Theatre-goers venturing to the Sherman later this month will have the chance to see three new plays performed in one evening.
Trwy'r Ddinas Hon consists of three varied and original works that each explore different, unique versions of Cardiff and will be performed in Welsh, with two evenings of subtitled shows.
Sherman Cymru's associate director Mared Swain directs and has put all three plays together.
Mared Swain. Photo: Kirsten McTernan
She told me that they each offer different verdicts on issues of power, belonging and independence and are inspired by this wonderful city.
"It's nice to present them as a trio because they are all so different and it means people won't compare them with one another too much.
"We are using the same cast for each play so rehearsing them has been a challenge but it's great for the actors to be able to show what they can do with these characters.
"I think it's refreshing to be able to put an evening of short plays on because I don't believe in stretching pieces out to be a certain length for the sake of it and it gives people a real taster of what these writers are capable of.
"Hopefully the plays will make people talk about the city and share their own experiences."
Hanna Jarman and Siw Hughes in rehearsal for Trwy'r Ddinas Hon. Photo: Kirsten McTernan
The three plays have been written by Dyfed Edwards, Sharon Morgan and Marged Parry, who each have varying degrees of experience in playwriting.
The first is Traed Bach Concrit, written by Marged, and takes the audience to a futuristic world where Cardiff has been destroyed and is in the process of being recreated.
The cast of characters find themselves sheltering in the safe haven of St David’s 2 shopping centre, where 10 people of varying ethnicities and backgrounds from the city are being sent in a questionable process of ethnic cleansing.
The drama and tension is created by what happens when these people are thrown together unexpectedly in a very bizarre situation.
Marged currently works on Pobol y Cwm as an assistant script editor and has also worked with Dirty Protest.
Sharon Morgan's play is entitled Myfanwy Yn Y Moorlands, and takes place in a dreamlike world where the boundaries between imagination and reality are consistently blurred.
Tomos Eames and Siw Hughes in rehearsal for Trwy'r Ddinas Hon. Photo: Kirsten McTernan
Mared said: "Sharon's play focuses on an old lady at breaking point who is revisiting Cardiff and finds it almost unrecognisable from the city she knew in the 70s.
"It also explores the way Wales has changed within that context and sees her meeting a young man who we believe may have been her lover when she was younger.
"It's a collection of memories and dreams so you are never quite sure who this man is and what has actually happened in reality, but you see the woman being released from the burdens of her life as she travels around the city."
Sharon is an actress, who has won two Welsh Bafta Awards and was in Hollyoaks recently, and is also a budding writer.
Both Sharon's play and Dyfed's contribution, Llwch O'r Pileri, were created through the Sherman's advanced writers' project a few years ago and have since been developed.
Hanna Jarman and Siw Hughes. Photo: Kirsten McTernan
Dyfed's is set in 1958 in a very different world, where Germany won World War Two and Wales has just won the World Cup.
Mared said: "In Dyfed's play the Nazi party has been helping minority cultures to thrive and forcing them to support the Nazi cause.
"Hitler is due to visit to celebrate the football win and it focuses on what happens at a Welsh language school where one of the parents has escaped to America and the tensions created with people doubting one another and blaming others for the fact of the regime."
Dyfed used to be a journalist, writing in the regional and national press, and won the Drama Medal at the National Eisteddfod Award twice, with one of his plays later turned into a Sherman Cymru production, Tân Mewn Drain.
This three-hander will be performed by Tomos Eames (The Kenny Everett Story), Siw Hughes (Gwaith Cartref and long-standing character of Kath in Pobol Y Cwm) and Hanna Jarman (Zanzibar, Pen Talar).
It will be staged in Theatre 2, Sherman Cymru, Cardiff from 25-29 June at 8pm. There will be subtitled performances on Wednesday 26 and Friday 28 June. For tickets visit shermancymru.co.uk.
