Week one from the lambing shed

Well it’s the end of week one of rehearsals on The Gathering / Yr Helfa  and it's 

been an amazing week for me in the post as Emerging Director on the project. I've learned so much I could burst and it's only week one! I feel very privileged to be a part of such an unique production and to have this opportunity by NTW. 

What struck me on the first day was the vastness of the project and of the performance space. I was brought up in a rural area and I see Eryri (Snowdonia) through my window every day but seeing it as a theatre stage was as if I was seeing the landscape for the first time - the endless possibilities. The Gathering's journey began on Tuesday morning with a meet and greet at Hafod y Llan farm in Nant Gwynant and then a company walk up a mountain led by the Director Louise Ann Wilson.

There is something special about Nant Gwynant valley a magic and myth, a beauty and history around each corner and in the crevices of the land. We are based on the National Trust owned farm Hafod y Llan. A farm rich in history and tradition and a very important farm to the Nant Gwynant community. In the 1920’s a little hut was built of zinc and wood on the farm’s land and it was intended as a place for farm workers and young people to meet in the evening. I can imagine them in the hut sharing stories and poetry, singing and dancing. Ironically today the lambing shed on the farm is the actors rehearsal room. Actors at one end and lambs at another end of the shed. 

It’s a very strong and skillful cast Ffion Dafis, Gwyn Vaughn Jones, Emyr Gibson, Gwion Aled Williams and Meilir Rhys Williams. It's amazing seeing them work and seeing them adapt and respond to every challenge that Louise the director and Nigel the choreographer sets each day. I’m learning so much as a director in having the opportunity to sit in the rehearsal room and observe the actors work under direction.

Louise the Director and Creator of The Gathering has been working on the production on and off for a period of over 3 years. She has researched and observed the day to day work of the shepherds through the seasons, the cycle of the flock and the family history of Hafod y Llan farm in great detail.  Her research file is detailed and beautiful – the hand crafted imagery of her ideas, installation and happening is a work of art in itself.   

She works using a layering system of elements and week one has been working with the chorographer and actors on sketching and shaping the movements of the performance and installation. I'm really looking forward to the next phase and seeing all the other elements introduced the scenography, text, characterisation and music.  All the layers created individually and then intertwined. Exiting stuff.