I felt quite privileged the day I was allowed to film at Cilieni Village, a replica North German Village at Sennybridge in the Brecon Beacons military range. I had very little idea of what to expect that morning, Mike Devaney who is the technical director for the National Theatre of Wales picked me up and we headed to Sennybridge.
On arrival we consulted our map and headed for the Military range, driving a few miles – looking for our rendezvous with our MoD Liaison(!!). We headed further into the range and on reaching the brow of a hill we were confronted with an amazing sight. Cilieni Village.
The Village feels very much out of place, like something you would have seen on the news during the Bosnian War. It is stark and empty. It’s essentially a giant theatre, a theatre of conflict, resolution and battle tactics. I find it incredibly exciting that this military theatre will be opening itself up to the National Theatre of Wales to perform the oldest surviving play in the history of theatre, The Persians.
This location was so satisfying to shoot. The half house (exactly what it sounds like) was something to behold, discarded smoke canisters and ammo shells lay on the floor of its four story stage. When we moved into the village I was like a kid in a sweet shop with beautiful compositions at every turn. I was only give 2 hours to shoot on location and easily got what I needed although I could have happily spent the whole day there.
Once again Marc [Heatley] came up trumps with the tune I needed for the Piece with a tune of his from the vaults. Called Spooky – it helps to create an intimate, secretive beginning before the tuba reveals the location.
For more information on this performance please goto http://nationaltheatrewales.org/whatson/performance/ntw06