National Theatre Wales’ Raw Material: Llareggub Revisited will be a re-imagining of the world of Dylan Thomas’ classic ‘play for voices’, presented in Laugharne in May 2014.
It will be created alongside BBC Cymru Wales’ contemporary version of Under Milk Wood, incorporating both the live event and pre-recorded contributions by some of Wales’ best known artists.
This unique collaboration between two major Welsh institutions will form part of the writer’s centenary celebrations.
Tickets for the live production in Laugharne will be available from St David’s Day (1st March).
The first production of National Theatre Wales’ fourth year will be a star-studded, multi-platform, site-specific reimagining of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood, featuring theatrical installations across the town of Laugharne, and pre-recorded performances from some of Wales’ best-known actors and singers.
Raw Material: Llareggub Revisited, created by artist Marc Rees and writer Jon Tregenna, will take its audience on a journey through the underbelly of Laugharne - the place that inspired Under Milk Wood, and 'the strangest town in Wales' according to Dylan Thomas himself. In three live events across the early May bank holiday, during the Laugharne Festival, live performance, music and installation will introduce them to the actions, habits and secrets that make today's Laugharne as curious and unique a place as it was when Thomas called it home.
As the weekend draws to a close, BBC Cymru Wales will broadcast a unique, one off contemporary, multi-layered version of Under Milk Wood incorporating elements of the live National Theatre Wales event and readings by an extraordinary Welsh cast in New York, Los Angeles, London, Cardiff and Laugharne.
Further details to be announced by BBC Cymru Wales.
Raw Material: Llareggub Revisited is part of the Dylan Thomas Poetry, Biography And Film Weekend, itself a part of the extended Laugharne Literature Festival and the Dylan Thomas 100 Festival, a year-long celebration of the writer’s centenary.
Tickets for the live production in Laugharne will be available from Saturday 1st March 2014.
Swansea-born Marc Rees is an interdisciplinary creative with an established track record of delivering groundbreaking, provocative and risk-taking projects. He has an acknowledged reputation as an accomplished artist and visionary site-responsive curator. In recent years, he has developed a number of more architecture-driven artworks; notably the location specific projects En Residencia and For Mountain, Sand & Sea, commissioned by Teatro de la Laboral and National Theatre Wales respectively. Each commission featured an array of international artists from differing disciplines who responded to the archive, artefacts and architecture of two very different sites: a former orphanage in Gijon, Northern Spain and the entire seaside town of Barmouth in north Wales. Adain Avion was Rees’ most ambitious project to date, and was selected as Wales' flagship project for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and London Festival 2012. It brought his experience and aptitude as a curator, creator and enabler to the fore and introduced an innovative take on in-flight entertainment which attracted an audience of 48,000 during its migration across Wales. His last commission was Tir Sir Gâr, made in collaboration with writer Roger Williams for Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru. Tir Sir Gâr was the most nominated production in the Theatre Critics of Wales Awards 2014, with five nominations.
Llanelli-born Jon Tregenna first worked with artist Marc Rees on Tir Sir Gâr in 2013 for Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, where he wrote the accompanying book on the subject of farmers diversifying. Jon also has TV writing credits with the BBC and ITV and co-wrote the award-winning S4C TV series Cowbois ac Injans with his sister Catherine. Other credits include writing and producing the David Garland Jones Youtube comedy channel; writing an ‘update’ of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood – Buggerall – which is performed annually at the Laugharne Weekend, and a novel entitled No-one Ever Grew Up Wanting To Be A Car Salesman based on his time selling cars in St. John’s Wood, London in the late 90s. He also created the Laugharne Lines website which launches in April 2014 revealing the curious history of the township. Jon lives in Laugharne and manages Browns Hotel.
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