Next year marks the centenary of Dylan Thomas' birth, and there is a raft of exciting events scheduled throughout the year to commemorate Swansea’s most famous son.
Many of those events will centre on the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea, including several special Dylan Thomas trails inspired by his verse.
As a warm-up to next year's festivities, Fluellen Theatre in Swansea have devised dramatised guided tours of Thomas' favourite spots in the city. The first took place last weekend, and the next will happen on Saturday 24 August.
Each tour will use the words of the great poet to illuminate the city, breathing life into sites where he once penned verse or gathered with friends to enjoy a pint or 10.
David Dooley sitting at the base of the Captain Cat statue in Swansea Marina. Image courtesy of the Fluellen Theatre Company
The tour will start from the Dylan Thomas Centre, taking in Dylan Thomas Square, The Three Lamps, the site of the Kardomah Cafe, Castle Square and ending in the No Sign Wine Bar.
Fluellen's artistic director Peter Richards told me that although much of the cityscape has changed drastically since Thomas' childhood, either through town planning or the destruction wrought by the German Luftwaffe's Three Nights Blitz, which tore the heart out of Swansea, there is still a tangible trace of what the 'ugly, lovely town' once meant to him.
He said: "The trail will take in iconic buildings and sites and will see our actors performing excerpts from Dylan's poetry and prose.
"We will perform part of Dylan's Fern Hill which, although it is not written about Swansea, features in a quote on his statue in Dylan Thomas Square.
"There really is no shortage of material as Thomas wrote so much about his childhood in Swansea and also when he returned here after the war.
"This performance brings to life that childhood reminiscence but also borrows from Return Journey and the excesses of Old Garbo."
Actor Huw Richards and Fluellen's artistic director Peter Richards on the tour. Image courtesy of the Fluellen Theatre Company
Peter takes the role of the tour guide and will share many of his own recollections about the buildings which no longer exist as well as his own father's memories of seeing Thomas and his crowd putting the world to rights in the old Kardomah.
He added: "I think the performance will give audiences a real sense of place. It's one thing to read Dylan Thomas, but to be where he was when he wrote or experienced those events creates such a special atmosphere.
"Although many of the buildings have gone, I think there is still enough of Thomas in Swansea to share with visitors."
Actor Huw Richards among the audience. Image courtesy of the Fluellen Theatre Company
Peter added that the show will be rolled out across the trails in Swansea, Uplands, Mumbles and Gower, Laugharne and in Cardiganshire as part of the centenary celebrations next year, with plans to create two shows per day.
Tickets are £10/£7 and available from the Dylan Thomas Centre or at dylanthomas.com. Contact the centre on 01792 463980 for more information.
