Stephen Jones loves his little brother even if he’s hopeless at rugby. Sport may be Stephen’s passion, but Daffyd is bright, he’s doing well at school. Stephen doesn’t like long words, but Daffyd, he’ll go far. He’ll go to London. He’ll make their late Mam proud.
But David is a pupil at Pantglas School in Aberfan, South Wales, and on 21 October 1966 150,000 tonnes of slurry from colliery spoil tip No.7 will slide down the hillside above the village and engulf the school. Five teachers and 116 children in the building will die. Daffyd will never go to London. He won’t even ride his beloved bike up to the farm again.
Liam Holmes’s play Mr Jones intercuts three timelines to look at the personal stories of the people left behind after losing their loved ones in an unimaginable disaster. How do they even attempt to rebuild their lives?
Holmes grew up just a few miles from the village,
‘As a writer and actor who grew up near Aberfan, I witnessed first-hand the generational trauma carried by those affected. The impact of the disaster is still deeply rooted in the town. I felt compelled to tell the often-forgotten stories of my community.’
Mr Jones moves backwards and forwards in time; we see Stephen (Holmes) as a happy-go-lucky schoolboy, as his 17-year-old self, working in a bakery, devoted to his rugby, full of bravado and swagger, hardly able to keep still, and Stephen at 20, about to return to training, trying to get back to some kind of ‘normal.’ It’s not going well.
Angharad Price (Mabil Gwynne) has looked after the boys and their Dad since their Mam died; they’re like family to her. Now she’s a nurse at the local hospital. She and Stephen flirt and tease one another; he’s fancied her for years, she’s sharp as a knife and thinks he’s a ridiculous idiot. He relives his greatest kick – brilliantly acted, especially considering there’s no ball in the entire play. She shoots back,
‘Your father gave a slightly more mellow account‘
Their banter is very funny, especially when they gossip about various local characters. Village news, village views. At the beginning it’s all good natured and normal.
The third, unseen, character in the play is Stephen’s Dad. Stephen tries to speak to him. He needs to talk. He thinks it might make them both feel better. He gets no response and the silence that follows Stephen’s attempts to raise the subject is heartbreaking,
‘Sorry. It wasn’t a good idea talking about it. Sorry.’
Mr Jones looks at the different ways in which people process their grief. For Stephen that means keeping Daffyd’s memory alive, talking about him, staying close to his grave. Angharad, who has had to deal with the trauma of seeing the casualties – mostly fatalities – brought into the hospital, wants to get away, to start a new life elsewhere. And Mr Jones senior just wants to keep it all in. His generation don’t discuss feelings. If he opened up to Stephen he might never be able to close the lid back down.
Holmes and Gwynne are superlative actors, both of whom convince the minute the walk onto the stage. Their initial chat is friendly; when either of them goes too far, they always pull themselves back. Despite Angharad’s sharp tongue, she clearly loves the Jones clan dearly – in fact she often says so. And Stephen, for all his big talk, wouldn’t hurt her for the world.
The warmth and light-heartedness of these pre-21st October meetings bring into even sharper focus the irreversible anguish that colours not only what happens next but also the aftershocks of that terrible day. The entire community is traumatised. The bakery closes. Now Stephen is working on those very tips that took so many lives.
When the two of them meet again, Stephen is full of barely contained rage and regret; Angharad’s desperate to leave the valleys, if only for Cardiff. He sees that as running away; she can’t see what either of them has left to stay for. Their grief has torn them apart; for a while there’s no more banter, only rows and shouting matches as they each look for a place to park their pain. Price and Holmes skilfully convey the raw emotion underlying their anger. She has lost her biting wit; he, scared of being left alone, lashes out at the woman he loves.
Holmes’s writing makes excellent use of verbatim accounts and soundscapes to remind us – should we need to be reminded – that while Stephen and Angharad may be fictional, the Aberfan disaster was real. A mother’s voiceover echoes Stephen’s own words; if only it had happened a few hours later (the children were due to have a half day as the beginning of a school holiday),
‘He was so happy that day, the happiest boy in the village.’
The sound of the children singing All Things Bright and Beautiful and Silent Night adds gut-wrenching pathos. Little children, full of enthusiasm for a life shortly to be denied them.
The final scenes of Mr Jones do give us some small hope that Stephen and Angharad will repair their friendship. But one relationship shows no sign of healing,
‘One day we can figure out all the feelings together, father and son…I’M STILL HERE DAD!’
And we are left fearing for Stephen, who must somehow process those feelings alone, as much a victim of the National Coal Board’s negligence as little Daffyd and his friends.
Mr Jones is a deeply affecting play. Liam Holmes writing is exceptional, and both his and Gwynne’s acting is quite superb. Direction by Michael Nari is highly accomplished. The only issue I occasionally had was in working out which timeline was which. Mr Jones has been abridged to fit Fringe time constraints, so it may well be that the full-length version avoids any such confusion.
Mr Jones is at Greenside @ George Street (Jade Studio) at 3pm every day until 23 August.
Please note: there are no performances on Sundays 10 and 17 August.
The team is working towards a main stage UK regional tour in 2026 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster. A Crowdfund has been set up to finance the production and details are on the programme handed out at the door. This play by Wilmas Productions is one of the 180 recipients of a £2,500 bursary from the 2025 Keep it Fringe fund which is paid out by the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society and funded by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
The Keep it Fringe fund was launched in 2023 by the Fringe Society honorary President Phoebe Waller-Bridge and funded by the Fleabag for Charity campaign, alongside funds donated to the Fringe Society by Edinburgh Gin.
Supported by £1 million from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) over two years (2024 and 2025), the Fringe Society is today announcing the successful 180 recipients of £2,500 bursaries for Fringe 2025. The fund received 848 applications, which were reviewed by 28 independent assessors.
Keep it Fringe shows span a range of topics, including IVF, Miss Universe pageants, Dolly the Sheep, incel culture, Deliveroo cyclists, tinnitus and football hooliganism, with companies and artists covering nearly every genre in the Fringe programme. Representing a mix of free and ticketed shows, 33% of the successful applicants identify as disabled or have a health condition, and more than 30% come from a working-class background.
The Fringe Society hopes to continue the Keep it Fringe fund for as long as possible and is actively seeking new funding and donations to ensure the long-term sustainability of this important initiative. Donations can be made here, and updates will be provided as the project progresses.
Like Loading…
Related