Unreliable Witness: Four Perspectives, One Unfolding Truth
By Spectacle Theatre – RAFT 2025 Blog
What is truth?
That’s the question at the heart of Unreliable Witness , a brand-new promenade performance premiering at this year’s Rhondda Arts Festival Treorchy (RAFT) . Devised and performed within the industrial bones of The Factory in Porth , this is no ordinary theatre experience.
There’s no stage. No curtain. No fourth wall.
Just four plays. Four stories. And one audience moving through the echoes of a shared past.
A Show Born from a Drawing — and a Dilemma
Unreliable Witness began with a visual prompt: “Four views of a mountain.” Inspired by the recursive, reality-bending drawings of M.C. Escher — and the psychological theories they’ve sparked — the team asked: What happens when no single version of a story is quite true?
The result is a layered piece of immersive theatre told through four original plays — each exploring memory, identity, justice, and perception from a different angle.
“This wasn’t written. It was discovered.”
— Ensemble Reflection
Each piece is a story. Together, they’re a provocation.
The Space Shapes the Story
Set within The Factory, Jenkin Street, Porth , this performance unfolds inside a building steeped in cultural memory. Originally home to Corona Pop , the site later became The Pop Factory , a celebrated music and TV venue that brought new energy to the Valleys’ creative scene. Today, it is home to Valleys Kids , a community organisation nurturing creativity, social inclusion and expression in the heart of Rhondda.
It’s a place that has always pulsed with art, activism, and transformation.
A space where past, present, and performance collide.
The Writers, The Cast, The Stories
This isn’t a play in the traditional sense — it’s a collective act of theatre-making. Each script was written by a different playwright, and then expanded, questioned, and reshaped through ensemble rehearsal and collaboration.
- Not Just a Conker by Phil Ashford : A veteran in a café is jolted by a conker, sending him down a spiralling path of memory, guilt, and grief. Poignant and piercing.
- Divide and Ruler by William Van Dyck : A participatory debate disguised as a drama. Witty, provocative, and uncomfortably close to home.
- Nails by Sam Bees : Absurd and biting. Two men build a fence and confront what — and who — it’s really for.
- A Voice of Unreason by Eveangeleis Tudball : A delicate, unsettling portrayal of anxiety and recovery, made literal through dialogue with an imagined presence.
“From three-minute Car Plays to this collaborative piece… it’s been a thoroughly rewarding experience. Seeing memory brought to life by trained actors — priceless.”
— Phil Ashford, Writer
Redefining What Theatre Can Be
“I was worried at first… not working in a ‘fixed’ theatre space. But this has been freeing. Working collaboratively, I’ve found comfort in being pushed out of my comfort zone.”
— Nerys Amber Stocks, Performer
This is theatre without barriers — literally and metaphorically. The walls of The Factory become part of the action. The audience doesn’t just observe — they move, feel, question, remember.
Nothing stays still. Especially the truth.
A Conversation That Doesn’t End at Curtain Call
After each performance, audiences are invited to stay behind for a shared buffet — a chance to connect with cast, writers, and directors. To ask questions. To reflect. To share their own perspectives.
Because Unreliable Witness doesn’t tie everything up with a bow.
It opens a door. And leaves it ajar.
Don’t Just Watch. Witness.
🎭 Unreliable Witness
📍 The Factory, Jenkin Street, Porth
🗓️ Saturday 21 June – 2pm & 7pm
🎟️ £10 / Free with code UNWAGEDFREE
🔗 Book now
This is not just a show. It’s a shared act of witnessing —
in a space that remembers what it means to make culture, and hold community.
Join us. Let’s find the truth, together.