Poems in October: Dylan Thomas and Shakespeare
Glynn Vivian Offsite presents Poems in October: Dylan Thomas and Shakespeare, a sound project
in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in different venues, and in
unexpected places throughout Swansea City Centre.
The project is inspired by one of Dylan’s early influences: his love of William Shakespeare which his
father read to him as a child.
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery has been working in collaboration with Swansea University’s Centre for
Research into the English Literature and Language of Wales (CREW) and the Dylan Thomas
Centre to choose texts which explore the rhythms and cadences between the two poets.
The minute long sound recordings include extracts from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Othello and King
Lear alongside works from Dylan Thomas including Foster the Light and an extract from The Long
Legged Bait.
From Swansea railway station to some of the famous pubs Dylan visited, you can hear the works of
the two writers, brought to life by Michael Sheen and actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The sound bites will appear intermittently in venues in different places, in the Quadrant shopping
centre and Swansea Market, as well as outside in the trees of Oxford Street. The recordings will
also be available at three central hubs, the Dylan Thomas Centre, the Kardomah Coffee Shop and
Swansea Central Library, where visitors can sit and listen to the sound clips in their entirety.
Glynn Vivian would like to thank Michael Sheen, the actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company
and staff from all of the participating venues.
The project, part of Swansea Council’s Dylan Thomas Festival 2014, coincides with the 450th
centenary celebrations of Shakespeare’s birth.
For more information about where to hear the recordings and discover all the venues involved,
please visit www.glynnviviangallery.org
