NATIONAL THEATRE WALES

In Newport and Beyond

The Dark Philosophers

November 2010

A new theatre production based on the stories of Gwyn Thomas

The great 1940s Valleys storyteller becomes a dark hilarious, twenty-first century comedian, taking no prisoners and respecting no laws other than man’s right to survive.

‘Every so often a writer from another age leaps into the present with an armful of gifts for us. Gwyn Thomas is one of those writers'

John McGrath, Artistic Director, National Theatre Wales

The Dark Philosophers background and booking information

National Theatre Wales will celebrate one of Wales’ most distinctive voices of the last century with The Dark Philosophers, a brand new dramatisation of the ink-black comic tales of Gwyn Thomas, the great Welsh storyteller and dark, hilarious chronicler of the Valleys.

The youngest of twelve children, Gwyn Thomas (1913-1981) was born and brought up in Cymmer, in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales. Growing up in poverty, he won a scholarship to Oxford University, and returned to Wales to teach. The Dark Philosophers – a collection of short stories – was published in 1946, while his novels include The Alone to the Alone (1947); All Things Betray Thee (1949); The World Cannot Hear You (1951), and Now Lead Us Home (1952). His play The Keep opened at the Royal Court Theatre in 1961, to great acclaim.

"As if Thomas Hardy met Damon Runyon over a loving cup of small beer." New York Herald Tribune, 1947

BOOKING OPENS MONDAY 5 JULY 2010

Booking

The Riverfront, Newport

November 2010

John McGrath, Artistic Director, National Theatre Wales

‘I didn’t want to read these stories. I thought they would be too historical, too worthy for today’s theatre. I guess I’ve been wrong a few times in life, but this time I was really, really wrong! From the first page of the first Gwyn Thomas story I read, I just kept saying to myself, ‘How have I missed this guy. He’s got to be one of the most outrageous, individual, funny, disturbing writers I’ve read for years!’ It was like discovering an amazing new voice, but one that has been around for over half a century. I want audiences for this show to have the same experience I had when reading the books. I want us to produce a stage version of Gwyn Thomas’s work that speaks to people all over the world – celebrating his extraordinary surreal storytelling genius.’

John McGrath, Artistic Director, National Theatre Wales

Share this page