Black History Month | USW graduate’s acclaimed theatre show returns to Wales

An acclaimed theatre production telling the stories of Wales’ oldest multicultural community, directed by University of South Wales (USW) graduate Gavin Porter, is being staged at community venues as part of its latest tour.

Circle of Fifths is an immersive production combining film, music and theatre, devised with a collective of musicians and artists from Butetown and featuring real-life stories from people across Wales. The National Theatre Wales production explores how music and stories can connect us in times of grief and loss – creating a space for collective reflection and celebration.

First staged in Cardiff in 2022, Circle of Fifths was Gavin’s first major theatrical project. After losing his uncle to Covid-19, Gavin – who was born and raised in Butetown – picked up his camera and started collecting stories of how lives are celebrated in death and the importance of traditions and rituals.

Taking to Twitter, he asked people to share what songs they would like played at their funeral. The overwhelming response included everything from Abba to The Abyssinians, Gil Scott Heron to Nat King Cole. Circle of Fifths was subsequently devised and performed by musicians and artists from the Butetown community, including Ska and Reggae musician Drumtan Ward, multi instrumentalist Kiddus Murrell, and performer (and funeral arranger) Maureen Blades.

Music is the powerful thread that runs through Circle of Fifths, unlocking unexpressed emotions and connecting us to each other. The production takes its title from a tool of music theory that organises pitch into a sequence. Jazz musicians will sometimes disrupt this sequence to create new musical pathways. It is in this disharmony that Porter draws parallels with the impact that loss has – as a fracture in the rhythm of our lives.

Gavin, who has worked with National Theatre Wales on numerous projects, has spent many telling untold stories through his documentaries. He said: “I’ve always been interested in how the skills I’ve honed through my documentary work, and interviewing hundreds of people, could be transferred into a theatrical space. This show is a 360-degree experience, with performers, musicians, taped interviewees and film, all coming together to create a truly unique week of performances.”

Gavin first started documenting Butetown as part of the Representing Communities study (2014-2017), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and overseen by Prof Roiyah Saltus, Professor of Sociology at USW.

One of five case studies developed for the project was Representing Butetown, which focused on the leisure pursuits, physical endeavours and creative activities of older people, and the effects on their individual and collective well-being.

Speaking about the study, Gavin said: “I realised that I was most interested in showing the everyday lives of people in Butetown – the unseen, the uncelebrated; I wanted to represent something other than the ‘standard’ Butetown videos that people have come to expect. Much has already been documented of the ‘Old Bay’ and how it used to be; the iconic buildings, the diverse community – so I decided to shoot instinctively and represent the everyday through my lens.”

Circle of Fifths will be performed at the following South Wales venues before moving to London in January 2024:

• Wednesday 8 November, 7pm – Drill Hall, Chepstow
• Friday 10 November, 7pm – Hopkinstown Hall, Pontypridd
• Saturday 11 November, 7pm – Butetown Community Centre, Cardiff

Lorne Campbell, Artistic Director, National Theatre Wales, added: “By touring Circle of Fifths across Wales and to London, we’re opening a dialogue about grief – a topic so often considered a taboo – and sharing rich, heartfelt and complex stories that originate in Cardiff’s Butetown with audiences across the country. Gavin and the team’s highly original piece of theatre draws on our many traditions and stories to celebrate all that connects in the ways we grieve death and commemorate life.”