144 Lives, 116 Children, 10% Called Jones
“I feel anxious”
Angharad
Liam Holmes has written this play about the loss of 144 people in 1966, 116 of them children when 150,000 tonnes of coal waste surged down the hill and submerged a primary school and other buildings in the village of Aberfan. Like the First World War being about the lost poets, the authors, the musicians, Mr Jones is about the huge post traumatic stress of a small community as seen through two survivors. It is about the loss of what might have been. Those that have survived carry survivors guilt as they think about those that died.
There are two survivors here. We first meet Stephen Jones (Liam Holmes) at 18. Rugby is his passion and he relates for us his scoring the penalty goal which took his team into the final. He talks about how much this goal meant to the village, to his father and to his younger brother, Dafydd. The other actor is a nurse, a couple of years older than Stephen, Angharad Price (Mabli Gwynne) a neighbour of Stephen’s family who in the absence of Stephen and Dafydd’s mother, has been a mother figure to Dafydd and has done things like teaching Dafydd to read.
Juliette Demoulin’s enclosed set has everything darkened by coal dust, the books on the bookshelves, the photographs on the walls and a cast off rugby shirt. Angharad envisages living outside the valley whereas Stephen sees his future there. They talk about those who have moved away and those who have returned about Jenny Smith who has diabetes gorging on sweeties from the shop. Angharad flirts with Stephen. He gives us a detailed account of the rugby semi-final penalty goal and the resulting euphoria.
The other boys tease him about Angharad but she brilliantly gives them a comeuppance and encourages his affection for her. Dafydd is eight when we hear the extra loud rumble of thunder except that it is too loud and lasts too long to be thunder. It is the slag heap careering down the hillside towards Pantglas Junior School.
Angharad is in the hospital treating any survivors and permanently traumatised by what she has seen. Many parents are searching for their missing children including the hospital but also in the temporary morgue set up in the village chapel. Stephen and his father are trying to find Dafydd but know that his classroom was closest to the full impact of the coal slurry on the school.
Liam Holmes grew up in the valleys very close to Aberfan and the memory of the tragedy is ingrained in all those who live there. Some move away but the memories stay and can’t be moved away from. They talk about the visit from the Queen and I have watched little of The Crown but I remember clearly how late she was to visit and how she had to be persuaded to go there, but how important her coming was to the survivors. 2026 will be the 60th anniversary and we saw some of the schoolchildren from 1966, now over 65 whose whole lives have been darkened by the events of that day.
Michael Neri’s subtle and naturalistic direction allows us to feel the stories here. Liam Holmes’ play doesn’t give us the hows of whys of the company neglect that led to this terrible loss of life but allows us to feel the pain and running sore of the community. The singing of the children’s choir is heartbreaking.
Editor of TheatreVibe.co.uk
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Production Notes
Mr Jones An Aberfan Story
Written by Liam Holmes
Directed by Michael Neri
Cast
Starring:
Liam Holmes
Mabli Gwynn
Creatives
Director: Michael Neri
Designer: Juliette Demoulin
Lighting Designer: Alastair Tombs
Sound Director: James Barnes and Zach North
Information
Running Time: 80 Minutes
Booking to 22nd November 2025
Theatre:
Finborough Theatre
118 Finborough Road
Earls Court
London
SW10 9ED
Box Office: www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge
at the Finborough
on the matinée on 1st November 2025