Ed returns to theatre with story about a lost village
ONE of Wales’ most celebrated writers, Ed Thomas makes a momentous return to the stage after 15 years with a stage play inspired by his childhood village – and the blurring of his memories of it.
National Theatre Wales and Royal Court Theatre co-production of On Bear Ridge by award-winning writer Ed Thomas (Hinterland/Y Gwyll BBC/ S4C/Netflix) will be staged at the Sherman Theatre this autumn.
Co-directed by Royal Court artistic director Vicky Featherstone and Ed Thomas, On Bear Ridge is a semi-autobiographical story about the places we leave behind, the indelible marks they make on us, and the unreliable memories we hold onto.
The cast includes Rakie Ayola, Jason Hughes, Rhys Ifans and Sion Daniel Young. In a lost village, blurred by redrawn borders, hidden under a crumb on the map, Bear Ridge Stores still stands.
After 100 years, the family butchers and grocers – a place for odds and ends, contraband goods, and the last petrol pump for 30 miles – is now silent.
But owners John Daniel and Noni are going nowhere. They are defiantly drinking the remaining whiskey and remembering good times, when everyone was on the same side and the old language shone. Outside in the dark, a figure is making their way towards them…
National Theatre Wales has also created a sitespecific installation in the upper Swansea Valley bringing to life the world of the new play.
Audiences at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, and the Royal Court London will be able to experience this through a VR film that will be available to watch making the landscape of On Bear Ridge accessible in the centre of these busy cities.
The installation, No Petrol for 12 Miles, will temporarily exist in the landscape as fragmented remains of what was once there – a collection of lost things, half-forgotten sounds and memories, slowly sinking back into earth and rock.
They will offer visitors glimpses of a vanished world.
■ On Bear Ridge: Sherman Theatre, September 20 to October
5. Royal Court, London, October 24 to November
23. Tickets, call 029 2064 6900.