A play based on one of the most controversial episodes in recent Welsh history and a sequence of events that’s probably defined modern Wales will be staged in Cardiff’s Sherman Theatre next week. ‘Porth y Byddar’ (Door of the Deaf) by Manon Eames is based on Liverpool Corporation’s decision to drown a North Wales valley community exactly 50 years ago. “The Act o Parliament needed to create a reservoir was passed on August 1st, 1957 even though all but one Welsh MPs 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. As a result 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 near Bala in Gwynedd. Out of 67 residents 48 lost their homes and livelihoods. All of them spoke Welsh as a first language. “The decision to drown Capel Celyn sparked a political storm that resounds to this day and which led to the polarising of opinions, imprisonments and a national uproar,” said ‘Porth y Byddar’ Director, Tim Baker. “Set very much in the tradition of plays like John McGrath’s ‘The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black Black Oil’ and Brian Friels’ ‘Translations’, this play deals with economic and cultural imperialism in its crudest form,” he added. Liverpool City Council subsequently formally apoligized in 2005 for its drowning of Capel Celyn. Porth y Byddar which is is Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru (the Welsh National Touring Theatre Company) and Clwyd Theatr Cymru co-production will be staged in the Sherman Theatre on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (with English surtitles) and Friday evenings, 25-28 September, 2007. All performances start at 7.30pm. Ond its six week tour of Wales’ main theatre venues the play will then go on to: • Carmarthen’s Lyric Theatre on Tuesday, 2 October, 2007; • The Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Friday and Saturday, 5 (with English surtitles) and 6 October; and • Cardigan’s Theatr Mwldan on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 11 (with English surtitles), 12 and 13 October, 2007. The 11-member cast include leading Welsh stage actors including Llion Williams, Dyfan Roberts, Wyn Bowen Harries and Betsan Llwyd. “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. |
| Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru web site: www.theatr.com |
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Monday, September 17, 2007 |
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