A Joint Conference Between the Dylan Thomas Society and the Thomas Hardy Society
Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of Dylan Thomas’s Death and the First Performance of ‘Under Milk Wood’
Programme:
Friday
10.30 | Dylan’s Swansea – a walking tour with actor Adrian Metcalfe to places of interest including Dylan Thomas Centre, Queen’s Hotel, Dylan Thomas Theatre, Swansea Museum, High Street following part of Dylan’s stories Return Journey and Old Garbo.
14.00 | Happy 109th Birthday Dylan – a tea party in his Birthplace with spam and marmite sandwiches, jelly and blancmange just as his daughter Aeronwy remembered as a 10-year-old.
16.00 | William Barnes – Influences A mentor of Hardy who published in the local Dorset dialect but was also familiar with the Welsh strict metre
Thomas Hardy Society – at DT Theatre
17.30 | Thomas, DJ and Dylan The influence of Hardy on Dylan and his father
19.00 | Official Conference Opening – Keynote opening speech – buffet and drinks reception – Dylan Thomas Theatre followed by A Sense of Place – Wessex, Wales, Llareggub – the influence of place on the work of Dylan and Hardy. Professor Matt Jarvis of Aberystwyth University and Mark Chutter of the Thomas Hardy Society in conversation with Alun Gibbard
Saturday
09.00 – 16.00
9.00 | The Young Dylan in Swansea – the neglected part of Dylan’s life even though it was when he wrote two-thirds of his published work. Author and broadcaster Alun Gibbard brings his “..world within a world…” alive. Dylan Thomas Theatre.
10.30 to 15.30 | Extraordinary Little Cough –Swansea Mumbles and Gower bus tour takes in Dylan’s splendidly curving shore of Swansea Bay, Mumbles where the Swansea Little Theatre was based and the South Gower coast ending up in Rhossili. Readings on the way from Dylan’s Gower short stories and letters. Lunch at King Arthur Hotel (cost not included in conference fee).
16.30 | Love the Words –time to visit the Dylan Thomas exhibition, Swansea Museum and Maritime Museum Science Festival.
18.00 | Buffet reception Dylan Thomas Theatre to include Hardy meets Dylan The final of a competition to write a play about the imaginary meeting between the two authors presented by Lighthouse Theatre Company – Dylan Thomas Theatre, followed by a buffet reception.
20.00 | From Mad Town to Llareggub Dylan Thomas Theatre Members of Swansea Little Theatre with a rehearsed reading of their new adaptation of Dylan’s Adventures in the Skin Trade.
Sunday
09.30 | A light continental breakfast – Who Killed Dylan Thomas – Dylan created the myth around the circumstances of his death but what is the true story – Rob Gittins – senior scriptwriter on Eastenders has written two books and a TV documentary about the last days of Dylan. Dylan Thomas Theatre
10.30 | Patricia, Edith and Arnold – a tour of Dylan’s Uplands including his childhood haunts, Cwmdonkin Park and a tour of the Dylan Thomas Birthplace with tea and Welsh cakes. Small groups to allow time in Birthplace, walking if weather OK or minibus
13.00 | Lunchtime Farewell
Book here
£120 for Dylan Thomas Society and Thomas Hardy Society members. Non-members £140 to include one year’s membership of both the DT and TH Societies.
