Pontypool, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff – review

Thanks to Wales Millennium Centre for providing us with tickets to review Pontypool

Wicked might be selling out Wales Millennium Centre’s Donald Gordon Theatre – but Pontypool, which opened in the smaller Weston Studio on 30 October, is also currently wowing audiences in its own very different way.

Tense and so atmospheric I barely dared to breath at some moments, it’s based on the original 1995 radio play by Tony Burgess, which inspired the 2008 cult horror film that gave the zombie genre a new twist. Burgess’ original is actually set in Pontypool in Ontario, Canada – but Hefin Robinson transports the action to the Welsh Valleys town, and to a more modern digital age, in this new Wales Millennium Centre production.

The story unfolds on a snowy St Dwynwen’s Day. Washed-up radio DJ Grant Mazzy, with his love of provoking ‘woke’ audiences, turns up to work ready for another breakfast show of news, weather, traffic and call-ins. But things take a disturbing turn when muddled reports come in of an outbreak of riots and babbling crowds in the town.

Panic spreads. Terror closes in. Can Mazzy remain on air to make sense of it all, or will Pontypool fall silent?

With an age guidance of 13+, I took my recently turned teenage middle child. It’s the first time he’s watched a theatre show of this nature, and I was a little apprehensive as to how he’d find it. He was fine; there were some gruesome moments, a couple of small jump scares, and lots of heart-in-mouth anticipation. With very strong language and a few gruesome scenes and descriptions, I’d say 13 is about right. However, it very much depends on the individual child. My almost 15 year old hates anything remotely scary and I think she would have found this too intense.

Aside from the horror, I was surprised by how funny the production was. There’s a fair bit of dark humour – the audience laughs its way through some of the more gruesome moments – but some of it is genuinely funny, with witty one liners and great observational comedy too. It really help balances out the scarier aspects.

Lloyd Hutchinson is Grant Mazzy. Arrogant and with an over-inflated ego, Hutchinson really riles the audience at times. We share the frustrations of his producer Rhiannon Briar (Victoria John) and studio tech whizz Megan Davies (Mali O’Donnell) as he tries to incite his listeners because he hopes it’ll help his ratings. Without wishing to give any spoilers, the two women have some brilliant moments in the second act, O’Donnell especially.

Carwyn Jones plays Ken Loney, the station’s roving reporter who we never see but who brilliantly adds to the tension with his phone calls to the station. His breathy whispering makes us feel like we’re hiding with him.

Ioan Hefin as Dr Harry Phillips completes the cast, appearing in the second act and adding some new twists and turns as he tries to piece together what’s happening.

I won’t say too much about the plot as I don’t want to give anything away but, having a background in journalism myself, I loved the way the story unfolded ‘live’, as Mazzy, Rhiannon and Megan try to update their listeners on what’s happening, interviewing eye witnesses and trying to make sense of it all.

The action takes place entirely in the confines of the local radio station’s basement studio and this certainly adds to the drama. Just like the presenters, we have no idea what’s going on outside, other than what callers to the station are telling them and what can be heard taking place outside. Cory Shipp’s set design feels so realistic with a level of detail you don’t usually see on the stage, from the equipment in the sound booth and on the production desk, to the whistling kettle and dusty windows.

Ben Samuel’s sound design is really effective too, immersing the audience, with phone calls to the station coming at us from left, right and behind, the muffled voices within the sound booth, and the noises from outside adding tension.

Pontypool might fit into the zombie movie category, but it’s so much more than that. My teen and I chatted about it loads on the way home, with our theories around the ending, the role of the media in reporting ‘live’ incidents, and the use of language and words.

As director Dan Phillips and Hefin Robinson say in their foreword in the programme, it’s a “story of truth, language and the power of words, seemingly more relevant than ever within our current discourse and media”.

Perfect if you have teens and older children, or fancy a child-free night out with a bit of edge, Pontpool is a show that’ll have you gripping onto your seat but will also make you think too.

Pontypool is at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff until 16 November. Tickets, from £20 are still available. Running time, two hours and 10 minutes, including an interval. Please note, strictly no re-entry once the show has started. Age guidance 13+. More information and book online here.

Warnings: Strong language; several loud and intense noises; strobe and flashing lights; blackouts; haze; blood; themes of illness, infection, horror and death