Reviews

The Curse of the Werewolf

The Stage (September 2007) by Barbara Lewis

Ultimately, however, Gareth ap Watkins as the trusty D'Arcy shines through with his winning delivery of lines like "even my feet are in love".

KENTISH TIMES by Edward Martyn 13/09/07

In tow is D’Arcy (A man-of-the match performance from Gareth Watkins) as the new butler, smitten with Kitty and hiding the fact that he is actually an English lord…

Headlines

Bromley Times (August 2007) by Martin Croucher

Director of the show Mark Stevenson said: "Rather than just reading a few lines on a news story, people get the chance to think about all the different angles of people who are affected by it." 

Gareth Watkins told me that one of the most interesting quirks of the type of performance was getting the single audience member to interact emotionally.

He said: "As long as you give them a clear role, most people are quite keen to react."

I was keen to try another tent before I left.

As I walked into Gareth's tent I was certain I could see him putting on some kind of psychic mask. He was the parent of the victim of the happy slap. His kid had just been beaten up by yobs on the bus.
Suddenly, I was that child.

"What weapon did they use to do that to you?" he scowled. The pressure to answer was overwhelming.

"Chains," I murmured.

"Chains?! And you just let them do it to you?" he bellowed.

I nodded silently, ashamed.

No matter how I tried to laugh it off, I was met with an unwavering, intense stare. The urge to leave came suddenly. But it was a few more minutes before my humiliation was complete. "Get out," he said sternly as I staggered from the tent, feeling emasculated. The transformation from drinking buddy to tyrannical father had shaken me. I had been forced into the role of a cringing child in the isolation of the tent.
 

Dangerous Liaisons

Chicago Reader (June 2007) by Albert Williams

Gareth ap Watkins delivers a charismatic, multifaceted portrayal of vain seducer Valmont, whose campaign to corrupt the innocent drives the drama.

Extra Virgin

Rainbownetwork

(October 2006)
The success of Extra Virgin doesn't just rest on its fine writing and clever plotting. With only two characters to hold our attention, pressure is on the two leads to perform. Fortunately, Graham Townsend as Noah and Gareth ap Watkins as Elias don't disappoint

Mylondonyourlondon
By Robert Bain (Friday October 20, 2006)
Extra Virgin is unflinching. The tone is immediately more adult and the whole play is more believable than the first. The casual, matter-of-fact style – especially from Gareth ap Watkins as Elias - is in clear contrast to the other play’s more theatrical feel.

The Stage (26th October 2006)
By Gerald Berkowitz
One character has more of an emotional journey allowing Gareth ap Watkins, as the one who didn’t realise this was a reunion, opportunity to showcase his talents.

London Broadcasting Corporation
(Jenny Éclair radio show)
21-10-06 Mark Joy

Actually don’t leave at the interval; the second play is a stonker. The two actors that are in it; I have to give them a name check – Graham Townsend plays Noah, a geeky Jewish boy and Gareth ap Watkins plays this welsh rugby player type. It is so well done. I came out like ‘oh my god, that deserves to transfer; that would have an audience’. It’s so, so good.

La Ronde

Time Out (6th July 2006)
By John Beer
Particularly strong is an encounter between a repressed, presumably Oxbridge history professor (ap Watkins) and his posh and confident student (Townsend)…Townsend and ap Watkins both display admirable range.

Chicago Free Press (5th July 2006)
By Lawrence Bommer
Gareth ap Watkins bravura turns contrasts a smoothly sensuous Sailor with a very anal university don.

Chicago Reader (30th June 2006)
By Albert Williams
The acting, like the script, ranges from richly textured (notably Graham Townsend and Gareth ap Watkins as a college kid and an uptight professor)…

Hooker’s Corner, Chicago (May 2006)
By Mark Hooker
Gareth ap Watkins (Sailor/Professor) is a dynamic young character actor (I don't mean that in the usual sense he is VERY handsome). He created two completely different personalities in the sailor and the Professor – one a gruff, uneducated, mixed up brute; the latter a sweet, insecure, depressed young man. He is a rare actor who savors every moment on stage (like a gourmet meal), completely drawing in his audience, making us hungry for more.

Steadstyle Chicago (12th July 2006)
The cast is nearly as intelligent and daring as they are attractive and sensual. The job of folding clothes becomes an art in fastidiousness in Gareth ap Watkins' hilariously insecure portrayal of the Professor.

Taken In

Mylondonyourlondon (10th Feb 2006)
Gareth ap Watkins plays Marc with disciplined strength; it would be easy for this part to slip into Victorian melodrama, but this trap is avoided.

The Stage (13thFebruary 2006)
By Gerald Berkowitz
Gareth ap Watkins nicely captures the bemused bewilderment of a man following his heart rather than his head for the first time in his life.