(Clare Brennan’s article appeared in the Guardian, 3/2/2025. ‘Their connection radiates from the stage’: Peter Mooney as Jim and Gareth John as Alan in Housemates, at the Sherman theatre, Cardiff. Photograph: Mark Douet.)
Sherman theatre, Cardiff
The remarkable true story of how the resident of a Cardiff institution and a student revolutionised supported living is told with agit-prop energy and via superb performances
Housemates – people banding together to share a living space. What could be more normal? Back in the 1970s, it wasn’t; or not for the 100,000 people deemed “sub-normal” and, under the feeble-minded (control) bill of 1912, segregated and put into institutions – often for life.
Two groups of young people challenged this situation: residents of one of those institutions, Cardiff’s Ely hospital, and students from the city’s university. Together, they brought about a revolution that resulted in the closure of about 90-plus institutions and the creation of a model of supported living that today is copied around the world.
Tim Green’s play Housemates tells their story as an agit prop-style educational entertainment, combining fast-flowing action, snappy narration, sharp characterisations and live music. Joe Murphy (artistic director of the Sherman) and Ben Pettitt-Wade (artistic director of Hijinx, a theatre company specialising in inclusivity for neurodivergent artists) are the production’s joint directors; they showcase the form at its best, putting across a clear message with dramatic impact.
We settle into our seats; 1970s hits are belted out by a rocking pub band (made up, it turns out, of the actors/characters we are about to meet). We sing along. The keynote of the evening is fun-inflected, collective engagement, counterpointed by highs of emotion and lows of horror and indignation.
