Output details
35 - Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts
Aberystwyth University
Blodeuwedd : A production directed by the researcher, staged by Cwmni Theatr Cydweithredol Troed-y-Rhiw, of Saunders Lewis’s stage play Blodeuwedd. The purpose of the production was to re-examine the play, and develop the dramatist’s interest in classically-restrained stage action, by subjecting its dialogue to the cadences of mid-Cardiganshire dialect and inflection and by conceiving its staging around the specific architectural and geographical features of the vestry at Troed-y-Rhiw.
A theatre production with Cwmni Theatr Cydweithredol Troed-y-Rhiw of Saunders Lewis’s stage play Blodeuwedd. Researcher responsible for creating an interpretation of the narrative and for directing the production. Performed at seven venues throughout Wales between July 2008 and May 2009 (Troed-y-Rhiw [twice], Pumsaint, Maenclochog, Aberystwyth, Parc, Cardiff and Newcastle Emlyn). Research question: How could a play synonymous with Lewis’s deep interest in classically-restrained stage action, and in a potently non-specific milieu for its actors’ manners and speech, communicate when adapted by a company with a rural identity and non-metropolitan inflections of speech and action? The production sought to address this question in several ways: by attempting to deformalize Lewis’s dramatic speech, subjecting his dialogue to the cadences of mid-Cardiganshire dialect and inflection; by returning the play to its heritage in aspirational, artistically-committed amateur theatre (as with the original 1948 Garthewin production); by conceiving its staging around the specific architectural and geographical features of the vestry at Troed-y-Rhiw; and by asserting the anxious physicality of Blodeuwedd through a physical score which constituted a somatic drive through the play as opposed to a narrative one (see Ames, 2010). Researcher’s reflection on the production (in Welsh) is available as analytical notes on http://blodeuweddtroedyrhiw.blogspot.co.uk/; and his work is cited in Ames, M. (2010). ‘Blodeuwedd. Somatic Efforts in Directing: A Political Imperative?’, Cyfrwng. 7 , pp.38-56.
A theatre production directed by the researcher, with Cwmni Theatr Cydweithredol Troed-y-Rhiw, of Saunders Lewis’s stage play Blodeuwedd (1948). Performed at seven venues throughout Wales between July 2008 and May 2009. The purpose of the study was to re-examine the play, derived from the Mabinogi and subjected to the dramatist’s interest in classically-restrained stage action, by subjecting its dialogue to the cadences of mid-Cardiganshire dialect and inflection and by conceiving its staging around the specific architectural and geographical features of the vestry at Troed-y-Rhiw.
