Dylan ThomasFestival 2010

‘A kind of home from home for Thomases’Writing in his radio memoir of Swansea, Return Journey, Dylan has abarmaid describe one of his favourite pubs as ‘a kind of home from homefor Thomases’ and that is the phrase that has driven this year’s festival.

Alongside Dylan Thomas, the Centre will become temporary home to a group of othergreat Welsh writers and broadcasters who share his surname. In times of change anduncertainty it is to our great writers we return for familiar wisdom. We particularlycelebrate Dylan’s contemporary and fellow poet R.S. Thomas, as well as Edward,Gwyn, Wynford Vaughan, John Ormond, and the contributions made by Elsi and Caitlin,the wives of R.S. and Dylan.

Beyond this, our usual mix of contemporary writers and poets, plus the politician PeterHain on Nelson Mandela and former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion on EdwardThomas. Cardiff’s Gwyneth Lewis makes a welcome return and with new plays,workshops, music and exhibitions, we hope you enjoy this, our thirteenth festival, andwould like to thank Jeff Towns for his continuing contribution to this and all previousfestivals. Enjoy.

David Woolley, Festival Programmer

www.dylanthomas.com

Wed 27 October, 7pm • Festival Opening

Mandela: The Story of a Universal Hero Peter HainNelson Mandela is renowned for his tireless crusadeagainst racial inequality, outspoken social criticism,values of freedom and his anti-apartheid campaigning,making him an international hero. As a personal friendof Nelson Mandela, Peter Hain has managed to capturethe humanity, humility and passion of a man so publicly

revered, in this inspirational biography. Peter will officially open the festival,and then discuss the book.

Tickets: Full Price £6, Concessions £4.20, PTL £2.40

Wed 27 October, 9pm

The Dylan Thomas Jazz SuiteThe Jen Wilson Ensemble launch its new CD of Twelve Poems: The DylanThomas Jazz Suite. Funded by the Arts Council of Wales, the new recordingcelebrates Jen’s 50th Year in Jazz! The Suite was commissioned by theCentre and premiered in 2003. 

Jen will be on piano, Margot Morgan vocals, Paula Gardiner doublebass, Mark O’Connordrums, Cris Haines trumpet and flugelhorn, Chris Ryan on saxes and clarinet. Tickets: Full Price £6, Concessions £4.20, PTL £2.40

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www.dylanthomas.com

Thurs 28 October, 7.30pm

Sir Andrew Motion on Edward ThomasFormer Poet Laureate, and acclaimed biographer, Sir Andrew Motion talksabout his love of the work of Edward Thomas, who lost his life at the end ofWorld War One. “Edward Thomas was the first poet who spoke to me directly,and has become the poet I hold closer than any other. I relish the chance tospend an evening sharing his work with others.”

Sir Andrew will read works by Thomas, and from his latest collection, The Cinder Path.

Tickets: Full Price £10, Concessions £7

Fri 29 October, 7:30pm

Gwyneth Lewis and Damian FurnissA double-bill of poetry from Cardiff’s multi-talented Gwyneth Lewis, and ahighly talented new voice in Exeter’s Damian Furniss. Gwyneth Lewis wasthe National Poet of Wales 2005-06, the first to be awarded thelaureateship. She has published seven books of poetry in both Welsh andEnglish, the most recent being A Hospital Odyssey (Bloodaxe, 2010). She hasalso published two books of non-fiction, Sunbathing in the Rain: A CheerfulBook on Depression and Two in a Boat. She recently received a Cholmondeley Award from the

Society of Authors, was a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University and aFellow at the Stanford Humanities Center in California.Damian Furniss lives and works in Exeter, where he co-hosts a radio artsshow and writes. Chocolate Che (Shearsman) is his first full collection aftertwenty years of writing, and a poem from the book is selected for this year’sForward Prize Anthology. His chapbook, The Duchess of Kaligat, won theTears in the Fence pamphlet competition.Tickets: Full Price £6, Concessions £4.20, PTL £2.40

GwynethLewis

DamianFurniss

Sat 30 October, 3pm

Film – The Man Who Went Into the WestA film portrait of R.S.Thomas, the first of a number of events in our festival marking the 10thanniversary of the death of Wales’ other great poet. With thanks to Fulmar West productionsfor permission to show this film. Tickets: FREE ENTRY

Sat 30 October, 7.30pm

The Staggering Players present ‘A Home From Home’A selection of poetry and prose by Dylan, R.S., Edward, Gwyn and John Ormond Thomas bythe Dylan Thomas Centre’s band of bards, featuring Nigel Jenkins, Margot Morgan, JoFurber andMalcolm Parr. Tickets: Full Price £6, Concessions £4.20, PTL £2.40

NigelJenkins

MalcolmParr

MargotMorgan

JoFurber

www.dylanthomas.com

Sun 31 October, 3pmThe Friends of the Glynn Vivian present

Glenys Cour, in conversation with Jeff TownsThe annual Friends Festival event, which this year will be hosted at theCentre. Since the 1940s, Glenys Cour has contributed immeasurablytowards the cultural life of Wales. She has established herself as apainter, designer and teacher of immense talent, with her work held inthe highest regard. Glenys will be ‘In Conversation’ with Jeff Towns inwhat promises to be a fascinating reprise of her career together with reminiscences of herartistic contemporaries. Tickets: Full Price £6, Concessions £4.20, PTL £2.40

Sun 31 October, 7pm

Film: Kane’s Classics: Gwyn Thomas Welsh TV giant Vincent Kane looks back at the career of Gwyn Thomas, Welsh novelist,playwright and raconteur, in this 1998 film. Shown by kind permission of BBC Cymru Wales.(30 mins) Tickets: FREE ENTRY

Sun 31 October, 8pm

Fluellen Theatre Company presentsThe Keep by Gwyn ThomasFluellen Theatre Company presents an edited, script-in-hand performance of GwynThomas’s 1962 play. Premiered to great acclaim at the Royal Court Theatre and set in theWelsh valley that he was born into, The Keep takes a typically acerbic and humorous look ata family at war with itself. Tickets: Full Price £6, Concessions £4.20, PTL £2.40

Mon 1 Nov, 7.30pm

R.S. Thomas – The Way of ItPoems selected by Othniel Smith and read by Michael KelliganActor, writer, director and producer, Michael Kelligan presents amiscellany of the finest work by the great poet, selected by Othniel Smith.Tickets: Full Price £6, Concessions £4.20, PTL £2.40 Michael Kelligan

Tues 2 Nov, 7.30pm

Wynford Vaughan Thomas and John Ormond Thomasintroduced by TV producer and directorWyn Thomas

Wynford and John were major figures in the Welsh and National media from the 1940s to the1970s. Wynford's broadcasting career began in 1937. He was one of the founders of HTV andhis series on Welsh history, The Dragon Has Two Tongues, was a landmark in WelshBroadcasting. Our film tonight is a compilation of his work Wynford - A Miscellany made by ITV.John Ormond Thomas began his working life when he joined Picture Post in 1945, where hecommissioned a struggling Swansea boy named Dylan Thomas. He returned to Swansea andbegan a distinguished career with BBC Wales, making a series of acclaimed films on Welshartists and writers including Dylan and R. S. Thomas. He was also a noted poet. Tonight's filmis In Requiem and Celebration: A Profile of John Ormond Thomas (1995). Shown by kindpermission of BBC Cymru Wales. Tickets: FREE ENTRY

www.dylanthomas.com

Wed 3 November, 7.30pm

Buggerall by Jon TregennaBuggerall was commissioned by Carmarthenshire Council to mark the 50th anniversary ofDylan Thomas' death in 2003. It was brought back to life when it came to the attention ofPeter Thabit Jones who described it thus - 'A wonderful and inspiring play. I have read manyupdates of Under Milk Wood and this comes closest to capturing the original's eccentricity andclotted musicality.’ The author, Jon Tregenna, has gathered a talented cast including GregArthur, Sarah Arthur, Catherine Tregenna and Gareth Morris to perform it as DylanThomas originally performed Under Milk Wood in New York - as a rehearsed reading.

Tickets: Full Price £6, Concessions £4.20, PTL £2.40

Thurs 4 November, 7.30pm

Peter Read presents Time PassesA new play by Peter Read who has played Dylan well over 100 times. Thistime he plays the ghost of Dylan. It is the present day and Dylan’s ghostlooks back on a tragic yet comic life. What would he have done differently?

We follow him as he outrages the literary set and shambles throughrelationships until the final act in a New York hospital. The play has five actors and will beperformed as a rehearsed reading. Tickets: Full Price £6, Concessions £4.20, PTL £2.40

PeterRead

Fri 5 November, 7.30pm

Undiminished: Poetry from Alexis Lykiard and Mike JenkinsIn testing times we present two uncompromisingpoetic voices. Distinct, accessible and fiercelypolitical, novelist, poet and translator Alexis Lykiard,and Merthyr’s poet and story writer Mike Jenkins,have never wavered from their left-wing commitment,

their championing of the underdog, their criticism of establishments, or their belief in the powerof the written word. Expect fireworks! Tickets: Full Price £6, Concessions £4.20, PTL £2.40

MikeJenkins

AlexisLykiard

Sat 6 November , 9.30pm – 6.00pm, Evening: 7.30pm

R.S.Thomas 10th Anniversary ConferenceA one-day conference arranged by CREW (Centre for the Research into the English Literatureand Language of Wales), Swansea University with the R.S. Thomas Centre, Bangor Universityand Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea. The day will include talks and papers by Tony Brown,Damian Walford Davies, M.Wynn Thomas, Rhian Bubear, John Ormond’s film on R.S.Thomasand in the evening, R.S.’s son Gwydion in conversation with Tony Brown of Bangor University’sR.S.Thomas Archive and Study Centre.For full details contact Daniel Williams via email: daniel.g.williams@swansea.ac.uk or theDylan Thomas Centre. Open to all, and evening talk tickets available separately.6.00pm: M Wynn Thomas. Launch of volume on Nonconformity and Welsh Writing in English.Sponsored by UWP. 7.30pm: Tony Brown in Conversation with Gwydion Thomas.Day Tickets: £20, includes tea & coffeeEvening Tickets: Full Price £6, Concessions £4.20, PTL £2.40

www.dylanthomas.com

Sun 7 November, 7.30pm

Dylan, R.S, Elsi and Caitlin Wives of famous husbands are often overlooked, and so often make a vital contribution to thework of writers. This evening we see The Rare Bird (1998) “a profile of RS Thomas, poet, priest- and birdwatcher. Now in his eighty-fifth year, he still stalks the countryside in search ofunusual migrants […] Despite his claims that his poetry ‘has lost its dew’ he still writes on,hoping to write ’the big poem’. “ Followed by O Flaen dy Lygaid: Pwy oedd Mrs R S Thomas(2010): Profile of Mildred Elsi Eldridge - a star of the RCA who turned her back on artisticcircles to support her husband, R. S. Thomas, and son, Gwydion. In a rare interview, Gwydionprovides an insight into a unique creative partnership. This is a Welsh language programme,but much of it is spoken in English. Finally, a chance to see Vincent Kane’s stunningly revealing late interview with a weary yetstill feisty Caitlin: Kane on Friday: Left Over Wife: Caitlin Thomas (1983).Films shown by kind permission of BBC Cymru Wales. Tickets: FREE ENTRY

Mon 8 November, 7.30pm

The Wizard, The Goat and The Man Who Won the War – A one-man playon David Lloyd George performed byRichard Elfyn.David Lloyd George was a charismatic giant of 20th Century worldpolitics, yet Wales and Britain remain divided about his controversialpersonal life and his extraordinary political works

In its first full performance, writer/director D.J.Britton and renowned actor Richard Elfyn createa theatrical fiction to explore the rich complexitiesof Lloyd George. They find humour, music, poetryand mystery in the mind of the great man. Howcould a Welsh-speaking chapel boy brought up in a Gwynedd boot-maker’s workshop become the steely Prime Minister who saw Britainthrough the First World War? How could the champion of non-conformistChristianity become the womaniser who lived a double life with his long-

term mistress? Why did this protector of the poor risk so much to advance his own personalwealth? Tickets: Full Price £6, Concessions £4.20, PTL £2.40

RichardElfyn

D.J.Britton

Tues 9 November, 7.30pm • Festival Finale

Stuff Happens and The FugitivesA fabulous double-bill to end the Festival, with readers fromthe regular collaborative poetry performance evening theDylan Thomas Centre runs with The Crunch poetry night atSwansea’s Mozart’s. Those performing are Marcel Fanara,Emily Vanderploeg, Rhys Owain Williams and Adam Sillman.

This will be followed by awelcome return for Canadianpoetry & music collective TheFugitives, who wowed thecrowd at the DTC in 2005.

Tickets: FREE ENTRY

www.dylanthomas.com

’A kind of home from home for Thomases'This year’s exhibition reflects the major theme of the Festival - a celebration of worthywriters and broadcasters who share Dylan’s surname. It has fine paintings and printsinspired by R.S. Thomas and Edward Thomas by artists who have supported our festivals formany years such as Philippa Jacobs, Gordon Stuart, and John Uzzel Edwards whohas produced new work.

It has photographs by longstanding festival photographer Bernard Mitchell, sketches byWynford Vaughan Thomas, and a patchwork handbag made by Helen Thomas (Edward’swidow) and given to Gwen Watkins.

The pictures are accompanied by works by and about the featured writers - R.S. Thomas’very rare first three books with manuscripts and typescripts, Edward Thomas’ writings,Gwyn Thomas’ novels and plays, and original editions, letters and drawings by Wynford,Caitlin, John Ormond and Elsi (Mildred Eldridge.)

Some exhibits are from the Centre's Collection, some have been lent by the artists [who Ithank] and the rest are from the Jeff Towns/Dylans Bookstore Collection.

Drawings by Dodie Masterman and Dylan Thomas. Artist and illustrator Dodie Masterman firstmet Dylan Thomas in Swansea. We displayfor the first time these drawings by Dylan andby Dodie, and one to which they bothcontributed. The drawings are kindly on loanfrom Fairless Masterman, and areaccompanied by a recording of Dodie’sreminiscences of Dylan.

Exhibitions...

The Dylan Thomas Centre , supported by

Rebecca Spooner has explored Cwmdonkin Park and theinspiration it gave Dylan Thomas. The artist has responded tothe park’s rich wildlife and created a film-based installationthat explores the impact our urban parks can have upon us, both in giving us the opportunityto be connected to nature and in turn with ourselves.

Set amongst selected visual art from the collection of the Dylan Thomas Centre.

hybu llên literature promotionCYNGOR LLYFRAU CYMRUWELSH BOOKS COUNCIL

Dylan Thomas CentreLocws Projects October 2010: Art across the CityRebecca Spooner:The birds the grass the trees the lake

www.dylanthomas.com

Workshop: Sat, 30 October 2.15 – 4.15

Poetry workshop with Susan Richardson.You name it…climate change will touch every aspect of our lives. But not alot of people are writing about it. Eco-poet Susan Richardson will beleading an exciting workshop to get you creating poetry on this ripe topic!Part of Awel Aman Tawe Arts and Climate Change programme.Supported by Academi, Environment Wales, Awards for All andDepartment for Energy and Climate Change. Maximum numbers 8, £5 per person Contact: ehinshelwood@awelamantawe.co.uk

Other Events...

How to find us...

Thurs 28th to Sat 30th October, 7.30pm at the Dylan Thomas Theatre

Swansea Little Theatre presents Under Milk WoodDirected by Francis PurchaseTickets: £8.50/£7 (10% reduction for bookings of 10 or more)Box Office 01792 473238 or book online www.dylanthomastheatre.org.uk or www.swansealittletheatre.org.uk

The Dylan Thomas CentreSomerset Place, Swansea SA1 1RR 01792 463980 www.dylanthomas.com www.dylan-thomas-books.com dylanthomas.lit@swansea.gov.uk All events at the Dylan ThomasCentre unless otherwise stated

Travel and AccommodationFor accommodation contact SwanseaTourist Information Centre on 01792 361302, or visit www.visitswanseabay.com

First Cymru operate a network oflocal bus services in South and West Wales. For details call 0870 6082608. For informationabout rail services contact National Rail Enquiries on 08457 484950.

Whilst all effort is made to ensure that the details of this programme areaccurate, the City and County of Swansea reserve the right to alter anypart of the programme without notice. If you require this brochure in adifferent format please contact us on the telephone number above.

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Photography: Andrew Motion by Stuart Leech; Jen Wilson by Jo Furber; Peter Read, Nigel Jenkins, Malcolm Parr, Margot Morgan and Jo Furber by Bernard Mitchell.