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Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru is delighted to announce that its trustees have appointed Arwel Gruffydd, the current Artistic Director, to lead the company for the next five years. Arwel Gruffydd has already completed his first five-year term as the company’s Artistic Director since his appointment in 2011; during that time he has steered the company through a period of far-reaching changes as regards artistic vision, together with substantial challenges as regards public subsidy. As the company also launches its programme for the forthcoming season – a few days prior to the opening of its latest production, Rhith Gân by Wyn Mason, at the Abergavenny National Eisteddfod – Arwel Gruffydd is confident that the company will continue to go from strength to strength. Today, therefore, Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru is pleased to announce its programme for the forthcoming season. That programme will include Merch yr Eog, a new, contemporary play in co-production with Teatr Piba from Brittany, which will be performed in Welsh, Breton and French, and will tour Brittany as well as Wales this autumn; a new translation by the late Professor Gwyn Thomas of the Shakespearean classic, Macbeth, to be performed at Caerphilly Castle and broadcast live to various centres throughout Wales; and a new opera by Guto Puw and Gwyneth Glyn, namely an adaptation of Gwenlyn Parry’s masterpiece, Y Tŵr, in co-production with the leading contemporary opera company, Music Theatre Wales. Merch yr Eog, which is based on original work by Owen Martell and Aziliz Bourges, is a multilingual production that will be performed in Welsh, Breton and French. This is the first time for Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru to co-produce a new, original work with a company from abroad. The directors of the play will be Thomas Cloarec (Teatr Piba) and Sara Lloyd (Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru), and the cast will feature actors from Wales and France. The Welsh cast will include Rhian Blythe and Rhian Morgan, and Merch yr Eog will open in the Aberystwyth Arts Centre on 5 October 2016 before touring in Wales, south-west England and Brittany. The Welsh-speaking audience will be asked to download the Sibrwd app beforehand, in order to follow the elements of the play performed in Breton and French. To date, Sibrwd has been used to enable non-Welsh-speaking audiences to access Welsh-language productions, and this represents an exciting step forward in the development of this innovative resource. The play will also be available, via Sibrwd, in English, Breton and French. Macbeth, a new translation into Welsh by the late Professor Gwyn Thomas of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, will be performed in association with CADW at Caerphilly Castle in February 2017. Arwel Gruffydd, the Artistic Director of Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, will be directing this site-specific production, and the work will be broadcast live to several arts centres and cinemas throughout Wales. This will be the first time for a Welsh theatre company to broadcast a production live to other centres. Y Tŵr, a co-production by Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru and Music Theatre Wales, will be presented by the Vale of Glamorgan Festival and Sherman Theatre, where the tour will open. Guto Puw is the composer of this new opera, with Gwyneth Glyn being the author of the libretto which is based on Gwenlyn Parry’s well-known play of the same name. Michael McCarthy, Artistic Director of Music Theatre Wales, will direct the production, with Sara Lloyd as associate director. Y Tŵr will tour some of the main arts centres and theatres in Wales during May and June 2017. Arwel Gruffydd said: “This new programme represents a wide range of theatrical forms, themes and creative ambition, and reflects the company’s far-reaching artistic aims. It includes new works, the classics, the traditional and the innovative, productions that celebrate our national identity and others that take us to unexpected locations, as well as exciting partnerships that enable the company to venture to unknown territory in safe hands.” Ever since Arwel Gruffydd was appointed Artistic Director of the company he has, when drawing up a programme of work, constantly attempted to reflect these aims. The company’s highlights over the past five years have included Nansi, a new play that recently toured village halls throughout Wales, celebrating the life of Nansi Richards, the enchanting harpist; Dawns Ysbrydion with Eddie Ladd (in partnership with Galeri Caernarfon), which noted 50 years since the drowning of Tryweryn; {150} and Tir Sir Gâr, by the versatile artist Marc Rees – the former being a promenade production on a grand scale at the Royal Opera House Store near Aberdare (in co-production with National Theatre Wales and in partnership with S4C), and the latter being a site-specific production staged at the Carmarthenshire Museum that was adapted into a film entitled Tir for S4C; Blodyn, a community production by Bethan Marlow, that was performed in several venues in the Nantlle Valley and Blaenau Ffestiniog; and Y Storm, a new translation by Gwyneth Lewis of Shakespeare’s last play, The Tempest, that was performed on tour in a circus tent as part of the London 2012 Festival (the Cultural Olympiad) and the World Shakespeare Festival in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Arwel Gruffydd’s work as a director for the company over the past five years has included Llwyth (a co-production with Sherman Cymru), that toured to the Edinburgh Festival in 2011 and then to the Taipei Arts Festival in 2012; Sgint (a co-production with Sherman Cymru), the first performance of a verbatim play by Bethan Marlow; Blodeuwedd, a site-specific production of Saunders Lewis’s masterpiece on the historic site of Tomen y Mur, Merionethshire, followed by an adaptation of the production which toured throughout Wales; Y Bont, an innovative, multi-media production (in association with S4C, Green Bay Media and BBC Radio Cymru) commemorating 50 years since the protest on Trefechan bridge, Aberystwyth; Y Fenyw Ddaeth o’r Môr, a new Welsh translation by Menna Elfyn of Henrik Ibsen’s classic; and, most recently, Chwalfa (in partnership with Pontio), Gareth Miles’s adaptation of T. Rowland Hughes’s novel, which was one of the first productions to be staged at Theatr Bryn Terfel, Pontio, that related the tale of the Great Strike of the Penrhyn Quarry, and included not only a large professional cast, but also a community cast of over 50 local residents. Gwerfyl Pierce Jones, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, said: “By extending our Artistic Director’s contract for a further five-year period, with the unanimous approval of the members of the Board, we see an opportunity to build on the innovative work achieved over recent years. We feel confident that Arwel Gruffydd has the ambition, the vision and the energy to continue to lead the work successfully in the challenging period that lies ahead.” Arwel Gruffydd said: “It has been a great honour to lead our Welsh-language national theatre company over the past five years. However, the challenge is tremendous as the expectations are naturally high, the ambition boundless, but the financial resources scarce. However, today we have artists, theatre makers and theatre professionals, working through the medium of Welsh, that are amongst the best in the world. As a small nation, we can certainly hold our heads high amidst theatre traditions world-wide. Theatre is a thrilling, vital medium that touches people in a very direct way, and provides a platform on which to discuss the important issues of the day, as well as universal themes. In a period of constant change and challenges, it gives us an opportunity to hold public discourse through art and, at its best, it transports us for an hour or two to unexpected worlds that enthrall and inspire us. And we need those moments today as much as ever, if not more so. I look forward to transporting Welsh audiences to new and varied worlds over the next five years, and to collaborating with the very best in the field of theatre here in Wales and beyond, in addition to developing new talents.” Details of Productions: Merch yr Eog Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru and Teatr Piba, in partnership with Aberystwyth Arts Centre. Based on original work by Owen Martell and Aziliz Bourgès. Directors: Sara Lloyd, Thomas Cloarec Dates and Times: 19:30, 05–07 October Aberystwyth Arts Centre aberystwythartscentre.co.uk / 01970 623 232 19:30, 11 and 12 October Pontio, Bangor www.pontio.co.uk / 01248 38 28 28 19:30, 14 October Neuadd Dwyfor, Pwllheli www.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/neuadd-dwyfor / 01758 704088 19:30, 17 October Galeri, Caernarfon www.galericaernarfon.com / 01286 685 222 19:30, 20 and 21 October Lyric, Carmarthen www.theatrausirgar.co.uk / 0845 226 3510 20:00, 25 and 26 October Weston Studio, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff www.yganolfan.org.uk / 029 2063 6464 Tickets for sale: 1 August 2016 19:30, 29 October The House, Plymouth https://peninsula-arts.cloudvenue.co.uk/home / 01752 585050 3 and 4 November L’Arthémuse, Brieg, Brittany 15 November Le Théâtre du Champ au Roy, Gwengamp, Brittany 17 and 18 November La Maison du Théâtre, Brest, Brittany 24 November Le Théâtre du Pays de Morlaix, Montroulez, Brittany Macbeth Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru in association with CADW. Gwyn Thomas’s translation of Shakespeare’s classic play. 7 – 18 February 2017, Caerphilly Castle. Tickets on sale October 2016. Broadcast live to arts centres and cinemas; dates and venues to be announced in October 2016. Y Tŵr A Music Theatre Wales and Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru production, to be presented originally by the Vale of Glamorgan Festival 2017 and Sherman Theatre. Composer – Guto Puw Libretto – Gwyneth Glyn Opening at the Sherman Theatre in May before touring to 4 other centres in Wales. Arwel Gruffydd Originally from Tanygrisiau near Blaenau Ffestiniog, Arwel graduated from Bangor University before training as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy, London. He has worked as a professional actor, the Literary Manager of Sgript Cymru and an Associate Director with Sherman Cymru. He won a Welsh Bafta award in 2002 for his work as an actor in the series Treflan, and the D.M. Davies Award for his work as writer and film director. He joined Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru as Artistic Director in 2011. His directing work for the theatre includes Chwalfa, Y Fenyw Ddaeth o’r Môr, Blodeuwedd (Wales tour), Blodeuwedd (Tomen y Mur), Y Bont (Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru); Sgint, Llwyth (Sherman Cymru / Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru); Ceisio’i Bywyd Hi, Maes Terfyn (Sherman Cymru); Yr Argae (Sherman Cymru / Torri Gair); Noson i’w Chofio, Gwe o Gelwydd (Cwmni Inc); Mae Sera’n Wag (Sgript Cymru / Prosiect 9); Hedfan Drwy’r Machlud (Sgript Cymru / Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama). Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru was established in 2003. It contributes to the creation of a national narrative that represents the dynamic culture of Wales, by producing innovative and ambitious theatre through the medium of Welsh in Wales and beyond – on the main stage, in unexpected locations, and at the heart of our communities. |
| Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru web site: Lowri.Johnston@theatr.com> |
| Lowri Johnston e-mail: Lowri.Johnston@theatr.com> |
Thursday, July 28, 2016 |
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