the Singapore tour in the next episode.
