A Another Gill

Sue Johnson went to see the Cardiff Barnsley game on the weekend.

Watching Cardiff City in an FA Cup semi-final may not seem the most obvious way to prepare for a revival of Peter Gill's Small Change in the 250-seat Donmar Warehouse. But Johnston - over and above her long friendship with Cardiff City's Robbie Fowler - had her reasons.

"I can listen to their accents," she says. Small Change is set in the Cardiff of Gill's youth. "Cardiff is not an easy accent and Peter is very precise about what he wants. Somehow there's a lilt in the writing that makes you want to go more Welsh than he is and he clips you back. 'Too Welsh,' he says."

I saw "Small Change" at the National Theatre in 1983. That's a quarter of a century ago, and that's a sobering thought. Come to think of it Peter Gill directed the production of "Speed the Plough" that I mentioned in a post the other day.

Cardiff City to David Mamet: Everything's connected.