Loads of my friends who I had grown up with accepted their destiny I felt they’d had their dreams stolen away. “This was in the era when much of the infrastructure of the Valleys was being taken apart with the demise of nationalised industries. “So I went off to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff in the late ’70s and discovered this world of possibilities in terms of dance and physical theatre which I hadn’t come upon before. “Most of my forebears did that and it ended badly. ‘Get a serious job boyo and go down the pit’, that’s what I was told. “However, I had been informed that you really shouldn’t be going off to do something you enjoy. “In that tradition of people from the Valleys who have always enjoyed amateur dramatics and dancing, it was always within me. “Back in the ’70s there was still steel and coal in the area and my future was destined for either of those industries, but I wanted to go off and do drama,” he says. The 53-year-old, who now lives in Dartmoor in Devon, always dreamt of working in movies. “My job is to help those people performing as the creatures move in a manner that is entirely correct.” “Personally, I’m trying to bring it alive for the audience, so for the thousands of people here in Cardiff they’re going to see all those characters they’re really familiar with like Sid, Manny, Scrat and Diego they’ll all be here right in front of them. “Those people who have popped into our rehearsals have been drawn into it all and you see these childlike eyes going, ‘Wow!’. “There’s a fantastic mix of circus, acrobatics, puppetry, video technology, even the set moves and has a major part to play. “It’s the first time that a full audience will have seen see this and they’re in for a treat,” he chirps. And he’s especially happy that the first people to glimpse the show will be from Wales. Two years in the making, the show is set to astonish and astound, delivering an impressive set that certainly has the wow factor as well as bringing all the characters from the hit animated film to an ice rink setting.įor Todd, who is originally from Tredegar, it’s nice to be back home. He’ll be sprinkling some of that fairy dust around the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena tonight when Ice Age Live! A Mammoth Adventure receives its world premiere in the capital. IN MOST children’s eyes Todd Jones is nothing short of a magician bringing creatures to life in front of their very eyes. Dave Owens talks to the Welshman tasked with bringing the animated favourites alive Big budget family show Ice Age Live! A Mammoth Adventure receives its world premiere in Cardiff tonight.

Ice age live a mammoth adventure