An actor who vividly remembers the drowning of a Welsh valley near his boyhood home will play the leader of the local community’s opposition to the drowning in a brand new play to be staged in Mold’s Clwyd Theatr Cymru during the National Eisteddfod’s visit to the town next week.Dyfan Roberts was a 16-year-old schoolboy when the village of Capel Celyn near Bala in Gwynedd disappeared under the waters of a reservoir providing water for the City of Liverpool. “Feelings were running extremely high in the area at the time with opposition to the drowning reaching fever pitch at times,” said the actor who plays Dafydd Roberts in Manon Eames’ play, Porth y Byddar – a play based on Liverpool Corporation’s decision the go ahead with the drowning exactly 50 years ago. “Dafydd Roberts is remembered as an unassuming farmer, postman and chapel deacon and the most reluctant of leaders who found himself in the limelight as Chairman of the Capel Celyn Defence Committee by no fault or desire of his own,” he added. As a result of the drowning 12 homes and farms as well as a school, post office, chapel and cemetery were engulfed as water from the Tryweryn River was amassed to form the present 800 acre Llyn Celyn lake. Out of 67 residents 48 lost their homes and livelihoods. All of them spoke Welsh as a first language. “The Act of Parliament needed to create a reservoir was given Royal Assent on August 1st, 1957 even though all but one Welsh MP opposed the Bill,” said acclaimed playwright, Manon Eames. “But it took another eight years for the work of erecting a dam to be completed and the drowning to begin,” she added. Porth y Byddar is a joint Clwyd Theatr Cymru and Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru – the Welsh National Touring Company – production with the 11-member cast directed by Clwyd Theatr Cymru’s Tim Baker. “According to the then Welsh Affairs Minster, Henry Brooke, the drowning of Capel Celyn was the most obvious and cheapest source of water for Liverpool,” he said. “But the decision sparked a political storm that resounds to this day and which led to the polarising of opinions, imprisonments and a national uproar,” he added. Porth y Byddar will be staged in Mold’s Clwyd Theatr Cymru on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings, 7-10 August, 2007, when the National Eisteddfod of Wales is held in the town. All performances start at 7.30 with an extra matinee performance at 2.30pm, Saturday, 11 August, 2007. A free bus service is available from the Eisteddfod Maes to Clwyd Theatr Cymru. The play will also tour of Wales’ main theatre venues as well as one performance in London in the Autumn. “It’s a great privilege to be part of a production which is based on such an emotive period in recent Welsh history,” said Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru’s Marketing Manager, Elwyn Williams. “It’s the story of a lost community but it also arguably planted the seeds of self-determination that eventually led to modern-day Welsh political institutions,” he added. Clwyd Theatr Cymru will also play host to Theatr Bara Caws' Eisteddfod production next week. 'Caffi Basra' marks the company's 30th Anniversary and will be staged from Monday to Thursday evenings, August 6-9. 2007. All performances start at 8.00pm and one cast member, Dyfed Thomas, had a role in Theatr Bara Caws' first production, 'Croeso i'r Royal', in the 1977 National Eisteddfod held in Wrexham. |
| Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru web site: www.theatr.com |
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Monday, July 30, 2007 |
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