“MARY TWICE”
Multi-media World Premiere performance written by renowned playwright Gary Owen
Presented by Bridgend Youth Theatre,
Bridgend Youth Dance & members of Bridgend Youth Orchestra
Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl
Friday 4th & Saturday 5th April 2008 at 7.30pm
Renowned local playwright GARY OWEN (winner of the Arts Council England 2003 Meyer-Whitworth Award for new writing for the theatre) is looking forward to his WORLD PREMIERE multi-media production of MARY TWICE to be performed at the Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl on Friday 4th and
Saturday 5th April at 7.30pm.
GARY OWEN was born in 1972 in rural west Wales. Educated at Brynteg Comprehensive School, Cambridge University and the European Film College in Denmark, Gary began writing for the stage in his late twenties. His first attempt at playwriting, Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco, was produced by Paines Plough in 2001, and has since been staged all over the world. The Shadow of a Boy was produced by the Royal National Theatre in 2002, and won the George Devine Award and the Meyer Whitworth Award. The Drowned World, again directed by Vicky Featherstone at Paines Plough, won the
Pearson Best Play Award and a Fringe First at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival, and has had many productions since then. Other work includes a number of radio plays for the BBC, and the stage plays Cancer Time, Ghost City, An Enemy for the People and most recently We That Are Left at the Watford
Palace Theatre. Gary’s plays are published by Methuen.
Specially commissioned by Bridgend County Borough Council’s Arts & Culture Service in partnership with Arts Council of Wales and featuring the combined talents of Bridgend Youth Theatre, Bridgend Youth Dance and members of Bridgend Youth Orchestra - MARY TWICE is an adventure story based on the ancient traditions of Mari Lwyd.
Mary is 11 years old, and like lots of 11 year olds she finds her parents’ endless efforts to get her interested in things as just embarrassing! Her life is, quite simply, boring! Until, that is, she discovers Otherworld and Grey Mary. As their lives become interwoven, both girls find themselves living a twilight existence between our world and the mystical, magical environment of the Otherworld.
“Having spent most of my youth in Bridgend, it's a total honour to be asked to write a play for Bridgend Youth Theatre. I've been incredibly lucky as a playwright, in that my work has been performed by prestigious theatres in London and Edinburgh and in translation all over the
world. But to be recognised in my home town actually means more to me than getting a play on at the National Theatre - and definitely means more to my mum!
It's also a huge step forward for me in terms of the scale of the work. When writing for professional theatres, I'm limited to a cast of four or at the most five - Mary Twice will have a cast of what seems like hundreds, plus dancers and musicians, and apparently a video
installation in the foyer. Having seen films and plays BYT has produced in the past, I'm confident they'll take my script and turn it into a brilliant show. I can't wait to see it!” Gary Owen
Tickets are on sale NOW and are available by calling The Grand Pavilion Box Office, Tel: 01656 815955, email: pavilion@bridgend.gov.uk.
|
