Cardiff’s pub theatre The Other Room is to present the final production in its current venue before the move with host Porter’s to a brand-new Cardiff city centre home. The production is a new play, Idle, They Yammer by Matthew Trevannion which will run 9-21 May.
“Today’s the day, right? That’s what you said. What you prophesized.
Today’s the day we finish the job?”
We’re all in the business of telling stories. Building narratives. Constructing meaning. To keep ourselves safe, to make sense of the senseless, to explain the unexplainable, or simply just to pass the time. But what happens when the stories we inhabit begin to crumble? How can we still manufacture hope in a world that’s falling apart?
Matthew Trevannion, Writer of Idle, They Yammer which plays The Other Room, Porters, Cardiff from Tuesday 9 – Sunday 21 May 
Dean Rehman, Rhys Parry Jones and Lowri Jenkins in Idle, They Yammer which plays The Other Room, Porters, Cardiff from Tuesday 9 – Sunday 21 May. Photo: Hattie Alwen 
Producer Jafar Iqbal and Sound Designer Johnny Edward at rehearsals for Idle, They Yammer which plays The Other Room, Porters, Cardiff from Tuesday 9 – Sunday 21 May. Photo: Hattie Alwen 
Dean Rehman & Rhys Parry Jones in Idle, They Yammer which plays The Other Room, Porters, Cardiff from Tuesday 9 – Sunday 21 May. Photo: Hattie Alwen 
Rhys Parry Jones and Lowri Jenkins in Idle, They Yammer which plays The Other Room, Porters, Cardiff from Tuesday 9 – Sunday 21 May. Photo: Hattie Alwen 
Assistant Director Carli De La Hughes at rehearsals for Idle, They Yammer which plays The Other Room, Porters, Cardiff from Tuesday 9 – Sunday 21 May. Photo: Hattie Alwen 
Lowri Jenkins in Idle, They Yammer which plays The Other Room, Porters, Cardiff from Tuesday 9 – Sunday 21 May. Photo: Hattie Alwen
Idle, They Yammer is Matthew’s 2nd production with The Other Room. As a writer he has also worked with Sherman Cymru, Theatr Clwyd, National Theatre Wales and BBC Radio Wales. As an actor Matthew has performed on stages from Hong Kong to London’s West End, with companies such as the National Theatre and Frantic Assembly, as well as appearing in programs for Netflix, ITV and the BBC.
An ode to hard graft, the play is a metaphysical conversation between people trapped by the very thing they’ve spent their entire lives building. Idle They Yammer culminates nearly a decade’s worth of productions presented by The Other Room as Porter’s is Cardiff’s pub theatre in their current location.
Founded in 2014, The Other Room is Wales’ smallest producing house, making visionary, distinctive theatre in the Welsh capital. It is a small space where young artists have the freedom to take big risks; that celebrates Wales as a bilingual nation; and where new Welsh plays go toe-to-toe with the most revered established modern drama. Idle They Yammer is described as a “final reckoning” for The Other Room in its current home. An ending of sorts… but certainly a new beginning…
Rhys Parry Jones in Idle, They Yammer which plays The Other Room, Porters, Cardiff from Tuesday 9 – Sunday 21 May. Photo: Hattie Alwen 
Dean Rehman and Director Dan Jones look at the script for Idle, They Yammer which plays The Other Room, Porters, Cardiff from Tuesday 9 – Sunday 21 May 
Dean Rehman and Lowri Jenkins in Idle, They Yammer which plays The Other Room, Porters, Cardiff from Tuesday 9 – Sunday 21 May. Photo: Hattie Alwen
Artistic Director of The Other Room Dan Jones who will direct Idle, They Yammer says, “This is it. The final full-scale production in The Other Room… Well, sort of. I imagine a lot of our audience have heard rumblings of where Porter’s and The Other Room are moving to and must be frustrated by our silence on the matter. Trust me, I share that frustration. It’s true that Porter’s have found new premises, and that The Other Room will be moving with them, and honestly, it’s looking encouraging, very exciting, and not without its challenges. We just can’t talk about just yet. But when we can, we will scream and shout about it from the rooftops.
“If this whole situation has taught me anything, it’s just how little control we have over our own story. But unlike bricks and mortar, a story cannot be taken away from you… can it? That’s where Idle, They Yammer comes in. It is a stunningly lyrical, and fiercely intelligent play, full of charm, horror and maybe even a little hope? But I’ll let audiences decide that for themselves. Set on a construction site, high above the chaos below, it’s time to lay down your tools and join us for one last story. Just as The Other Room blasted onto the scene with, well, Blasted (Sarah Kane), Idle, They Yammer brings things full-circle and perfectly captures our current context. What’s more, this will be the first time I am reunited with writer Matthew, whose play All But Gone was the very first production I directed as Artistic Director of The Other Room – another full-circle story. Maybe it was meant to be. Maybe this isn’t it at all, but exactly what is supposed to happen. Onwards!”
Idle, They Yammer is written by Matthew Trevannion, who comments, “Idle, They Yammer concerns our reliance on narrative; how we use it to sooth, challenge, and bond. It is an ode to those who build the structures that shelter us yet are given no stake in the fruits of their labour. My last TOR production, All but Gone, was about the fundamental need to be seen, of lost opportunity and redemption, and in a way Idle, They Yammer covers much of the same ground. It is a short and sharp play, lyrical and blunt, a play that I hope will prove a fitting last production for TOR in its current incarnation and a fitting launchpad for the exciting future yet to come.”
- Tickets for Idle, They Yammer which runs at The Other Room, Porters, Cardiff from Tuesday 9 – Sunday 21 May, at 7.30pm are available now from www.otherroomtheatre.com. To keep updated on The Other Room, you can follow the team on Instagram www.instagram.com/otherroomtheatre, Facebook www.facebook.com/otherroomtheatre and Twitter @TORtheatre.