Bard
Based on the life and times of Twm O’r Nant, ‘the Welsh Shakespeare.’ Twm, the troubadour, the people’s champion, satirizes a corrupt and vicious establishment. The poet is helped by Yr Arglwydd Angau, the Lord Death. All in the 18th century. The first play to present Wales’s greatest satirist in English. Twm wrote only in Welsh, bless him.
Author's comments
Twm o'r Nant, born Thomas Edwards.
"I wrote this after a nasty stint in a theatre in Wales, one of the most nauseous and corroding experiences I have ever had in my short life. I chose to write up the story of Twm because in his work he exactly mirrors that same fly-blown corruption of today, but two hundred years before. After interviews in the press, called ‘whistle blowing,’ I believe, I went to live in a Swiss canton, where it turned out to be just as corrupt, but far better hidden, and the whole populace, including teachers, receive a far fairer share of the spoils. I was even able to buy myself and family a house after only a few years of work, a near bleeding miracle."
Excerpts
This was the dream of Twm which came out in words:
‘Palaces and mansions
Like stables and sties,
Can still be the haunt
Of asses and flies.’
You bet!
Other excerpts here (PDF)
Published in Vol. 1: Four Plays from Wales. Translated into French by Danielle Obadia.
About Twm o'r Nant
Twm o'r Nant was the pen name of Thomas Edwards (1738-1810), born in January 1738 in the parish of Llannefydd, Denbighshire, the son of Evan Edwards, a smallholder, and his wife, Mary. The name Twm o'r Nant was acquired when his parents moved to a farm called Y Nant Isaf (the lower brook).
Source: the Oxford Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004), reproduced here.
Oct 08, 2010 | 0 Comment | Click to post comment to Bard