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Theatre of Wales
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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.
The earliest known performance tradition is that of the mumming custom Mari Lwyd. However, the existence of a Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon suggests that drama may well have been introduced during the classical period.
Drama in Wales as a literary tradition dates to morality plays from north-east Wales in the second half of the 15th century. Two extant miracle plays Y tri Brenin o Gwlen ("The three kings from Cologne") and Y Dioddefaint a'r Atgyfodiad ("The Passion and the Resurrection") represent short individual plays rather than being elements of a larger cycle. Ymddiddan y Corff a'r Enaid ("Conversation of the body and the soul") can be compared to the Everyman tradition.
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.
Stock Welsh characters occur in theatre in England on the Tudor and Stuart stage. Fluellen is a fictional character in the play Henry V by William Shakespeare. Snatches of dialogue and words in Welsh appear in plays such as John Fletcher's The Night Walker, Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, Northward Ho by Thomas Dekker and John Webster, Patient Grissel by Thomas Dekker, Henry Chettle, and William Haughton, The Valiant Welshman, and Ben Jonson's masque For the Honour of Wales.
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.
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).
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.
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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.
The earliest known performance tradition is that of the mumming custom Mari Lwyd. However, the existence of a Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon suggests that drama may well have been introduced during the classical period.
Drama in Wales as a literary tradition dates to morality plays from north-east Wales in the second half of the 15th century. Two extant miracle plays Y tri Brenin o Gwlen ("The three kings from Cologne") and Y Dioddefaint a'r Atgyfodiad ("The Passion and the Resurrection") represent short individual plays rather than being elements of a larger cycle. Ymddiddan y Corff a'r Enaid ("Conversation of the body and the soul") can be compared to the Everyman tradition.
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.
Stock Welsh characters occur in theatre in England on the Tudor and Stuart stage. Fluellen is a fictional character in the play Henry V by William Shakespeare. Snatches of dialogue and words in Welsh appear in plays such as John Fletcher's The Night Walker, Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, Northward Ho by Thomas Dekker and John Webster, Patient Grissel by Thomas Dekker, Henry Chettle, and William Haughton, The Valiant Welshman, and Ben Jonson's masque For the Honour of Wales.
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.
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).
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.
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