‘I want to shake people up, make them think’
A hard-hitting drama touring Wales now, Company of Sirens’ Water Wars looks back at Tryweryn and forward to an eco-based water-battle of the future, writes Jenny White
THE flooding of the village of Tryweryn in 1965 to provide water for England remains a potent, politically charged violation. Now, a new play, Water Wars, imagines a similar storyline set in the future amid ecological collapse and growing water shortages.
Set in 2050, Water Wars is an eco-thriller centred around England’s invasion of Wales to tap its water supplies. Penned by west Wales writer Ian Rowlands and staged by Company of Sirens, it’s a gritty play that pulls no punches.
“I first worked with Ian Rowlands about 12 years ago on a play called Troyanne that was a big success – he’s a terrific writer,” says Company of Sirens founder and Water Wars director Chris Durnall. “All his work is very contentious, very supportive of Welsh nationalism, and very powerful, and this is no exception.
“It’s full of the ecological aspects of water. It touches on Tryweryn, and the final scene takes place against this reservoir: the English character is captured after the war and taken there, where we hear voices come from under the water: the bells of the church and the voices of the people.”
It’s an impassioned political and environmental piece, but what really attracted Chris to it was the fact that it is also a love story.
“It’s about betrayal, not only a betrayal of country, but betrayal of person, so the personal aspects really resonate,” he says. “If it was just about politics and about England and Wales, it would be boring, but it equates the love of people, with love of country and nation, and it works beautifully because it’s deeply personal and deeply moving.”
He was also attracted to the fact that it is a bilingual play, with scenes alternating in English and Welsh. Having not worked with the Welsh language to such an extent before, this posed an appealing challenge for Chris.
“Ian wrote the English translation next to the Welsh, so when you actually work on the play, there’s a direct translation that made it easier,” he says. “You have one scene in Welsh, one in English, one in Welsh, one in English, and then the second part is generally in English.
“The challenge was to make the Welsh language scenes accessible to a non-welsh speaking audience without resorting to a translation app or a projection. What I wanted to do is to find a way of making it clear through physicality, through interaction between actors, and I believe, we’ve achieved that. It’s worked really well, and it’s been well received.”
The cast includes well-known Welsh actress Siwan Morris, Arwel Griffiths, who was previously artistic director of Theatr Gen, Jâms Thomas, and English newcomer Luke Mulloy as the English character.
With the theme of water running through the production, John Meirion Rea has created a soundscape combining overlapping voices and rain effects, and, to evoke the sunken village, a bell echoing through water.
“It’s a really effective soundscape, and lighting designer Ceri James has done a fantastic job using different tones,” says Chris. “I wanted the production to be fluid in terms of the acting; I wanted all the scenes to blend into one another, a little bit like waves and water, but also the music and the lights do that as well, so it’s very fluid.”
As it is a touring production, the set has been kept simple but evocative, with a lighted window and a few boxes suggesting a safe house, an old cottage where the Welsh army have based themselves.
This places the focus firmly on the unfolding drama, which should leave no audience member unaffected.
“I always say that if people can leave the theatre and go to the bar and start to talk about the play afterwards, you’ve achieved something,” says Chris. “Often, people say, ‘That was good, wasn’t it?’ and that’s the end of the story. I want to try and shake people up, make people think about the issues, about the ecology, about the Welsh nationalist aspect, about the many other themes here that need to be explored.
“It’s not the sort of play that you come out of and sort of smile and go, ‘Oh, that was good.’ It’s quite shocking in parts, and that is something that theatre needs. I’m all for comedy and fun, but I think occasionally it needs to shake people, and I think this does it.
“Our company has been going now for 17 years, but it seems like no time at all. When I started, it was with the intention of doing plays like this: the aim was always to do challenging theatre. In recent years, our output has softened a little bit, and I’ve done different work, but this is what the company was actually formed for: in-your-face, uncompromising theatre. And with this play, Ian has done a marvellous job.”
Water Wars is touring Wales from now until Thursday, March 27. For tickets, visit linktr.ee/ companyofsirens