A Welsh adaptation of one of Wales’ finest contemporary fiction books will be touring Wales this spring (28 Feb – 28 March).
Fala’ Surion is a theatre production of Rachel Trezise’s award-winning novel Fresh Apples, which was awarded the prestigious EDS Dylan Thomas Prize in 2006.
The show, which is produced by North Wales’ Cwmni Theatr Frân Wen, is a collection of wonderfully emotional, powerful and sharp short stories based on teenage life in contemporary Wales.
The cast is littered with some of Wales’ finest actors including Rhodri Meilir, who appeared in the BBC smash hit comedy My Family, Pobl y Cwm’s Catrin Mara and Rhodri Miles who won the Best International Artist award at the 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival for his portrayal of Welsh icon Richard Burton.
Also starring is Lowri Gwynne from S4C’s Rownd a Rownd and stage actress Lynwen Haf Roberts, who is fresh from her leading role in the National Theatre’s Welsh translation of Frank Wedekind’s controversial hit musical Spring Awakening.
“The raw emotional power and directness of the book had a profound effect on me,” recalls the 33 year old Rhodri Meilir, who also starred in Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather on Sky One.
“It’s a moving exploration of adolescent innocence with a dark comedy vein running through. There are laugh out loud moments in the book that only serves to heighten the tenderness of the stories. It’s humour that the Welsh will appreciate and associate with,” added the Mold born actor.
The precociously talented Trezise’s style of prose can be described as witty and shocking, with an evocative turn of phrase that leaps up and grips you by the throat. It has been dubbed ‘Welsh urban fiction’ which signifies the emotional and physical wasteland of urban Wales.
“Where there’s real pain; poverty, political oppression, injustice, there’s also good jokes and a dark and quick sense of humour,” said the 33 year old author from the Rhondda Valley.
“Often I don’t realise that what I’m writing is humorous. I’ve been working recently on a novel set in America with Orthodox Jewish characters and some characters from the Deep South, and their tendency toward humour is similar to that of my Welsh characters.”
She is currently writing a screenplay with Human Traffic director Justin Kerrigan: “To see actors lift characters off the page, characters that you dreamt up in your head, is both a frightening and very gratifying experience.”
Trezise’s books have been translated into several languages but this is the first time it has been translated into Welsh: “I had no idea that it would translate to other countries and languages until I was writer of residence at Texas University in 2007, and a student from a small town outside Austin told me he’d read the stories and that the boredom and disillusion in them rang completely true for him. It’s an irony that the more specific an artist can be about a subject or a place, the more universal and all-encompassing it appears to an audience.”
Director Iola Ynyr said she was delighted to work with Fala’ Surion’s screenwriters, Manon Eames and Catrin Dafydd, who translated the work from English to Welsh. She feels they are among Wales’ finest wordsmiths and “have been very courageous in transferring the characters from page to stage.”
“They have used the dark humour, poverty and oppression to portray Welsh urban life in all its glories,” added Cwmni Frân Wen’s artistic director.
Fala’ Surion
28 February 2012 Canolfan y Celfyddydau, Aberystwyth *
29 February 2012 Theatr Felinfach, Dyffryn Aeron
2 March 2012 Canolfan Taliesin, Swansea
7 March 2012 Theatr Glan yr Afon, Newport
9 March 2012 Galeri, Caernarfon *
10 March 2012 Galeri, Caernarfon
13 & 14 March 2012 Theatr John Ambrose, Ruthin
15 & 16 March 2012 Chapter, Cardiff *
21 & 22 March 2012 Neuadd Dwyfor, Pwllheli
24 March 2012 Pontio, Bangor
26 March 2012 Theatr Colwyn, Colwyn Bay
28 March 2012 Theatr Lyric, Caerfyrddin
Further information and tickets visit www.falasurion.com or telephone 01248 715 048.
* Post performance discussion with Rachel Trezise and the artistic team.
