Monday. Playwright Edward Bond called to find out how the Friday and Saturday performances of his play Coffee were received in Cardiff. Both nights saw near-capacity audiences. Edward is keen to see it transfer to London or Stratford. I know that our (Rational Theatre) company, whose actors are drawn mainly from the South Wales valleys and Cardiff's Grangetown, will be delighted.
Tuesday
Had a frank discussion with the community development officer from the university's education development unit whose support has enabled me to develop this theatre-as-education project. She admired the performance, but questioned the length and "unconsumability" of the play. The play provoked long discussion with her friends and she saw that this was Bond's aim. Went to hear Mike Fitzgerald from Thames Valley University lecture on education-as-community and his own community university of the valleys. This is promising: another vice chancellor who understands how universities can become instruments of democracy and social justice, particularly in regions of "post-industrial" decline. I left him a copy of the Coffee programme and rushed to hear Edward Said speak in Cardiff. Predictably, the assembled audience accepted his representation of the Palestinians as "silenced and dispossessed", but have difficulty in perceiving the Rhondda participants of Coffee (and their communities) in equivalent terms. But then, so too do some of the Coffee cast themselves.
Wednesday
Travelled to a North Cardiff school with two project participants to discuss the play with 15-year-olds who had seen the opening night. We were reassured by their insights - obviously this play is communicating beyond the company.
Read a Guardian article about the project. Why do journalists insist on being so sceptical! Why focus on the anxieties of the cast - whether their work will be understood or dismissed, or even supported, in a converted Penygraig chapel in the heart of the Rhondda rather than on its unusual combination of mainly South Welsh working-class voices? Why not focus upon the developmental aims of the project rather than reinforcing stereotypes of the Welsh as crude, beery and culturally intolerant?
Inevitably, we all discussed the article at the evening line-run. The cast is divided, pleased to be acknowledged by a serious London paper, quiescent about the "realism" of the journalist's scepticism, but exasperated that - after a week of being defined as "untrained" - they have once again been misrepresented as amateur. Why include a photo of a pit head beside the article rather than a truthful image of youth frustration or meaningless redevelopment? We dispersed hoping that the Penygraig performances will demonstrate the relevance of Coffee.
Thursday
Edward rang to pass on his frustration with the Guardian article. "He's tapped into their self-repression and insecurity. Has the cast been bruised? Tell them to hold onto their confidence and immense achievement." The Penygraig chapel performances will be the climax of this three-month pilot project. I go to the community centre after teaching to look at our stage-sculpture being assembled inside the chapel: it looks powerful and I was reminded why I chose the chapel - flanked by slag-heaps and spars - as the base of our project.
Friday
A long day of technical preparation for the evening performance punctuated by several calls from the Royal Shakespeare Company and other theatres in London interested in exploring the transfer of Coffee. And finally: the first Penygraig performance! An outstanding performance, played to a mainly local audience, a full house, and an elated company! Once again, Coffee divided the audience: a more engaged response from working-class members; and a more "violated" and detached response from "theatre-educated" members. Families and friends stayed the three hours and offered passionate and direct comments. No question about it; they understand how good people can be trapped inside bad uniforms; how need can become violent and self-destructive when denied a voice.
Saturday
Edward rang and was delighted at last night's success. He is more convinced than ever that the production should transfer. We'll discuss the practicalities at Sunday's assessment. Meanwhile, the second and possibly the last night. The most accomplished and confident performance to date. A tired but relaxed company party.
Sunday
We dismantle the stage set so that a local choir can prepare for its Christmas concert. In the afternoon almost the entire company of 25 participants gathered for what turned out to be a celebration. Everyone is convinced that Coffee should travel.
Dan Baron Cohen
Senior lecturer in drama, University of Glamorgan, director of Coffee.