Tachwedd - in Conversation with Writer Jon Berry

Tachwedd is visiting the Torch Theatre from Wednesday 25 September to Saturday 28 September. The gripping new drama by Jon Berry asks more questions than it gives answers. Anwen chatted with Jon to find out more …

Tell us a bit about the main themes in Tachwedd? 

There are many themes in Tachwedd, but I think the major one is inheritance. Passing things onto the next generation can be messy, painful, joyous, and that sense of looming inheritance rings very clear in the text. The characters of the play all share an inheritance, and it’s their responses – love, fear, a burning desire to escape fate – that drives the action along. 

The Torch Theatre is the only place in the whole of Wales where people can see the production, how do you think it will be received? 

I hope it will speak to people about the rich storytelling history we have. There are so many elements of Wales, of our history, our culture, even our language that are woven through the play – it’s exciting! Opening in Wales is paramount for me, bringing new Welsh stories to Welsh stages is close to my heart. However people receive the play – hopefully well, even better as inspiring – I’m super excited to be bringing Welsh audiences stories that celebrate our history.

Tell us about the history behind Tachwedd. 

The play was commissioned by Theatre503 in London all the way back in 2019, so the origins of the play are in a very different world to the one we live in now. I’d been obsessed with the question of nationalist politics, about industrialisation that built and then broke communities, this kind of jagged story of Wales that has been knocking about in the cultural consciousness for years. I think we all, as humans, tell each other stories about ourselves, and so this interest in myth developed, the Mabinogi especially, a fundamental series of Welsh myth. So, in terms of history, there’s all of those influences knocking around. Over the nearly five years of writing the play, there’ve been whole stories that have come and gone. And of course, the pandemic. So, it’s been a real labour of love. 

Where will Tachwedd travel to next?

After our shows at the Torch, we will be heading to London for a three-week run at Theatre503! 

And the all-Welsh cast! Tell us more!

Yes, we have such a brilliant company of Welsh talent including Royal Welsh graduate Bedwyr Bowen, Saran Morgan, Carri Munn and Glyn Pritchard. And that’s not even touching our creative team, who are majority Welsh. It’s been great to give so many talented people the chance to collaborate on this story.

It’s been blood, sweat and tears getting Tachwedd on tour – can you give us some background information? 

We’ve faced numerous challenges, on every front – the pandemic for me writing it, the increasing challenges in public money for the arts, and the difficulty of producing new writing in a risk-averse environment. We’re in rehearsals at the minute, but the challenges have given us a real impetus to get this play made, like testing the belief of us all in the story. So, it’s been hard, really hard, but it’s shown us that the play has enough in it to carry on. 

Describe the production in three words.

Epic, historical, gut-punch