Theatr Gwalia presents the world première of inheriting gods, an English language play with some Welsh and Wampanoag at Chapter from 21st to 24th March.
A play exploring heritage, identity and our future as Welsh citizens inheriting gods is a brand-new production that challenges audiences, particularly younger people, to question everything we know about living in Wales and what it is to be Welsh.
Written by Carmen Stephens and directed by Chris Morgan, this new drama is a timely dramatisation of how the loss of a country’s language is, in the opinion of the writer, the loss of a link with it’s past.
Carmen said, “Today many people find themselves on a journey to reclaim their language and their identity. We must know where we came from to know where we are going. But some of us are too busy to think of our roots and, particularly with populism on the rise across the world, the themes in this play will hopefully make people stop for a moment to consider their sense of place and identity in today’s world.”
The play sees two characters; Rhiannon from Wales, on the cusp of adulthood, whose family views the Welsh language as something that could not help her get on in the world. Shaw is from Wampanoag, Cape Cod, a place where the native language died out over 100 years ago. We follow their rites of passage to find who they’re meant to be in a messed up world between truth and lies. The very foundations their lives have been built upon are thrown to the wind and shipwrecked upon a shore they no longer recognise. Can they change their history or will they follow as everyone has done before?
Carmen added, “Two paths cross as one, from one flame to a fire… Like all of us they have one foot in the past and one foot in the future but in this story these characters find it hard to be in the present because their mother tongue has been severed. These two souls in their rites of passage have to find their way back, back to their ancestor. Standing on the edge of their destinies they have to make it in the now and live for the moment with both feet firmly planted in the present. Be who they want to be, not what others demand.”
Two exciting young performers will bring this story to life across five performances in Cardiff later this month. Saran Morgan is currently in Gwaith Catref on S4C and Charlie Jobe, an exciting new performer from London, in his first professional performance.
https://www.chapter.org/inheriting-gods