Presented by HAPPY DRAGONS THEATRE in THEATR BRYCHEINIOG
THURSDAY 25 and FRIDAY 26 SEPTEMBER
“Dusting off my acting chops”
My name is Erica Eirian, I’m a professional director and actor but from May 2020 until earlier this year my interest in theatre, including going to the theatre, inexplicably disappeared. It wasn’t until last May, when I directed a script in hand performance of my English language translation of my late husband’s last play, that it was reignited and I was reminded of why I have spent a lifetime going to the theatre and over 40 years working in theatre.
So, when last July a friend sent me a play, urged me to read it and to put myself forward for a role in it, even though in recent years I think of myself as a director first, actor second, out of appreciation for her thinking of me and because the play sparked my interest, I decided to respond to the call-out for professional actors. I sent my CV and headshot to Rhona Richards, the writer and director and the Artistic Director of Happy Dragons Theatre and Rhona invited me to audition.
Happy Dragons Theatre is a new community theatre company based in Monmouthshire. Set up in February of this year by Rhona, the company aims to create inclusive and accessible performances for and with the communities of Monmouthshire.
Rhona Richards
I have first-hand experience of setting up and running a theatre company, the challenges presented by limited public funding, rising production costs, the increasingly competitive environment, the difficulty of attracting and retaining audiences and so I’m full of admiration for Rhona for setting up a new company (and only a short time after moving to Wales) and applaud her vision for the work she wants to create.
My acting roots are in theatre in education and touring community theatre. I have very happy memories of working with Spectacle Theatre, Outreach Theatre, Hijinx Theatre, Theatr Iolo and with the missed Gwent Theatre, who coincidentally were based in the Melville Centre Abergavenny where Rhona and I met. Rhona and I immediately found common ground and so when I successfully auditioned and she offered me the role of Older Anwen in Siôl I decided to dust off my acting chops and accept.
Siôl tells the stories of two women from Senghenydd, Anwen and Mary, who are connected by a traditional Welsh nursing shawl.
In 1905, 18-year-old Anwen is living in Senghenydd. She is expecting her first child and has been gifted the traditional family nursing shawl by her mother. When her baby is stillborn, Anwen suffers post-natal psychosis and is committed to the Monmouthshire Asylum (later renamed Pen Y Fal Hospital). Like many women committed to asylums in the early 20th century, Anwen never returns home.
In 1939, 18-year-old Mary leaves Senghenydd to train as a nurse in Cardiff. Mary nurses throughout WWII, experiencing the aftermath of Dunkirk, the Cardiff blitz and witnessing first-hand racial tension between American GIs. Later, she becomes a Matron at Pen Y Fal Hospital. There she meets Anwen and nurse and patient build a friendship bound by a traditional Welsh nursing shawl.
The two women live through significant historical events including the 1904–1905 Welsh religious revival, the Senghenydd Mining Disaster, Dunkirk, the Cardiff Blitz and the birth of the NHSand many of the scenes in the play are based on verbatim accounts of these events.
Some of the images used in the production
At its heart, Siôl is about strength, resilience, and how caring and laughter brighten the darkest times.
Siôl is Happy Dragons Theatre’s first project and the two performances in Theatr Brycheiniog on 25th and 26th September are the first opportunity for the company to share Siôl with an audience. Rhona’s ultimate goal is to stage a production – complete with music, song, dance and movement – with a professional cast and a chorus drawn from the local communities and to tour the production to venues in the South Wales Valleys.
Rhona was inspired to write Siôl after hearing about the Community Shawl project, a project conceived by Abergavenny based artist, Emma Bevan, who in turn was inspired by the Red Dress project, a 14-year, award-winning, global collaborative embroidery project conceived by British artist Kirstie Macleod. The Community Shawl project began with an invitation to the people of Abergavenny to contribute a fabric square to create a community shawl the completed shawl to be taken to exhibitions and events, celebrating the “traditions of tales, community, and friendship”. One hundred and twenty people gifted fabric squares which were then sewn onto a nurse’s cape, previously worn by Emma’s grandmother, Marjorie, when she was a nurse at Pen Y Fal Hospital.
If you’re interested in community theatre which actively engages with local communities, creating performances that reflect their culture, history and lived experience, you can reserve your ticket for this first sharing of Siôl by calling Theatr Brycheiniog Box Office 01874 611874or
online https://theatrbrycheiniog.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows
Cast for the two performances in Theatr Brycheiniog:
Hannah Lloyd, Rosie Merrick, Suzy O’Sullivan, Marc Howard Williams,
Erica Eirian
Writer and Director: Rhona Richards
Theatr Brycheiniog
Thursday 25 and Friday 26 September 19.00 (Doors open 18.30)
Pay What You Can
