DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE
2013 Summer PROGRAMME
WELCOME On 14 May 1953, the first full stage performance of Under Milk Wood took place in New York, the cast comprising Dylan Thomas and five American actors. We mark the sixtieth anniversary of this night with our Under Milk Wood Days in May, and we continue our celebration of Dylan and others during the autumn’s Dylan Thomas Festival, which will include a Doctor Who Day, an event on The Killing with Emma Kennedy and David Hewson and a staging of Dylan’s Rebecca’s Daughters. “Love the words”, as Dylan said to his New York cast, and we hope that you will join us throughout the year to do the same.
BOX OFFICE: 01792 463980 Online booking is available: www.ticketsource.co.uk/ dylanthomas F Full Price C Concessions PTL Passport To Leisure 2
Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 May, 7.30pm
ROUGH DIAMONDS #1 AND #2 Ambitious new drama drawn from the work of students on Swansea University’s prestigious Creative Writing programme. The performances are introduced and directed by playwright D.J.Britton, Associate Professor in Dramatic Writing at Swansea University. The works will be performed by Swansea’s outstanding Fluellen Theatre Company. Writers include: Teresa Chambers, Joe Downes, Sabiha Hussain, Jean James, Elli Martin, Jan Newton, Benjamin Palmer, Glynn Scott, Tobin Snelling, James Taylor, A.M. Lassessen and Ricky Stevenson. ALL TICKETS: £4 Summer Programme
Thursday 9 May, 10am – 5.30pm
WRITERS’ DAY The annual jamboree of words, advice and discussion includes readings and conversation from Menna Elfyn, Stevie Davies, Jo Bell, Bethany Pope , Nigel Jenkins and Dave Oprava. John Lavin, Gary Raymond and Rhys Milsom discuss online editing with Jon Gower, and Jeni Williams examines the future of publishing with Welsh Books Council boss Elwyn Jones and Parthian’s Richard Davies. We conclude with a centenary celebration of R.S. Thomas. Organised in partnership with University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Swansea University, with the kind support of the H’mm Poetry Foundation. TICKETS: Free, but please reserve a ticket from the Centre
www.dylanthomas.com
3
Friday 10 May and Saturday 11 May
UNDER MILK WOOD DAYS Celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first stage performance of Dylan’s ‘play for voices’ with a series of special events. Friday, 10am – 4.30pm UNDER MILK WOOD TWITTER EXCHANGE #2 After the success of last year’s excerpts, we present further conversations between Llareggub’s inhabitants. Follow us @DTCSwansea to join in.
Saturday, 10am YOUNG WRITERS’ SQUAD WORKSHOP A Milk Wood themed session (fully booked) Saturday, 1pm MILK WAKING WOOD Fluellen present entertainment to celebrate the second “Under Milk Wood” Day by casting a look at some of the residents of Llareggub and how they, and the play, have influenced other writers through the years. ALL TICKETS: £5
4
Summer Programme
Lewis Davies
Wednesday 15 May, 7.30pm
Stevie Davies
Thursday 16 May, 7pm
SEX AND POWER AT LAUNCH NEW TITLES BY THE BEAU RIVAGE STEVIE DAVIES BY LEWIS DAVIES AND DAI SMITH A gripping and emotionally charged production exploring the dilemmas facing two writers who have sought refuge in the fading glamour of a French resort. The writers are D. H. Lawrence and Rhys Davies, and the catalyst for their encounter is the volatile figure of Frieda Lawrence. ALL TICKETS: £4
www.dylanthomas.com
Stevie Davies launches her latest book, Awakening. One year after Darwin’s explosive publication of The Origin of Species, sisters Anna and Beatrice Pentecost awaken to a world shattered by science, radicalism and the stirrings of feminist rebellion. Library of Wales series editor Dai Smith discusses his fiction debut, Dream On, a part black comedy and flashlight noir thriller, part meditation on the business of living. He also introduces the latest title in the Library of Wales series, James Hanley’s A Kingdom. Free entry and wine. 5
Thursday 23 May, 7.30pm
PETER LORD: RELATIONSHIPS WITH PICTURES Peter Lord discusses his new book from Parthian. It describes, via fifteen pictures, the evolution of his own sense of self; from postWar childhood, art college in the 1960s, through the tension between incomers and local people in Wales in the 1970s and 80s, and finally through his exploration of the influence they have had in the lives of the artists who created them. TICKETS: F £5 C £3.50 PTL £1.70
6
Kathryn Maris
Thursday 30 May, 7.30pm
POETS AT THE DTC WITH
KATHRYN MARIS Kathryn Maris, a poet from New York City who now lives in London, has recently released her second collection, God Loves You (Seren, 2013). She has won a Pushcart Prize, and an Academy of American Poets award, and her poems have appeared in several anthologies including Best British Poetry 2012 and the Oxford Poets Anthology. She teaches creative writing at Morley College and the Poetry School. Includes open mic. TICKETS: F £4 C £2.80 PTL £1.60
Summer Programme
Sunday 9 June, 10.30am
RETURN JOURNEY Saturday 8 June, 1pm
fluellen THEATRE PRESENT
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S PORCELAIN AND PINK Julie and Lois are sisters who look and sound alike, but are, in fact, very different. F. Scott Fitgerald`s beautifully observed 1920s play cleverly defines the seismic shifts that the Jazz Age brought to society. All Theatre-In-Focus presentations are script-inhand and preceded by a talk about the playwright. ALL TICKETS: £5 www.dylanthomas.com
Lighthouse Theatre Ltd, with the Dylan Thomas Centre, Gower Walking Festival and DT100, present a promenade production of Return Journey, enacted on the streets that inspired it, and intertwined with snippets of history. It starts in Castle Street and ends in Cwmdonkin Park. TICKETS: £4.00, call 01792 363392 or visit www.gowerwalkingfestival.org Friday 14 June, 7.30pm
PRODUCTIONS PRESENT
‘WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE SAID…’ An entertaining, enlightening, innovative and unpredictable event, featuring Bafta-nominated spoken word artist Stuart Silver, whose own very special brand of philosophy and humour will spar with the poetry of Ian Gregson, Tiffany Atkinson and Richard Douglas Pennant and the improvised music of keyboard master Huw Warren. Experience a rich interweaving of ideas, explorations, characters and instrumentation which has been received with great excitement at the Troubadour and the Ledbury Poetry Festival. TICKETS: F £4 C £2.80 PTL £1.60 7
Natalie Holborow
Joao Morais
Sion Tomos Owen
Jemma King
Friday 21 June, 7pm
Thursday June 27, 7.30pm
TERRY HETHERINGTON AWARD
POETS AT THE DTC WITH
Celebrate the achievements of this year’s entrants into the £1000 Terry Hetherington Award for writers under 30. Winners Joao Morais (first), Natalie Holborow and Sion Tomos Owen (joint second) will be among those who read. Their work will again be published by Parthian in the latest volume of Cheval which will be launched on the night.
JEMMA KING
Free entry.
8
Jemma King reads from her new collection from Parthian, The Shape of a Forest. Haunting, distinctive and sensual, this sophisticated debut offers a powerful survey of life and the human experience. Winner of the 2011 Terry Hetherington Award, Jemma teaches literature and creative writing at Aberystwyth University. Includes open mic. TICKETS: F £4 C £2.80 PTL £1.60 Summer Programme
Saturday 6 July
JOE DUNTHORNE AND CRAIG ROBERTS IN SUBMARINE SWANSEA Film and Tour presented by Literature Wales, The Dylan Thomas Centre and the Film Agency for Wales Film screening: 11.00 am – 1.00 pm Tour: 2.00 pm – 6.00 pm Joe Dunthorne’s debut Submarine was an instant hit, leading to its adaptation to film by Joe and Richard Ayoade in 2010. Starring Craig Roberts, filming took place across south west Wales. Join Joe and Craig in exploring some of these places by coach and on foot, finishing with drinks in the forest from the film. A screening, introduced by Joe and Craig, will precede the tour – come along as part of, or instead of the tour. TICKETS: Film screening: F £5 C £4 via Dylan Thomas Centre Tour only: F £11 C £9 via Literature Wales 02920 472266 Film screening & tour: F £15 C £13 www.dylanthomas.com
9
Alan Bennett
Christopher Meredith
Saturday 13 July, 1pm
Thursday 25 July, 7.30pm
fluellen THEATRE PRESENT
POETS AT THE DTC WITH
ALAN BENNETT’S A VISIT FROM MISS PROTHERO
CHRISTOPHER MEREDITH
Retired and sitting at home, Mr Dodsworth contemplates his life and achievements with quiet satisfaction. But his reverie is suddenly shattered by the arrival of his former secretary, and life will never be the same again. Alan Bennett’s superb play skilfully weaves comedy and pathos to great effect. All Theatre-In-Focus presentations are script-in-hand and preceded by a talk about the playwright. ALL TICKETS: £5
10
Christopher Meredith’s latest collection, Air Histories, starts in the Stone Age and ends in the future, examining a range of subjects, with the personal alongside the impersonal and the experimental alongside well-known forms. He is the author of four novels and three previous collections of poetry and is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Glamorgan. Includes open mic. TICKETS: F £4 C £2.80 PTL £1.60
Summer Programme
August Strindberg
fluellen THEATRE PRESENT
Saturday 10 and Saturday 24 August, 2pm – 4pm
AUGUST STRINDBERG’S PARIAH
GUIDED TOUR: DYLAN’S SWANSEA
A traveller from America is staying at the simple home of a Swedish archaeologist. But who exactly is he and what is he doing there, and can we trust what he says? Strindberg’s superbly structured drama brilliantly charts a tense battle of wits. All Theatre-In-Focus presentations are script-in-hand and preceded by a talk about the playwright. ALL TICKETS: £5
Fluellen Theatre Company present a lively and entertaining performancebased guided tour of Dylan’s central Swansea, starting from the Dylan Thomas Centre and including The Three Lamps, the site of the Kardomah, Castle Square and ending in the No Sign Wine Bar. TICKETS: F £10 C £7
Saturday 3 August, 1pm
www.dylanthomas.com
11
EXHIBITION 5 July to 28 August
25/25 VISION: WELSH HORIZONS ACROSS 50 YEARS PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN BRIGGS A photographic exhibition featuring some of Wales’ leading contemporary writers, including Zoe Skoulding, Owen Sheers, John Williams, Rhian Edwards, Catrin Dafydd and Patrick McGuinness. It forms part of a project to celebrate the Institute of Welsh Affairs’ 25th anniversary by examining writers’ experiences over the past quarter of a century, and looking ahead to the next 25 years.
DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE Supported by:
SOMERSET PLACE, SWANSEA SA1 1RR
01792 463980
www.dylanthomas.com
Photo credits: Joe Dunthorne by Angus Muir. Stevie Davies by Stephen Howell. Milk Wood Day by John Fry. Menna Elfyn and IWA images by John Briggs
Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the details of this programme are accurate, the City & County of Swansea reserve the right to alter any part of the programme without notice.