Dylan Thomas Festival 2011

Gw ˆyl Festival

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 27 October - 9 November 2011

DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE

WELCOME One of the enduringly fascinating things about Dylan Thomas is his connections with the major figures of his time. He was friends with Roland Penrose, and photographed by Lee Miller in the 40s. Penrose and Miller were, of course, close to Picasso, and Dylan stage-managed the 1950 performance of Picasso’s play, Desire Caught by the Tail. Our festival explores some of these correspondences, alongside hotly anticipated readings by Sarah Waters and Simon Armitage, and events for all the family to enjoy. Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff at the Dylan Thomas Centre for their dedication and support throughout the year.

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Full Price Concessions

PTL U16

Passport to Leisure Under 16’s

BOX OFFICE:  01792 463980 Online booking is available: please visit www.ticketsource.co.uk/dylanthomas 2

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THE BOY WHO BIT PICASSO

Thursday 27 October / 7.30pm

Friday 28 October / 11am

LEE MILLER AND PICASSO

THE BOY WHO BIT PICASSO

AN ILLUSTRATED LECTURE BY ANTONY PENROSE

WITH ANTONY PENROSE

The friendship between Lee Miller and Picasso began in 1937 and lasted until Picasso’s death in 1973. Picasso painted 6 portraits of Lee and she photographed him more than 1,000 times. Lee was a frequent visitor to Picasso’s home, accompanying Roland Penrose on his research trips whilst he was writing his biography of the artist. Lee and Roland’s son, Antony, tells their story using many of Lee’s photographs.

TICKETS: F £6 C £4.20 PTL £2.40

Antony Penrose first met Picasso as a child, when the artist visited his family’s Sussex home in 1950. They became instant friends and invented their own boisterous game of pretend bullfights.

In the excitement, Antony bit Picasso, and Picasso bit him right back! When visiting Picasso in France, Antony felt very much at home. Children were allowed to touch and play with the works of art, and Antony loved the menagerie of pets.

Join Antony for a funny and entertaining account of life around Picasso.

TICKETS: F £4 C £2.80 PTL £1.60 U16 £1

www.dylanthomas.com

FAMILY EVENT

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DONT MISS!

MATTHEW HOLLIS

PAUL HENRY

Saturday 29 October /11am–1pm

Saturday 29 October / 3pm

THE WINDFALL LIGHT

MATTHEW HOLLIS ON EDWARD THOMAS

POETRY WORKSHOP WITH PAUL HENRY

The Pembrokeshire-born author of the highly successful novels Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, Fingersmith, The Night Watch and The Little Stranger discusses her work with Sarah Gamble of Swansea University’s English Department.

How do we revisit Thomas’ “windfall light” in our own poetry? This workshop looks for it, through poems of childhood which adopt different forms and tones of language, different “colours of saying.” New and experienced poets are welcome.

You’ll leave with the first draft of a poem located in your own Fern Hill.

Paul Henry’s The Brittle Sea: New and Selected Poems was recently published by Seren.

TICKETS:

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Friday 28 October / 7.30pm

SARAH WATERS

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£10 £3.30

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£7

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£12

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£8

Matthew Hollis discusses his award-winning book, Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas. Recently Radio 4’s ‘Book of the Week’, it discusses the creative life of Thomas and his contemporaries in the maelstrom around the First World War, illuminating in particular the friendship between Thomas and Robert Frost.

TICKETS:

F PTL

£6 C £4.20 £2.40

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Saturday 29 October / 7.30pm

SIMON ARMITAGE AND MATTHEW HOLLIS Writer, broadcaster and playwright Simon Armitage has published ten volumes of poetry, most recently Seeing Stars (Faber). He has received numerous awards for his poetry including the Sunday Times Author of the Year, one of the first Forward Prizes and a Lannan Award.

Matthew Hollis’ Ground Water (Bloodaxe) was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection.

He is co-editor of 101 Poems Against War (Faber) and Strong Words: Modern Poets on Modern Poetry (Bloodaxe).

TICKETS: F £10 C £7 PTL £3.30

Sunday 30 October / 12.30pm

DYLAN THOMAS’ RETURN JOURNEY Lighthouse Theatre present Dylan’s moving broadcast about his return to Swansea after the blitz.

ALL TICKETS: £3 Sunday 30 October / 2.30pm THE FRIENDS OF THE GLYNN VIVIAN PRESENT:

“MOST BEASTLY MADNESS” PICASSO AND MILLER, THOMAS AND RICHARDS AT WAR An illustrated lecture by Dr Ceri Thomas focusing on the thirties and forties, when the art and lives of Pablo Picasso, Lee Miller, Dylan Thomas and Ceri Richards were dramatically caught up in war.

TICKETS:

www.dylanthomas.com

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£6

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£4.20

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£2.40 5

TESSA HADLEY

Tuesday 1 November / 7.00pm

Wednesday 2 November / 7.30pm

STUFF HAPPENS

INTERIOR LIVES: DEBORAH KAY DAVIES AND TESSA HADLEY

The Dylan Thomas Centre joins forces with The Crunch spoken word night at Mozarts in Uplands, to present a laid back evening of poetry, art and sparkling conversation, featuring Adam Sillman, Simone Mansell Broome, Margot Morgan, Alan Kellermann and Claire Houguez, amongst others.

FREE ENTRY

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The Dylan Thomas Centre and New Welsh Review present Deborah Kay Davies and Tessa Hadley in conversation with NWR ’s editor, Gwen Davies. Deborah Kay Davies’ True Things About Me is a disturbing novella on passivity and masochism, which earned her a place on the Culture Show’s list of 12 Best New British Novelists.

Acclaimed novelist and short story writer Tessa Hadley’s trademark perception of sexual relationships is displayed in her latest book, The London Train.

TICKETS:

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£6

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£4.20

PTL

£2.40

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DANIEL WILLIAMS

FFLUR DAFYDD

HORATIO CLARE

Thursday 3 November / 7.30pm

Friday 4 November / 7.30pm

TALES FROM THE MABINOGION: FFLUR DAFYDD AND HORATIO CLARE

WHAT’S IN A NAME? BOB DYLAN AND DYLAN THOMAS

Fflur Dafydd and Horatio Clare launch and discuss their new titles in Seren’s series. Dafydd transforms ‘Culhwch and Olwen’ into a 21st century quest for love and revenge in The White Trail.

Talks from David Boucher and Daniel Williams, and music from Colum Regan and Lawson Dando. David discusses his research on the relationship between Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan, alongside Daniel Williams, lecturer and Director of the Richard Burton Centre at Swansea University.

Colum is a seasoned performer whose upcoming album, Hotel, incorporates elements of folk and world music and features the talents of Lawson Dando. Dando, a multi-instrumentalist and producer who performed with The Incredible String Band, has produced many of Robin Williamson’s solo albums.

In The Prince’s Pen, Clare refracts politics, faith and the contemporary world order through the prism of The Mabinogion.

FREE ENTRY AND WINE in association with Seren.

TICKETS: www.dylanthomas.com

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£6

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£4.20

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£2.40 7

ROBERT FRASER

MALCOLM PARR

Saturday 5 November / 12.30pm

Saturday 5 November / 3pm

Saturday 5 November / 7.30pm LIGHTHOUSE THEATRE PRESENT

LAUGH AND THE ROBERT FRASER WORLD LAUGHS WITH DYLAN THOMAS: GOAT STREET RUNNERS YOU. SNORE AND YOU WEAK OR STRONG? Celebrating the spirit, bravery and SLEEP ALONE humour of a fictional family living in Robert Fraser asks whether Dylan Poet, translator, lecturer and entertainer Malcolm Parr – who worked in this building when it was a college – discusses the fascinating history of the Dylan Thomas Centre, from its beginnings as Swansea’s Guildhall to its present day home as the international focal point for Dylan Thomas.

Thomas was a weak surrealist, or a strong one, arguing that throughout his writing life, Dylan Thomas had a marked love-hate relationship with surrealism. Robert Fraser is Professor of English at the Open University. His biography of Thomas’ contemporary, David Gascoyne, will be published by OUP in 2012.

Goat Street during the Three Nights Blitz. The radio play commissioned by the Dylan Thomas Centre has been developed into a full length drama with the help of the Arts Council, the Centre and Grand Theatre. Tonight sees a rehearsed reading of the script ‘in progress’, with a soundtrack of live and recorded music.

TICKETS:

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8

£4 £1.60

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£2.80

F PTL

£4 £1.60

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£2.80

F PTL

£6 £2.40

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£4.20

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Sunday 6 November / 10.30am – 12.30pm

“USING LANGUAGE” ADAPTING FOR THE STAGE

Sunday 6 November / 2.30pm fluellen THEATRE CO PRESENT

JUST WILLIAM

Peter Richards, Artistic Director of Fluellen Theatre Company, discusses the art and craft of adapting varying texts for the stage. Under his nom de plume, Francis Hardy, he has adapted many foreign language plays such as The Cherry Orchard and A Doll’s House; screenplays such as The Doctor And The Devils, and stories including A Child’s Christmas In Wales. In this workshop he demonstrates the very distinctive role of the adaptor (as opposed to playwright) and how that role has changed over the years.

The Just William stories were among Dylan’s favourites as a child. Fluellen present two stories dramatised as staged radio plays, complete with period music and sound effects. ‘William Goes To The Pictures’: after a trip to the pictures, William insists on re-enacting everything he has seen, much to the annoyance of the neighbours. ‘The Sweet Little Girl In White’: William is forced to play fairies with the odious and domineering Violet Elizabeth Bott. A lovely afternoon’s entertainment for all the family.

TICKETS:

TICKETS:

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£10

www.dylanthomas.com

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£7

F

£6

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£4.20

PTL

£2.40

U16

£1

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RICHARD GWYN

JOE DUNTHORNE

PATRICK MCGUINNESS

SARAH COLES

Monday 7 November / 7pm

Monday 7 November / 9pm

JOE DUNTHORNE AND SARAH COLES

PATRICK MCGUINNESS AND RICHARD GWYN

Verbal fireworks from two fine Swansea writers. Joe Dunthorne’s novels are Submarine and the newly released Wild Abandon, and he has a pamphlet in Faber’s New Poets series. Sarah Coles writes poetry, fiction and reviews. Her work has appeared in Planet magazine and Gomer’s recent anthology, Another Country: Haiku Poetry from Wales. Her debut collection will be published by Gomer in 2012.

TICKETS:

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£6

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£4.20

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Celebrated Carcanet poet Patrick McGuinness was longlisted for the 2011 Booker Prize for his first novel, The Last Hundred Days. Poet and novelist Richard Gwyn’s most recent book is the acclaimed memoir, The Vagabond’s Breakfast.

TICKETS:

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£6

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£4.20

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£2.40

£2.40

PHOTO CREDITS: Picasso, Hotel Vaste Horizon, Mougins, France, by Lee Miller © Lee Miller Archives; Picasso and Antony Penrose by Lee Miller © Lee Miller Archives; Stuff Happens © Zara Bird-Wood; Simon Armitage © Paul Wolfgang Webster; Gaarriye © Crispin Hughes; Paul Henry by Owen Sheers; Sarah Waters by Charlie Hopkinson; Fflur Dafydd & Daniel Williams by Bernard Mitchell; Pete Brown & Phil Ryan by Shu Tomioka.

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Wednesday 9 November / 7.30pm Tuesday 8 November / 7.30pm THE POETRY TRANSLATION CENTRE PRESENTS

PETE BROWN AND PHIL RYAN

Maxamed Xaashi Dhamac - ‘Gaarriye’ - is universally regarded as one of the most important Somali poets, composing on a variety of topics from nuclear weapons to Nelson Mandela. Saado Abdi Amary is rapidly gaining enthusiastic audiences in Somaliland for her stirring and forthright poetry that laments the ceaseless wars that have plunged her country into anarchy. With translators WN Herbert and Sarah Maguire.

Legendary poet and musician Pete Brown, among whose early influences was Dylan Thomas, reads and performs with his long time collaborator, musician Phil Ryan. Pete became well known as a poet in the sixties, appearing at the famous Albert Hall Poetry Incarnation in 1965 with Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti and Burroughs. In ‘66 he was asked to write lyrics for Cream, helping create many hits, including ‘I Feel Free’, ‘White Room’ and ‘Sunshine of Your Love’. Port Talbot-born Phil has collaborated with Pete for many years, joining his band, Piblokto, in 1970, before recording and touring with the renowned Welsh rock band, Man, for many years.

TICKETS:

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SOMALI POETS ON TOUR

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£6

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www.dylanthomas.com

£4.20

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£2.40

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£6

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£4.20

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£2.40 11

EXHIBITIONS

OTHER EVENTS

27 October – 19 January CORRIDOR GALLERY EXHIBITION:

From 6 October: Locws present DYLAN’S PENCIL in Cwmdonkin Park. Visit www.locwsinternational.com Friday, 28 October, 7-10pm THE PARK WAS FULL OF TERRORS AND TREASURES Halloween Bat and Moth Field Study Evening in Cwmdonkin Park. Meet at the Bowls Pavilion.

Fancy dress optional; free entry and pumpkin soup.

For more information, contact 01792 205327.

Lee Miller: Visiting Picasso Acclaimed photographer Lee Miller, and surrealist writer Roland Penrose, visited Picasso on many occasions. Miller charted their remarkable friendship from 1937 to Picasso’s death in 1973, and this exhibition – which includes images of other members of the international surrealist circle – offers a unique and intimate portrait of life close to Picasso.

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Amgueddfa National Genedlaethol Waterfront y Glannau Museum

DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE

SOMERSET PLACE, SWANSEA SA1 1RR 01792 463980 www.dylanthomas.com dylanthomas.lit@swansea.gov.uk

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.

SUPPORTED BY:

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