Graig Du Theatre Players
Information
The players are in the process of being formed. I will post further updates in the next few days. My intention is to form a community theatre group, with four probable performances a year, to encompass the work of playwrights in the Rhondda as a beginning. Original work will be encouraged. I would like to hear from any members, when I give out further information, if they would be willing to partake in the first staging. This will include actors, actresses, directors,who would be interested in supporting the idea to get valuable experience at the start of their careers. It would be a learning curve for me. I intend staging my play" Sorrow for my Sons" to publicize the group within the next few months. The full version of this play "Painting the Darkness" is to have a performance with the Fluellen Theatre in 2017. The play tells of the mysterious death of William Dillwyn Llewelyn, the eldest son of Sir John Dillwyn Llewelyn, who was found shot dead in the woods of the Penllergare estate on the afternoon of his engagement to Lord Dynevor's daughter in August 1893. The play explores the background to events, the inquest held the following day into his death, and William's friendship with J.Arthur Gibbs, the author of "A Cotswolds Village". I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the late June Lewis-Jones of Fairford, Glos, who helped me considerably with the three-act version of events. After answering my advertisement in her local newspaper, she was intrigued by my discoveries and, as she held Gibbs's diaries in her possession; she was also an author in her own right, she said she would aid me in any way as long as it did not jeopardize her work. June said that I had seen something in the unfolding events that no-one had realized before. Gibbs's strange requiem poem to his dead friend is well worth reading, as is his version, which I believe to be truthful, of the events that took place at Penllergare on the fateful day.
Location: Porth, Rhondda
Members: 10
Latest Activity: Dec 11, 2018
Discussion Forum
Street Singers of the Valleys. Gwillym Pen Pwyll.
The one regret my father had while growing up in Dinas was that he did not pay much attention to the stories that were being told. The stories he did tell me were fascinating to the say the least,…Continue
Tags: Du, Theatre, Players, Graig, Pwyll
Started by Glyndwr Edwards Nov 21, 2015.
Unknown Stories from the Rhondda.
Ebenezer Chapel, pictured above before its demolition in the 1960s, was one of the…Continue
Started by Glyndwr Edwards Nov 17, 2015.
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Comment by Glyndwr Edwards on August 23, 2016 at 2:54
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That's a fair point. I will whittle the main story line down to reflect the underlying plot motif. Originality is what's called for.
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Comment by Josh Edwards on August 22, 2016 at 8:20
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I hope there is a resolution with the five versions. It will be far too much for the audience to remember with the different story lines.
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Josh, I have changed the latest version printed below. More to follow.
Natalie looked closely at the small black and white photograph, showing her deceased grandfather in his working clothes, standing outside his garage that used to be in town. He appeared to be chatting with someone she could not see. Her grandmother sighed, touching the photograph, as she handed it back to her.
“You’re obviously upset about something, gran.”
“I took the photograph outside the garage on a Wednesday afternoon. I was determined to prove Maurice wrong. He told me no one could take a photograph of him because his image would not appear on it. Your grandfather first saw him looking through the window on the side of the garage one day while he was having problems fixing an engine. Maurice told him the solution and a new friendship begun. We did not know then where he can from, who his family were, or why he was in our village. Maurice was devilishly handsome, Natalie. His matinee idol looks charmed the girls. He seemed indifferent to them. Maurice flirted, but I could tell it was a game to him. I believed he knew the knowledge of the world when I found him staring at me one evening while we sat together in the kitchen.”
“How old was he, gran? “asked Natalie, intrigued by this enigmatic man she had never heard her grandmother speak of before.
“Maurice looked as if he was in his early twenties, yet he could have been younger. These are not the ramblings of a senile old fool, Natalie. You can see the space on the step where your grandfather is and there is obviously someone by the side of him that he is talking to.” Natalie studied the photograph; gran was correct. It seemed as if her grandfather did appear to have had his photograph taken with this mysterious man. “Well, he stayed with us for our about three months and we got along fine. He looked after the kids when we went out at the weekend and there were never any problems. Maurice, your grandfather said, seemed wiser than his years, Natalie. You know what men are like when they are alone and they boast a lot. Well, your grandfather said Maurice would just pass the time of day, laugh when dirty jokes were made, and he would come back home, have his supper, and then stay in his room, reading. The strangest thing is I cleaned his room twice a week and there were never any books to be found.”
“Perhaps you should stop now, “said Natalie anxiously, “you are getting upset.”
“I have to continue, “replied her grandmother wearily, “for I have never forgiven myself. I should have left well alone. I took the photograph with the new camera I had for my birthday. It was just chance I was passing the garage that day and they were both outside. Maurice must have sensed what I had done as I hurried away, for that night, he went to bed and I was worried when he did not come down when I called him the next morning. I went to his bedroom and he had gone. He could not have left the house because the front and backdoors were still locked...”
Natalie did not know what to say as her grandmother became more distraught. When the film was developed three days later, only her grandfather appeared in the photograph. The police were informed of what had occurred and they found no trace of Maurice.
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Good progress on the McCafferty characterisation. I have now shown what can be completed with the least number of actors and improvisation does not work when they are just given the barest of outlines. A rigid structure is what determines whether there is a success or not. Not bad at all.
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The connection will be with the one disappearance.
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Does the Bennington story from the 1940s have anything to do with Disappearances? There has to be a connection.
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They are well worth watching. There is talk of a remake of "The Witchfinder General." That will be a pity because the film is unique. The restored version is superb, even though Vincent Price is a bit hammy!
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Two good films I watched over the weekend with economy of storytelling.: Night of the Eagle and The Norliss Tapes. I have been told of another from years ago called Jane of Lantern Hill. Another that was surprising is The Sorcerers directed by Michael Reeves. A clever idea for Boris Karloff to experience strange delights through the eyes of Ian Ogilvy.
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Why not have a look at "The Man with the X-Ray Eyes?" This also starred Ray Milland.
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By the way, Edgar Allen Poe is obsessed by death and I think little of some of the stories. Saying that, I watched Ray Milland in The Premature Burial band I enjoyed that.
Pages (108)
- Brook Cottage, Dinas.
- The Dinas Pals'1914.
- Death of Arthur Rees, Appletree, Dinas. 1908.
- Boot Inn, Dinas.
- Dinas Road before the clearance.
- The Prince of Orange pub, Dinas Road
- The Last houses to be demolished in Dinas.
- Inkerman Street, Dinas. "Concretes"
- Bethania Chapel, Dinas Road.
- Gwillym Pen Pwyll's"Ragamuffin Tales"
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