On Bear Ridge is set in a place that is gradually fading further and further out of the minds of the population and becoming nothing but a distant memory. The three remaining inhabitants - John Daniel, Noni and their dead son's friend Ifan William - are living in poverty and squalor. The roof doesn't keep out the snow, and their once prosperous and thriving butcher's shop has run out of stock - there is nothing for any of them to eat. Every time that jet planes fly over the dilapidated house John Daniel and Noni shout "we're still here you buggers", compelled to remind the world of their existence. Their solitary lives and regular routine is therefore somewhat disturbed when a captain turns up at their door in the middle of a snow storm with his gun pointing squarely at Noni.
During the time that the characters spend together, each of them tell a story of loss, and they often take the audience swiftly from extreme gravity to lighthearted every day chats - at one point the Captain was in the depths of talking about his feeling of entrapment before interrupting himself to ask directions to the bathroom. Some of the stories were shocking and gripping - the anguish of losing a son to a xenophobic gang, or the discomfort of losing your mother tongue and the part of your identity that comes with that. Yet there were undoubtedly some parts of the play which left me feeling slightly lost.
At points the play had the audience in the palms of its hand, delicately controlling the tension in the room with so much as the movement of a finger on a trigger. It was a shame then, that at other times it let me slip through its fingers and I was left trying hard to engage with what was happening on stage.
The design of the play was brilliant. The makeshift nature of Bear Ridge Stores - Noni and John Daniel's shop and home - added to the theme of utter loss and desolation that ran through the play. Gradually walls of the house lifted away until we were left with only a few items of furniture and the door, depicting the concept of the memory of Bear Ridge and its inhabitants fading away. In the distance, all that could be seen were piles of rocks covered with snow and bleak whiteness. The costume design was also very clever, with acute attention to detail. John Daniel wore striped plastic bags (the type always found at a butchers) around his ankles for some degree of extra warmth.
The performances given by the cast, particularly Rhys Ifans as John Daniel and Rakie Ayola as Noni, were excellent and maintained my attention through the less riveting parts of the text. The lilting Welsh accent is also always a bonus! However, despite the design of the production, the performances, the terrible and gripping stories of loss, and the fact that at points the play had the whole audience on the edge of their seats, on the whole I was somehow left as cold as the winter day on which the play was set.