A myth-stery of skeletal proportions …

By Tara Robinson & Steffan Donnelly

 

Daito Bunka Kaikan Hall, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 29 February 2020, 16:00.

 

Two Wales Theatre Awards 2018 nominations for Best Performance and Best Male Performer.

One tall, skinny Welshman with an agenda of national importance: there’s a truth behind every good story.
Jones and Davis are fighting.
There’s a skeleton in the well.
There’s more to being Welsh than having the accent, isn’t there?
Un Cymro tal, tenau gyda agenda o bwysigrwydd cenedlaethol: mae gwir i’w ddarganfod tu ôl i bob stori.
Mae Jones a Davis yn ffraeo.
Mae sgerbwd yn y ffynnon.
Mae mwy i Gymreictod nag acen, ond oes?

Accompanied by a live soundscape artist creating a river of sounds in front of you, join performer Steffan Donnelly on a watery lyrical thriller as he guides you through Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch and into his world of slippery small-town myth-making.

Yng nghwmni artist seinwedd byw yn creu afon o sain o flaen eich llygaid, ymunwch â’r perfformiwr Steffan Donnelly ar anturiaeth delynegol ddyfriog wrth iddo eich tywys drwy Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch, heibio ffynnon o chwedlau i’w fyd llithrig, brodorol.

The award-winning Invertigo Theatre (Y Tŵr, My People), Pontio, and The Conker Group’s Tara Robinson, present My Body Welsh – a vibrant, part-bilingual piece of contemporary theatre that investigates the role storytelling plays in constructing national identity.

Mae cwmni theatr arobryn Invertigo (Y Tŵr, My People), Pontio, a Tara Robinson o The Conker Group, yn cyflwyno My Body Welsh – drama gyfoes, fywiog, rannol-ddwyieithog, sy’n ymchwilio sut mae creu chwedlau yn chwarae rhan mewn llunio ein hunaniaeth genedlaethol.

🇯🇵 TOURING JAPAN / TEITHIO SIAPAN 🇯🇵

We’re thrilled to announce that My Body Welsh will visit Tokyo in 2020! We will be performing at Craic Pub Theatre Akasaka as part of the UK-Japan Season of Culture. Our bilingual, mythical show will be performed with Japanese subtitles translated by Kuniko Fujisawa.

Supported by Wales Arts International, Society of Welsh Studies, St. David’s Society Japan, Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, and Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. Find out more about Society of Welsh Studies and Takeshi Koike: The Japanese lecturer teaching Welsh in Tokyo (ITV News)

Mae My Body Welsh yn ymweld a Tocio yn 2020! Byddem yn perfformio yn Craic Akasaka, fel rhan o’r UK-Japan Season of Culture. Bydd is-deitlau Siapaneg gan Kuniko Fujisawa.

Cefnogwyd gan Celfyddydau Rhyngwladol Cymru, Cymedithas Astudiaethau Cymraeg, Cymdeithas Dewi Sant, Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, a Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. Am ddarganfod mwy am y Gymdeithas a Takeshi Koike: The Japanese lecturer teaching Welsh in Tokyo (ITV News)

❝ystyron a ffraethinebau yn byrlymu ... perl o noson (meanings and wit bubbling through ... a pearl of a night out)❞

★★★★★

 

Golwg (click for full review)

❝steeped in folklore ... laugh-out-loud lines ... intelligent stuff presented in a light, idiosyncratic way❞

★★★★

 

Arts Scene Wales (click for full review)

❝a thoroughly engrossing meditation on myth, folklore and what makes us what we are...examines one of the burning themes of our times❞

 

British Theatre Guide (click for full review)

❝sheer innovation ... a charmingly universal tale❞

 

★★★★

 

Arts Review Wales (click for full review)

❝narrative vaults around the centuries...intimate also epic...visits June 23rd, the likely first time on a stage in Wales❞

 

 

Theatre in Wales (click for full review)

❝tightly scripted ... brought guffaws from the audience❞

★★★★

 

Eryl Crump, Daily Post

❝engaging and thought-provoking❞

 

Buzz Magazine

❝explores issues of national identity with creative aplomb...a real treat❞

 

We Are Cardiff

Tara and Steffan talk to

Nicola Heywood-Thomas

on the Radio Wales Arts Show

Performance History

29 February 2020: Craic Pub Theatre Akasaka, Tokyo.
11 – 15 January 2019: Kerala Literature Festival and National Gallery Mumbai.
20 – 29 January 2018: International Theatre Festival of Kerala.
10 – 28 January 2017: Wales (Bangor, Porthmadog, Cardiff, Newport, Aberystwyth, Caernarfon, Mold).

Buy the playtext here

The original tour has ended, but you can buy the playtext here

🇮🇳 TOURING INDIA / TEITHIO INDIA 🇮🇳

In 2018, My Body Welsh was selected for the official programme of the International Theatre Festival of Kerala. We were thrilled to be taking our bilingual, mythical show to a new audience on our first international visit! And are grateful to the Festival organisers and Wales Arts International for their support.

 

The following year, in January 2019, we were invited by Literature Across Frontiers to perform at the Kerala Literature Festival, where Wales is the guest nation. We then visited the prestigious National Gallery in Mumbai to perform in a micro festival of Celtic culture.

Cafwyd My Body Welsh ei ddewis ar gyfer raglen swyddogol Gwyl Theatr Ryngwladol India yng Ngherala, Ionawr 2018. Roedden ni’n falch iawn o ddangos ein sioe dwyieithog, llawn chwedlau i gynulleidfa hollol newydd ar ein taith rhyngwladol cyntaf! Gan ddiolch yn fawr i drefnwyr yr wyl a Celfyddydau Rhyngwladol Cymru am eu cefnogaeth.

 

Yn dilyn hyn, yn Ionawr 2019, cawsom ein gwahodd gan Literature Across Frontiers i berfformio yng Ngwyl Llenyddiaeth Kerala, gan mai Cymru yw’r genedl wadd eleni, a mi wnaethom berfformio y sioe mewn gwyl diwylliant Geltaidd yng Ngaleri Cenedlaethol Mumbai.

Steffan talks to Nia Roberts

on Radio Cymru’s Stiwdio programme

(in Welsh)

Rehearsals

❝an uncategorisable production ... funny and thought-provoking❞

★★★★

 

Western Mail (My People)

❝frenetic, startling ... theatrically nonconformist❞

★★★★

 

Arts Scene Wales (My People)

❝acid-sharp prose, biting humour ... entertaining and shocking❞

The Observer (My People)

❝biblically bad behaviour❞

The Stage (My People)

❝crefft llwyfan ar ei orau ... arbennig o sgilgar a chyrhaeddgar❞

★★★★★

 

Y Cymro (Y Tŵr)

❝a landmark ... powerful and beautifully staged❞

★★★★

 

The Daily Post (Y Tŵr)

❝perfformiad campus❞

Barn (Y Tŵr)

❝I now understand why the play is considered a classic❞

BBC Radio Wales (Y Tŵr)

❝riveting ... excellent cast ... gets under your skin❞

★★★★

 

Daily Mail (Outside on the Street)

❝a witty mixture ... deeply satisfying❞

Western Mail (Saer Doliau)

Meet the My Body Welsh team …

Steffan Donnelly

Steffan is an actor, writer, and producer. He adapted My People for Invertigo’s co-production with Theatr Clwyd in 2015, and was nominated for an Off-West End Award for Best Male Performance 2016 in Pilgrims (HighTide/The Yard/Theatr Clwyd).

Tara Robinson

Tara is a writer, director & producer. She is a recipient of the MGCFutures Bursary, a supported artist with Farnham Maltings, a Creative Associate at The Gate, and a former Resident Assistant Director at The Abbey, Dublin.

Jordan Mallory-Skinner

Jordan is a composer, sound designer and actor. He will release a debut album as Rocheman next year (Accidental Records), and composes for short films, as well as creating interactive sound sculpture for exhibition spaces.

Ace McCarron

Ace McCarron is a lighting designer who has enjoyed a long association with Music Theatre Wales and with The Wrestling School, a company formed to produce the plays of Howard Barker. He is a member of the dramaturgy team for National Theatre Wales.

 

 

Catherine Kapff

Catherine is a production and stage manager who trained at Bristol Old Vic after starting out in student theatre.   She has recently completed two UK tours working with English Touring Opera.

Special thanks to John Jones and Landseer Partners

Thanks to Ursula Bartlett-Imigawa, St David’s Society Tokyo, Daito Bunka University, Bet Davies, Chikako Hirono, Kuniko Fujisawa.