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Entertainment

Phi Polychroma – An art exhibition by Owen Hart

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THE PHI POLYCHROMA ART EXHIBITION is the culmination of eight years of painting by Pembrokeshire-based artist Owen Hart. Wilfully ambiguous, his paintings take on lives of their own, the myriad forms and earthly colours of greens, oranges, blues, yellows and evoking themes of nature, geometry and dreaming, all come together to create wonderful pieces of art.

Employing a full chromatic spectrum, Owen’s paintings seek harmony in contrast and balance between opposites whether between complimentary colours, curves and straight lines or light and dark tones, with the earthly colours stemming from the natural beauty and environment of the county. 

“I’ve been building towards this exhibition for many years, maintaining a painting practice alongside full-time teaching. This will be my first time exhibiting my work at the Torch and having eight years’ worth of paintings in one room will be a real treat. This will be my first solo show in Pembrokeshire so I’m excited to be exhibiting my work at Torch,” said teacher and father of two, Owen from Haverfordwest.

In his working life, Owen is a big fan of community engagement and promotes the importance of CARE – Community, Arts, Research and Education. In 2018 Owen cofounded community pop-up initiative, Fair Play Board Game Cafe, where people are encouraged to take part in wholesome screen-free playtime.

Owen has a passion for self-discovery through creativity and exploring new ways of teaching and learning in the 21st century. He’s an advocate for prioritising each individual’s innate gifts, helping them to find their strengths and a sense of purpose and meaning, moving away from the emphasis on standardisation, especially in the education sector.  

“People ought to pursue their passions for wellbeing and fulfilment in life. I am endlessly fascinated by the world of ideas and our growing understanding of the mysterious and complex languages and patterns found in nature. I hope to inspire curiosity in others with a mix of forms, colours and concepts in my paintings.” said Owen, who since moving to Pembrokeshire, has seen his love for painting reignited, exploring colour and abstraction. 

Driven by enthusiasm to reach out to children of all ages, he has a passion for cross-curricular learning and playfully exploring ideas through the process of art making, enabling high quality educational experiences for young people and fostering a greater sense of self-esteem, imaginative vision and creative well-being. 

In his paintings, Owen often uses grids, geometry and numbers in structuring a creative playground, breaking down the process into manageable steps; the joy of mixing and applying vibrant colours, square by square, along spiral pathways made with the Fibonacci sequence.

Owen describes this magical series as: “A remarkable sequence of numbers made simply by recursively adding each term to the previous term to generate the next term. When expanded out dimensionally, this sequence of numbers gives rise to infinitely nested squares and rectangles locked in a ‘golden’ ratio known as phi, an irrational number that emerges out of the Fibonacci sequence in the spiral paths that can be seen throughout nature, in the growth patterns of sunflowers, pinecones and shells to name a few examples.”

The Phi Polychroma Art Exhibition by Owen Hart opens at the Joanna Field Gallery at the Torch Theatre on Wednesday 5 February until Friday 28 February. The exhibition can be viewed during Box Office opening hours.

For further information visit www.owenhart.co.uk / www.torchtheatre.co.uk or phone the Box Office on 01646 695267 and the friendly staff will be happy to help. 

Entertainment

Welsh crime thriller filmed in Pembroke Dock set for BBC debut

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A NEW Welsh crime thriller, The One That Got Away—previously shown on S4C as Cleddau—is set to premiere on BBC One Wales and BBC Four later this month.

The gripping six-part series, featuring an all-Welsh cast, will debut on BBC One Wales at 9:10pm on Tuesday, February 25. A double-bill of the first two episodes will air on BBC Four on St David’s Day, March 1, with all episodes available on BBC iPlayer.

The series stars Elen Rhys (The Mallorca Files, Craith/Hidden) as DI Ffion Lloyd, who is forced to team up with her former lover, DS Rick Sheldon, played by Richard Harrington (Y Gwyll/Hinterland), to investigate the murder of a nurse in a Welsh seaside town.

Written by Catherine Tregenna (Law & Order UK, Lewis, DCI Banks) and directed by Sion Ifan (Y Goleudy), the drama explores the unresolved past between the two detectives while a disturbing murder case unfolds. The killing shakes the small community, raising doubts about a historic conviction and suggesting the terrifying possibility of a copycat at large.

Actor Elen Rhys, who returned to Wales to film the series, said: “Coming home to Wales to film was a joy—immersing myself in everything Welsh. The talented, close-knit crew worked together so well, making it a truly lovely and extraordinary experience. I felt so lucky.”

The series promises a gripping mix of psychological depth, crime investigation, and the emotional entanglements of its lead characters, set against the atmospheric backdrop of Pembrokeshire.

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Entertainment

A trivial comedy for serious people at The Torch Theatre

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NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE 2025 brings The Importance of Being Earnest like never before, directed by Max Webster (Donmar’s MacbethLife of Pi), to the Torch Theatre screen on Saturday 22 February. Three-time Olivier Award-winner Sharon D Clarke is joined by Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who, Sex Education) in this joyful reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s most celebrated comedy.

This hilarious story of identity, impersonation and romance, filmed live from the National Theatre in London, will appeal to everyone who likes Holby City, Notting Hill, Mamma Mia and Macbeth – what a combination and what appeal! Fans of Oscar Wilde’s witty, expressive writings and plays, as well as fans of classic literature will enjoy this night of comedy, with satire thrown in.

Being sensible can be excessively boring. At least Jack thinks so. While assuming the role of dutiful guardian in the country, he lets loose in town under a false identity. Meanwhile, his friend Algy takes on a similar facade. Unfortunately, living a double life has its drawbacks, especially when it comes to love. Hoping to impress two eligible ladies, the gentlemen find themselves caught in a web of lies they must carefully navigate.

Described as a ‘flawless piece of comic theatre’ by Broadway World and ‘A sparkling new production … that’s fiercely faithful to Wilde’s wickedly subversive spirit’ by the Daily Mail, The Importance of Being Earnest has received rave reviews and five and four stars.

The Importance of Being Earnest will be screened at the Torch Theatre on Saturday 22 February at 7pm. Tickets for the screening are priced at £15. Concessions: £13 and Under 26: £8.50. Visit the website for further details on www.torchtheatre.co.uk or phone the Box Office on (01646) 695267.

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Entertainment

History of Welsh music videos charted in new website

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WELSH-LANGUAGE television has played a more important part than commercial record labels in the development of Welsh music videos over the past 50 years, say researchers.

As the 24-hour MTV channel made its entrance on to the global stage in the early 1980s, it was the arrival of S4C which helped shape music video making in Wales at the time.

The finding is included in a new website documenting the development of Welsh music videos over a period of more than fifty years, which launches on Welsh Language Music Day (Friday 7 February).

The fideos.cymru website stems from a unique research project led by two lecturers at Aberystwyth University’s Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies, Dr Greg Bevan and Dr Kate Woodward.

They say the project has highlighted significant differences between the dynamics driving the production of Welsh-language and Anglo-American music videos.

Dr Greg Bevan said: “There is no doubt that the music video has had a fascinating history since the format really took off in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The political, industrial and social landscape of Wales was very different at that time and these contexts are reflected in the videos that were being created.

“One of the main differences that has emerged as part of our research is that Anglo-American videos are produced with the primary aim of selling and promoting mainstream songs as part of a wider marketing drive by the big record companies. That commercial imperative has been less evident in Wales. Here, the need to promote cultural arts in a minority language has been a crucial factor, alongside other anti-establishment, subcultural influences.”

As part of the project, the researchers interviewed some of Wales’s leading artists and producers about their experience of making music videos, including Dafydd Iwan, Cerys Hafana, Geraint Jarman, Eddie Ladd, Rhys Mwyn, and Dafydd Rhys.

Dr Kate Woodward told The Pembrokeshire Herald: “We wanted to speak directly to the people who have been involved in making Welsh music videos over the years and share their insights with a wider audience through the website. What we found was that the television industry in Wales – and S4C in particular – was mainly responsible for driving music video production by providing not only a platform for broadcasting content but also the necessary funding, in contrast to the Anglo-American trend where record labels were the main drivers.

“The iconic series Fideo 9 on S4C played a key role in the development of the Welsh music video, producing around four new videos every week when they were on air between 1988 and 1991. Bandit was on air between 2004 and 2011, and Lŵp has been offering a cross-platform stage for Welsh music since 2019. We are also now in a new era where artists are increasingly likely to create their own videos independently and promote them on various social media streams.”

Music Video Fund

In addition to launching the website, it was also announced today that a small fund is available for applications to support the production of two new Welsh music videos.

As Dr Woodward explained: “We are keen for our research project to contribute to the ongoing development of the Welsh music video by supporting current content creation as well as examining and analysing the scene’s historical development.”

The closing date for applications to the music video fund is 16:00 on Friday 28 February 2025 and further details are available online: https://fideos.cymru.

Image: Dr Kate Woodward and Dr Greg Bevan from the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University.

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