Review: GRAV – ADELAIDE FRINGE 2024 at Ruby's At Holden Street Theatres

Reviewed by Ewart Shaw Wednesday 13th February 2024.

Boys need heroes. Fathers and sportsmen often take that place. Ray Gravell, the Grav of this one man show, became the hero for many young Welsh. This exquisitely observed text is breathed into life by Gareth John Bale. It is a loving, lyrical lament, and the finest example of its type I’ve ever experienced.

The play was created by Bale and playwright Owen Thomas nine years ago, and it is tailored to Bale’s strengths. He is an instantly engaging man with the physical presence needed to create a convincing sportsman, and his voice, suffused throughout with the lilt of the Welsh valleys keeps you intent on his tale.

Grav comes in, dressed in street clothes, with a sports bag. He begins a conversation with his late mother about his father which moves backwards and forwards from his childhood to his retirement from the field. It is so smoothly, so effortlessly done, with the skill born of the actor’s experience and the playwright’s ear for the words and the music. Gravell’s father is a constant presence in his son’s life and he’s a phantom presence in the theatre. As a child Ray noticed his father watching him play, standing by the side of the field. He ran over and told his dad he never wanted to see him at a match. His father never attended a single game in which Ray played, not even the championships. His death is evocatively recalled and Bale admitted that in the writing process, he and Owen Thomas walked the path that was the father’s last journey.

I interviewed Bale for Arts on Air, my Friday program on 5EBI FM. He worked alongside Gravell in the film industry, as the rugby player moved on from the game to another form of entertainment. That familiarity was one of the spurs for the show. He has carried this show, directed by Peter Doran, in his sports bag, so to speak, for nine years. I was curious how he can recall the play after a long absence. “By now it’s like meeting an old friend, just like putting on a warm coat. From a practical point of view, I’ll just run short sections if I’m on a long walk with the dog, or on a long drive, so it’s in your bones and in your body.”

Ruby’s, the venue at the Holden Street Theatres complex, is tiny. There’s a table, a chair, and some wooden shelving, as it might be the changing room of a local side. There are seats for maybe twenty people. If you love the craft of storytelling you should be one of them.

Neither Rugby League nor Rugby Union ranks high among the ball sports of Australia, but the universality of experience takes this story off the field and into the community of human experience. It may not encourage the growth of rugby in Australia, but it certainly should boost the numbers for this play.

 

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