My People

In a chapel service in rural Wales, all is not what it seems . . .

A stage adaptation of one of the most celebrated and controversial short-story collections in the history of Anglo-Welsh literature. Originally published in 1915, the searing stories of My People – darkly comic, poignant, with flashes of savagery – exposed the hypocrisy and avarice nestling side-by-side in a Nonconformist community in the rural West Wales of the early 1900s.

First produced n the centenary year of the publication of the original collection, this radical reimagining makes us question whether the events depicted in these remarkable stories are consigned to the past, or can we discern uncomfortable parallels in our modern life?

This programme text edition was published to coincide with the world premiere of the stage adaptation on 5 November 2015 at Clwyd Theatr Cymru, in a co-production with Invertigo Theatre.

Caradoc Evans (1878-1945) was a Welsh novelist, playwright and short story writer. Perhaps best known for his first collection, My People, his writing was villified by the popular press and celebrated by the literary world, with comparisons made to Balzac and Joyce, and Dylan Thomas listing him as one of his early influences. Writing in an English that was heavily influenced by Welsh grammar and vocabulary, his work sought to puncture the myths of quotidian life in Wlaes, juextaposing religiosity with the fearsome poverty in which people existed.

Steffan Donnelly has written and produced a number of short films (selected for showing at the British Film Institute as well as festivals in Bristol, London and Berlin), and co-wrote the National Youth Theatre of Wales' 2010 touring production – No Other Day Like Today/Diwrnod Heb Ei Debyg. He appeared in the NYTW production of Canrif/Century. He has worked with the National Youth Theatre as Chairman of their Youth Council (2009-11) and as Assistant Director on Welcoming The World (part of the National Theatre's Watch This Space Festival 2011).

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