A GRAND AMBITION FOR SWANSEA

Photo: Kirsten McTernan

Mike Kennedy caught up with Steve Balsamo, Richard Mylan, Michelle McTernan and Christian Patterson to find out about Grand Ambition - a new project coming soon to Swansea’s Grand Theatre.

MK : So what is Grand Ambition ?

SB : Grand Ambition is a new and exciting creative collective based at The Grand Theatre focusing on a new perspective to capture the arts through the Swansea lens. It’s a collaboration with Swansea City Council and Swansea based professional artists - Richard Mylan, Michelle McTernan, Christian Patterson and myself.

MK : Why create this company now?

RM : We asked ourselves the question: Why isn’t the premier theatre in our city a world class producing house? Swansea has such a wealth of talent, an incredibly rich cultural heritage, so why then do so many artists and creatives go elsewhere for work? The last two years have been difficult for everyone especially within our industry. The pandemic has hit venues and fellow freelancers very hard, so now more than ever there is a greater need to encourage, support and connect the arts to our home city. Swansea is changing and it’s cultural landscape is changing with it. We want to be a part of that change. It’s a very exciting time...time to regenerate and reimagine.

MK : Who makes up GA?

RM : Myself - Actor, writer, tutor, director. Michelle McTernan - Actor, director, writer, drama practitioner. Steve Balsamo - Singer, songwriter, producer, artist, tutor, actor. And Freelancer Christian Patterson - Actor, director, writer, singer, tutor. Supported by - Rachel O’Riordan - Artistic Director, Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, Gary Owen - Writer, and Julia Barry - Executive Director, Sherman Theatre Cardiff.

MK : What are our burning ambitions?

MM : Everything that Grand Ambition produces will be through the Swansea lens. We will focus on its cultural and diverse communities and champion the unheard voices of its people as well as nurture and support established and emerging artists. We want to work with local freelancers and organisations that are passionate about celebrating our city’s history as well as carving out an exciting and ambitious future.

MK : What do others say about GA?

SB : We;ve had some fantastic support and feedback. Rachel O’Riordan said that “I am delighted to be able to contribute to this endeavor, and look forward to bringing exciting work to

life on these amazing stages . Wales is very close to my heart and I look forward so much to being part of the Grand Ambition we have for Swansea.” And other professionals are just as supportive and enthusiastic. We also have the full support of Swansea City Council.

RM : Before the Grand was converted into the Grand we see today, it used to have a row of terraced houses on either side of it. At one end was my Nana’s café. It was called Connie’s café and I’d go there every weekend, sit at the tables and look up at the walls and see signed photos of all the artists who performed at The Grand through the golden years. I used to walk along to the box office and look up at the pictures of who was playing that particular week and I guess that’s where my fascination started. When I was a bit older, about six years old, the Northern Ballet Theatre Company came to Swansea with a ‘Midsummer’s Night Dream’ and they needed a small boy to play The Egyptian Prince. I got chosen to do it...and that was my first ever experience on the stage at this incredible theatre...it was an experience that completely changed my life.

SB : We all have our special memories. On a cold late December morning in '83, I found a wallet in the gutter outside my friend's house on the way to school. It was empty but for a gold American Express card and some old photographs. I handed it into my form teacher and a few hours later was called into the headmaster's office to be told it belonged to the actor Melvyn Hayes, who was playing in ‘Babes In The Wood’ at The Grand. The school had called the theatre and Melvyn was delighted that the wallet had been found. A few days later he invited me and two friends to see the pantomime, bought us drinks and sweets and give me a fiver (which in 1983 was a lot of cash!) to thank me for finding his wallet - the photographs being very important to him. It was the first time I had stepped foot into ANY theatre. We had a backstage tour and I was mesmerised at all the unseen work that goes on, but when we went onto the stage and looked out into the beautiful auditorium I had what felt like an electric shock. Maybe it was a future memory”.

MM : That’s amazing Steve. My parents took me to a production of ‘Godspell’ at The Grand Theatre, I must have been about 8 years old, in the interval the audience were invited to go up onto the stage to have a glass of wine, obviously I didn’t have a glass of wine but I stood on that stage. I think it was at that moment that I knew I wanted to be an actress. It was such an incredible feeling and one that I wanted to have again and again. Years later I performed at The Grand with The Swansea Operatic Society, Gendros Amateurs and Chrysalis Theatre Company. My first professional show at The Grand was ‘Flesh and Blood’ by Helen Griffin. That show then led to me performing again in ‘The Oystercasters’ which is where I met my husband. This building holds so many reasons as to why I do what I do. It feels as though I’ve come full circle. It’s very exciting.

MK : What about you Christian ?

CP : I suppose my first memory of actually seeing the Grand Theatre wasn’t to do with coming to see a musical or play but as a big building next to the bus depot and I think it’s fair to say that I was more interested in the buses than I was the theatre. The first time I saw a show at the

Swansea Grand was to see a pantomime. I remember it like it was yesterday. I must have been about 5 years old and it was a typical showery Swansea day. I had tight grip of my Nanna’s hand as she went to the box office and asked for “2 tickets in the Gods for the pantomime”. In those days you had to go back outside the building to get to the stone steps that led up to the top of the theatre...it was quite a climb and my Nan stopped many times before we eventually took our seats...well, I say ‘seats’...they were actually thin wooden benches. I will never forget seeing that pantomime! It was bright and colourful and hilarious and quite literally life changing for me because I didn’t know that theatres even existed let alone what happened inside them! A few weeks later I started Ballroom and Latin dance lessons and I was hooked. I knew I wanted to be a performer and I couldn’t wait until I was on that Grand Theatre stage. I’ve had the pleasure, and it is a pleasure, of performing at the Grand many times and I even met my wife there. The Grand feels as much a part of me as my bones do”.

Photography Credit : Kirsten McTernan