Contemporary Welsh Plays: Tonypandemonium, the Radicalisation of Bradley Manning, Gardening: For the Unfulfilled and Alienated, Llwyth (in Welsh), Par

Description:

Recent years have seen an explosion of new Welsh writing for the stage. With the advent of Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru in 2003 and the launch of National Theatre Wales in 2009, there has been a tectonic shift in Welsh theatre and its perception.

Wales has famously celebrated its poets and novelists, but in the twenty-first century, it is the playwright asking the crucial questions. Never before have there been so many playwrights of all ages, from across Wales, finding the stage to be the home for their stories.

This collection is the first to officially recognise this new wave of Welsh playwrights. It showcases a wide range of forms, themes and political concerns, as well as representing the most exciting voices at the forefront of Welsh drama, taking the temperature on what be considered to be the first golden age of Welsh playwriting.

Tonypandemonium by Rachel Trezise
The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning by Tim Price
Gardening for the Unfulfilled and Alienated by Brad Birch
Llwyth by Dafydd James (published in Welsh)
Parallel Lines by Katherine Chandler
Bruised by Matthew Trevannion

Featured in the volume are the following plays, along with a foreword by Professor David Ian Rabey of Aberystwyth University, and an introduction by the editors, Tim Price and Kate Wasserberg.

Brief description: Tim Price is a Welsh playwright and screenwriter. His plays include For Once, Salt Root and Roe (winner of Best English Language playwright at the Theatre Critics of Wales Award), Demos, The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning (winner of the James Tait Black prize for drama), I'm With the Band, Protest Song and The Internet Is Serious Business. He is associate playwright at the Traverse theatre and co-founder of Welsh new writing company Dirty Protest.

Review Quotes: There is no single anthology that brings together this range of work in a significant way and this is a much-needed response to this gap. - "Dr Tom Maguire, University of Ulster
" [This] will be the first anthology of its kind . . . While Welsh studies is not as prevalent a study as Irish studies or British literature is, there is an increasing interest in examining British literature using a broader canon. As such, I strongly feel that instructors and students will welcome such an anthology. - "Katherine Weiss, East Tennessee State University
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