Friday, 17 July 2009

Mabinogion

Mabinogion

Ar ôl misoedd o ymarfer a pharatoi, perfformiwyd y Mabinogion yng Nghastell Harlech ar yr 13 a 14 o Orffennaf, gan dros 200 o blant ysgolion uwchradd Gwynedd. Er y tywydd di-galon, roedd y plant a'r cynulleidfa yn llawn cyffro a bwrlwm, yn barod am y sioeau o'u blaenau. I gychwyn y perfformio, cafodd dros 200 o blant ysgol cynradd ac ymwelwyr ei diddannu ar y p'nawn dydd Llun, gyda drama, pypedwaith, cerddoriaeth a llawer llawer mwy! Ond yn anffodus, troi am y gwaeth wnaeth y tywydd, ac erbyn i'r nos gyrraedd, roedd gormod o lawer o law yn disgyn, ac roedd rhaid canslo'r sioe.







Er nad oedd y tywydd lawer gwell ar y dydd Mawrth, roedd y plant, yr artisitiaid a'r criw yn benderfynnol o berfformio sioe gwerth chweil i'r cynulleidfa, a dangos yn uion yr holl waith caled a'r paratoi oedd wedi mynd i fewn i'r sioe. A dyna yn union ddigwyddodd!

Cafodd y cynulleidfa wledd o berfformiad, o weld pobl yn cerdded ar stiltiau i weld tafluniadau anhygoel ar furiau'r castell; o weld pobl yn taflu tân a fflamau, i glywed cerddoriaeth byw gan fand pres a band samba; actio, dawnsio, pypedwaith a gormod o bethau o lawer i mi allu enwi i gyd.




Roedd y sioe yn lwyddiant anhygoel, a dylai pawb oedd yn rhan ohono fod yn falch iawn o'u gwaith caled a'u hymdrechion diddiwedd.


REVIEW: MABINOGION, Castell Harlech, Tuesday 14 July, 2009


Audience wowed by Magnificent MABINOGION at Castell Harlech.Those lucky enough to be at Castell Harlech on Tuesday night witnessed aspectacle-the like of which has never been seen.One member of the audience wrote to us:'It was a splendid event in a great setting. Talk about "animatingpublic spaces"....the towers, the walls, the battlements and everysquare yard of the green was used. In one particularly striking momentone of the young characters went up a ladder and disappeared through aarcher's slit window....! Even the car park was used.


The project is based on the ancient Welsh mythic tales of theMabinogion - told in four sections or branches and last night each wasgiven its own treatment by over 300 young people mostly from secondaryschools (Ysgolion Eifionydd, Ardudwy, Moelwyn, Berwyn, Tywyn and Gader) butincluding a contingent from late primary ages. All the secondary schools in the area have been working on the project for over18 months developing the storyline and the media for telling it. Added in were community groups - a circus group from a Communities Firstproject, athletes from a gymnastic club, fire jugglers, a samba band, abrass band, a solo double bass, a film projection which includedspecially made animated images plus computer generated effects, lightingeffects and a very imaginative audio track some of which had beenspecially composed by college students. Live film of the action wasprojected onto the castle walls along with the other images.


Artists had been working with the young people over several months toproduce props made of a great variety of materials - there were ships,banners, full costumes; there were also fight sequences, dance sequencesand choreographed crowd scenes. Solo singing was featured as well as acappella choral singing....A fantastic achievement, well done'


Friday, 10 July 2009

Midsummer Night's Dream Ballet

First ever presentation of a ballet at Castell Harlech

Independent Ballet Wales performed a wonderful production of Shakespeare's famous Midsummer Night's Dream at Harlech Castle on Saturday, 13th June. The sun was shining and the audience came in their droves with chairs, blankets and picnics to enjoy the show in the historic castle! With choreography by Darius James, costumes by critically acclaimed welsh designer Yvonne Greenleaf, and music by Mendelssohn, it was a truly special and unique midsummer night !
































Mabinogion

Yn symud Y Mabinogion o’r dudalen ac i Gastell Harlech fel y gallwch gamu i mewn i’r storiâu a’ch cario ar hyd donnau’r bwrlwm…

Dros y flwyddyn ddiwethaf, mae 6 o ysgolion uwchradd Gwynedd ym Mlaenau Ffestiniog, Harlech, Dolgellau, Porthmadog, Y Bala a Tywyn wedi bod yn gweithio ar nifer o wahanol ddelweddau o’r Mabinogion, y rhai enwog a hefyd y rhai llai adnabyddus, gyda’r bwriad o wthio’r ffiniau artistig a dod â’r storiâu yn fyw yn y castell. Bydd y sioe yn gyfle anhygoel i blant weld eu cyfoedion yn perfformio mewn sbectacl sydd wedi cael ei greu gan dros 20 o artistiaid, gan gynnwys Mair Thomos Ifans a Cath Aran, yn ogystal â 400 o ddisgyblion Uwchradd ar hyd Gwynedd. Gydag elfennau o ddawns, syrcas, drama, pypedwaith, cerddoriaeth fyw a phasiantri, mi fydd o'n sioe bythgofiadwy!!


Taking the Mabinogion from the page and into Castell Harlech so that you can step into the stories and be carried along on the wave of action…

Over the past year 6
secondary schools in Blaenau, Porthmadog, Harlech, Dolgellau, Bala and Tywyn have been working on various images from the Mabinogion, both the famous and the less well known, with the sole intention of pushing artistic boundaries and bringing the stories to life. A great opportunity for youngsters to see their peers performing in a spectacle that has been devised by over 20 artists, including Mai Tomos Ifans and Cath Aran, and 400 secondary school pupils from across Gwynedd. With circus, dance, drama, digital projections, live music, puppetry and pageantry it promises to be an unmissable, unforgettable show






















Tuesday, 30 September 2008

Carnival Procession, Blodeuwedd Puppet 27 September

























On Saturday 27 September families from all over Gwynedd gathered at TheatrHarlech to create a 3 metre tall rod puppet of Blodeuweudd- the girl fromWales' greatest saga The Mabinogion who was created from floweres by a magician to become the bride of the hero Lleu. The event marked the launch of the biggest community project to happen in the history of the theatre.It is the start of a 10 month project involving 400 young people which will culminates in a multi media presentation of the Mabinogi in July 2009. Theproject also co-incided with the launch of the cultural Olympiad- a 4 year project of arts activities across the UK in preapartion for the 2012 OlympicGames.










Working with carnival artists Jude Davies and Ben Wood the local people also created bird masks and a huge owl puppet and brought the town of Harlech to a standstill as they processed through the town to the castle where theyenacted a masqued play of the scene from the Mabinogi when the girl offlowers is punished for betraying her husband by being turned into an owl. '