Dylan Thomas Centre events May - Aug 2011

DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE

PROGRAMME May - August 2011

WELCOME...

Few poets are awarded the distinction of having an Oscar-winning film take its title from one of their poems; Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker brought Brian Turner’s penetrating and haunting work to an even wider audience. Brian makes his eagerly-anticipated return to Swansea in June.

There are plenty of opportunities for new writers to flourish, with the launch of Parthian’s superb Ten of the Best, and drama from Swansea University’s Creative Writing students. Looking further ahead, plans are well underway for this year’s Dylan Thomas Festival, with Sarah Waters, Pete Brown and Antony Penrose among those already confirmed.

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Full Price Concessions Passport to Leisure Book Launch

Jo Furber Literature Officer Cover Photograph: Brian Turner ©Kim Buchheit

BOX OFFICE:  01792 463980 MAY - AUGUST 2011

KELLY GROVIER

GWYN THOMAS

HAROLD PINTER

MAY EVENTS Saturday, 14 May / 1pm THEATRE-IN-FOCUS: fluellen THEATRE CO PRESENT

Wednesday, 25 May / 7.30pm

HAROLD PINTER’S VICTORIA STATION AND FAMILY VOICES

BY GWYNNE EDWARDS

Two short plays by Harold Pinter, probably the greatest British playwright of the 20th century: one is hilarious, the other poignant. Both are studies in communication, or lack of it. All Theatre-In-Focus presentations are script-in-hand, and preceded by a talk about the playwright.

TICKETS: F £5, no concessions.

Wednesday, 25 May / 7.30pm

‘ALGAE: SCUM OF THE EARTH’ Adam Powell & Bob Lovitt, Swansea University.

TICKETS: FREE ENTRY www.dylanthomas.com

Burning The Curtain Jâms Thomas stars in Gwynne Edwards’ new piece on the influential writer and broadcaster, Gwyn Thomas.

TICKETS: F £4, no concessions.

Thursday, 26 May / 7.30pm POETS IN THE BOOKSHOP: KELLY GROVIER Celebrate the release of Kelly Grovier’s second collection from Carcanet, The Sleepwalker at Sea. Grovier was born in Michigan and lectures in Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University. He has written widely on the Romantic poets, and his biography of London’s notorious Newgate prison was published in 2008, Plus open mic.

TICKETS: F £4 C £2.80 PTL £1.60 3

JUNE EVENTS Thursday, 9 June / 7pm

TEN OF THE BEST LAUNCH

ANNA LEWIS

Following the success of 2010’s Bright Young Things titles, Parthian introduces Ten Of the Best, a selection of poetry showcasing Wales’ literary talent. Featured are hardhitting poems by S.T. Owen, edgy, funny poems by Mab Jones, poems inspired by the paintings of Marc Chagall and Tony Goble by Alan Kellermann, poems ALAN KELLERMANN exorcising the inner demons of M.A. Oliver, and thoughtful poems, beautifully crafted, by Anna Lewis.

TICKETS: Free entry and wine, in association with Parthian Saturday, 11 June / 1pm THEATRE-IN-FOCUS: fluellen THEATRE CO PRESENTS

ANNA LEWIS

OSCAR WILDE

OSCAR WILDE’S A FLORENTINE TRAGEDY Wilde`s intriguing and rarely performed unfinished play - and his most successful attempt at tragedy. All Theatre-In-Focus presentations are script-in-hand and preceded by a talk about the playwright.

TICKETS: F £5, no concessions.

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MAY- AUGUST 2011

MENNA ELFYN

Wednesday 15 June & Thursday 16 June / 7.30pm

Thursday, 16 June / 10am – 6pm

ROUGH DIAMONDS

WRITERS’ DAY

From a beach endurance test for no-hope students, to nationalistic Glaswegians on match day; from questionable Nigerian nobility, to bi-sexual home-breakers in London: this year’s extraordinary collection of new plays from postgraduates on Swansea University’s Creative Writing programme takes on the world. Writers include: Faith Barnes, Rebecca Cooper, David Ryan Craft, Gareth Edwards, Tabitha Ganda, Debs Llewelyn, Elizabeth Wride, Ireti Oladapo, Sammy Siddique, Laura Stowe, Jayne Walter, Keira Wilkie, plus special guests. The evenings, made up of selected extracts from the plays, will be introduced and directed by playwright D.J.Britton, Lecturer in Dramatic Writing at Swansea University, and performed by the outstanding Fluellen Theatre Company.

TICKETS: F £3, no concessions.

The Creative Writing departments of Swansea University and University of Wales Trinity St David, Carmarthen, with the Dragon Innovation Partnership, hold a day of workshops, discussions and readings. Featured are prize-winning poet, Menna Elfyn, and brilliant new writers, Roshi Fernando and Tracey Warr. James Hawes warns about the perils of adaptation, based on his own, sometimes bitter experience, while Mick Felton (Seren) talks about the future of publishing in the digital age. There’s also a one-woman show by Sian Rees, a book launch showcasing new work by students, and plenty of sparkling conversation.

TICKETS: FREE, but please reserve a ticket from the Dylan Thomas Centre on  01792 463980.

www.dylanthomas.com

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JUNE EVENTS Thursday, 23 June / 7.30pm

Saturday, 25 June / 2pm – 5pm

BRIAN TURNER

POETRY WORKSHOP WITH BRIAN TURNER

Brian Turner is a multi-award winning soldier-poet who ‘The Poetry of Negation’. We’ll study the followed up his debut, Here, Bullet, with the T.S. ways in which poets broaden the Eliot-shortlisted Phantom Noise. Turner imaginative landscape by creating that served seven years in the US Army, to include which does not exist. This technique is one year in Iraq. Here, Bullet is a harrowing, used by numerous writers, such as first-hand account of the Iraq War, and in Wilfred Owen, Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Phantom Noise, he pumps up the volume as Plath, and more. We’ll then create our he faces and tries to deal with the own poems employing this useful traumatic aftermath. technique. Please bring your preferred TICKETS: writing materials.

F £6 C £4.20 TICKETS: F £10 C £8 PTL £2.80 ANNA Thursday 30 June / 7.30pm LEWIS POETS IN THE BOOKSHOP: CHRISTIEN GHOLSON Christien Gholson is the author of On the Side of the Crow (Hanging Loose Press, 2006), the chapbooks The Sixth Sense (Modest Proposal Chapbooks, 2005) and How the World was Made (2River View chapbook series, 2009), and the novel, A Fish Trapped inside the Wind (Parthian, 2011). Of Crow, Coldfront Magazine said: “Highly original, both natural and tightly controlled, demonstrating the continued vitality of the prose poem.” Plus open mic.

TICKETS: F £4 C £2.80 PTL £1.60 6

MAY - AUGUST 2011

JULY EVENTS KATY EVANS-BUSH

Thursday, 28 July / 7.30pm POETS IN THE BOOKSHOP:

KATY EVANS-BUSH & TAMAR YOSELOFF TAMAR YOSELOFF

Friday, 1 July / 7pm

Saturday, 23 July / 1pm THEATRE-IN-FOCUS: fluellen THEATRE CO PRESENT

TERRY HETHERINGTON MEMORIAL AND THORNTON WILDER’S AWARDS EVENING LOVE AND HOW TO The fourth memorial evening for CURE IT the late Neath writer Terry Hetherington celebrates the work of this year’s entrants to the Terry Hetherington Award for young writers.

There will be readings and tributes from Terry’s friends, and the launch of Cheval 4 – selected writing by and about Terry, published alongside work from the Award winners.

TICKETS: Free entry www.dylanthomas.com

A young man is hopelessly in love with a girl who believes he is nothing but a stalker and potential murderer.

How can he be cured of this wretched infatuation? A sharp comedy from a superb American writer. All TheatreIn-Focus presentations are script-in-hand and are preceded by a talk about the playwright.

TICKETS: F £5, no concessions.

A double-header to celebrate Tamar Yoseloff and Katy EvansBush’s new books from Salt.

Yoseloff’s fourth collection, The City with Horns, features a sequence of poems inspired by Jackson Pollock. She holds degrees in Creative Writing from the University of Glamorgan and Aberystwyth University. EvansBush is a Welsh-American poet, blogger and communications specialist, who’ll be reading from her second full collection, Egg Printing Explained.

TICKETS: F £4 C £2.80 PTL £1.60 7

AUGUST EVENTS Saturday, 13 August / 1pm THEATRE-IN-FOCUS: fluellen THEATRE CO PRESENT

JEAN GENET’S THE MAIDS When the mistress is away, the maids will play! A classic thriller from one of France’s most important playwrights.

All Theatre-In-Focus presentations are script-in-hand and preceded by a talk about the playwright. £5, no concessions.

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TICKETS:

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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: 8

MAY - AUGUST 2011