Theatre of Wales

Theatre in Wales includes dramatic works in both the Welsh language and English language. Actors from Wales have also achieved international recognition.

History

Middle Ages

The earliest known performance tradition is that of the

The development of Renaissance theatre in England did not have great influence in Wales, as the gentry found different forms of artistic patronage. One surviving example of Welsh literary drama is Troelus a Chresyd, an anonymous adaptation from poems by Henrysoun and Chaucer dating to around 1600. With no urban centres to compare to England to support regular stages, morality plays and interludes continued to circulate in inn-yard theatres and fairs, supplemented by visiting troupes performing English repertoire.^[1]

Stock Welsh characters occur in theatre in England on the Tudor and Stuart stage.

Twm o'r Nant (1739–1810) was famous for his anterliwtau (interludes), performed mainly around his native Denbighshire. The bawdiness and licensed foolery of the comic stereotypes of the interlude tradition have been compared to commedia dell'arte. However the religious revival connected with the rise of Methodism in Wales brought an end to such libertine satires. Interludes came to be replaced as expressions of public drama by a high-flown and imagistic preaching style and dialogues on moral issues such as temperance.^[1]

The English classical repertoire was brought to those who could understand it by travelling troupes such as the Kemble family (Charles Kemble was born at Brecon in 1775).^[1]

Into the 20th century

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Welsh literature began to reflect the way the Welsh language was increasingly becoming a political symbol. Secular drama began to attract interest in the 1870s as national consciousness grew. Plays in a Shakespearean style were written, such as Beriah Gwynfe Evans' patriotic play Owain Glyndŵr, performed at the Llanberis Eisteddfod of 1879.^[1]

There was institutional opposition to the new drama. The Methodist Convention in 1887 recommended that chapels regard theatrical activity as an immoral practice on a par with gambling. It was not until 1902 when David Lloyd George called for patronage of Welsh drama at the National Eisteddfod that drama started to be respectable among devout communities.^[1]

With the advance of the English language, theatre in English developed quickly between 1875 and 1925. By 1912 Wales had 34 theatres and many halls licensed for dramatic performances. However, the arrival of sound cinema in the 1930s led to the closure or transformation of most theatres.^[1]

A full theatre tradition only developed in Wales with 20th century Welsh drama. Many playwrights were inspired by the example of the

The inter-war period has been described as a golden age of amateur dramatics, with five hundred companies active all over Wales providing a second occupation for large numbers of quarrymen and miners. This flourishing tradition was curtailed by the outbreak of the Second World War and ended by the arrival of television in the 1950s.[1]

Saunders Lewis (1893–1985) was above all a dramatist. His earliest published play was Blodeuwedd (The woman of flowers) (1923–25, revised 1948). Other notable plays include Buchedd Garmon (The life of Germanus) (radio play, 1936) and several others after the war. Siwan (1956) together with Blodeuwedd are considered as the "canonical examples of Welsh language drama"^[3] He also translated Samuel Beckett's En attendant Godot into Welsh.

Professional theatre developed in Wales in the 1950s and 1960s.[1]