Exposing The Hostility In The Hillside

Helen Griffin talks to the western mail about her pay Flesh and Blood

DarrenWalters: February 10, 2000

FORMER psychiatric nurse Helen Griffin is about to explode the myth that Wales keeps a welcome in the hillside.
The actress and playwright’s latest work Flesh and Blood, at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, looks at pervading racism in Wales.

“The play looks at racism, at insidious racism, the hard racism that still exists in all of Britain, and certainly in Swansea where the play is based,” says Griffin, a well-known face from S4C’s Iechyd Da.

The play is centred on an ordinary working class family from the May-hill area of Swansea and the way in which racism affects their lives, to ultimately tragic ends.

Racism, says Griffin, is not always blatant or active, it can be as dangerous when residing in the bones of people’s prejudice.

“It’s in the way people talk, ordinary down-to-earth Swansea people, with their speech peppered with racism. I find it very shocking.

“There have been some really bad racist attacks in this part of the world over the years. There is also everyday racist stuff, like broken windows, graffiti, stuff which is not on the front page of newspapers.”

She admits that some people will find the depiction of family life as shocking.

“The father has been described as a Welsh Alf Garnett. He is sexist, racist and homophobic.”

Former Flying Picket Brian Hibbard plays the father of the family with Di Botcher as the long-suffering mother, Steven Meo as the son and Michele McTernan as the daughter, both of whom have secrets.

The play - which contains a sound-track by former Alarm lead singer Mike Peters - hopes to expose the underbelly of race relations in Wales, which has a shameful record when it comes to equality, even if we believe we are a tolerant race.

Griffin has been acting and writing for more than 14 years after giving up as a psychiatric nurse. Her close friend is comedian Jo Brand, who trained with her at nursing college. Catatonia singer Cerys is also a former psychiatric nurse, so is there something about the profession that attracts creative types?

“It is a profession that produces interesting people,” says Griffin.

“Jo and I both had aspirations to go into acting even before we start training to be nurses. Jo then found her niche as a stand-up comedian.”

The two collaborated on a short play two years ago, called Mental, based around their experiences as nurses.

“We were talking about doing something together again the other day. We did say we would like to develop Mental further. In the original play there is just a nurse and a patient - but we could do a whole ward. We would like to collaborate on something further, but it’s finding the time.”

Best known as an actress, she will soon appear in the Michael Bogdanov’s BBC Wales drama, which is provisionally called A Light On The Hill.

So does she consider herself to be an actress or a writer?

“Some people have said that I’ll have to give up acting, but I think I can do both.

“Acting does inform my writing. As I am writing you can hear the words said aloud in the mouths of the characters. Sometimes a line will really grate with me.

“Often dialogue will flow, but sometimes as an actor you have to work hard to get a line to read well aloud.

“I have actors telling me that the words flow really easily.”

Her first foray into writing began with a short play, Killjoy, for Theatre West Glamorgan. That led on to work as part of the HTV Sherman lunchtime play season.

“I’m not sure if there is a common thread through my work. I am interested in the battle of the sexes and gender relations. I hope I don’t preach too much in the play.

“I’m not sure if the battle is still being fought, perhaps the enemy lines have withdrawn a little.

“I call myself a feminist which is a very unfashionable word these days. The word has become a dirty word which is sad because it just means equality between the sexes and I still think there isn’t equality.”

With Flesh and Blood the battle lines are clearly drawn with equality on one side and bigotry on the other.

“We cannot afford to have a narrow definition of what it means to be Welsh,” says Griffin.

“If we want to move forward we should be proud of multicultural Wales.”

source: Western Mail