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About the Production

Bedazzled is a celebration of the special relationship Dylan Thomas had with the United States, New York in particular, and the enduring influence of his life and work on both sides of the Atlantic. In a series of events 're-imaging' his favourite watering hole The White Horse Tavern in Greenwich Village, audience members are invited to join Dylan for a drink and be transported back to the heady bohemian world of New York in the early 1950s where Thomas' charisma and dramatic and lyrical use of language left all around him spellbound.

Conceived by artistic director David Drake, writer Ben Gwalchmai and composer John Rea, an evening of immersive theatre, moving image and sound will provide audiences around the world with a glimpse into Dylan Thomas' life in New York and the surrounding cultural milieu.

Cast

Ceri Murphy	Celebrity Thomas
Ben Gwalchmai	Welsh Thomas/EE cummings
Arthur Hughes	Solitary Thomas/Allen Ginsberg
Catriona James	Maya Deren/Djuna Barnes
Rhys Downing	William Burroughs/Barman
John Norton	Daniel Jones

Crew

David Drake	Artistic Director
Ben Gwalchmai	Writer/ Actor
John Rea	Composer/Sound Design
Anne Siegel	Digital Producer
Laura Sorvala	Illustrator/Designer
Huw Talfryn Walters	Cinematography
John Norton	Production Consultant
Dave Shepherd	Web Developer
Rhys Meyrick	Set Designer
Chantal Lee-Harrison	Production Manager
Felix Otaola	Audio Visual Technician
Dewi Jones	Lighting Designer

Creative Team Bios

David Drake – Artistic Director

David Drake has 35 years experience in the arts and media sector, since 2009 as Director of Ffotogallery, the national development agency for photography and lens-based media in Wales, and founder Director of the biennial Diffusion: Cardiff International Festival of Photography. His varied career has included extensive curatorial, publishing, and production experience for organisations as diverse as Watershed, Arts Council England, Picture This Moving Image, FIVE magazine, Pimlico Arts and Media and HP Labs. During the 1980s, he was an independent filmmaker and established and ran for ten years a groundbreaking media centre in London delivering photographic, television and design training programmes. More recently he was producer of Electric Pavilion, a three year online project showcasing creativity as found within the city of Bristol.

Ben Gwalchmai – Writer and Actor

An actor, maker, and writer, Ben Gwalchmai is a nomadic sort - in both geography and discipline. He makes work in whatever medium and form fits the content best. Ben usually makes things with words however he has also made site-specific dance for the Greenwich Dances Festival, sculpture for the DeptfordX Festival, performance, opera, interactive experiences, and a storytelling app for smartphones.

bengwalchmai.com

John Rea - Composer

John Rea left Cardiff University with an M.Mus. in composition under the guidance of Prof. Alun Hoddinott CBE, and following his early experiences sessioning, conducting and arranging for Dave Stewart’s Anxious Records, has developed a career composing for theatre, film, television, and concert platform. He enjoys experimenting with traditional instrumentation, sound, and studio technology.

His diverse collaborations include a site-specific installation/musical work ‘Atgyfodi’, with ‘St Fagans : National History Museum’ sound archive, performing and conducting his original filmscores live for the Swansea Festival, and playing piano for The Manic Street Preachers.

machinerooms.co.uk

Anne Siegel – Digital Producer

Anne Siegel is a creative with over ten years experience in producing art events, film projects and digital media content. She has a continued interest in photography and cinematography, having worked on Bafta nominated short films as a cinematographer and independent filmmaker and feels passionately about maximising the potential of the web, social media and digital technologies. As Ffotogallery’s Education & Creative Technology Manager she has developed a number of high profile digital projects and was recently selected for Arts Council of Wales Digital Producers lab, a programme developing Wales’ digital talent.

Laura Sorvala – Designer & Illustrator

Laura Sorvala is interested in mapping stories and experiences into visual narratives. She often uses graphic recording as a tool to uncover underlying themes in conversations and highlight the meaningful shared experiences at events. Her illustrations offer snapshots and characters to articulate emotions and express opinions often in a humorous manner.

Her professional highlights include illustrating Creative Councils stories for Nesta, painting a public art installation inspired by stories from local people in Swansea and traveling in a caravan across Europe drawing cartoons of local issues and action groups.

auralab.co.uk

Huw Talfryn Walters

Huw T. Walters is a cinematographer with over 18 years experience in creative filming. He has two Bafta Cymru awards to his name; the first for a documentary on Scott Gibbs commissioned by BBC Wales and the second for a feature film on Richard Burton for S4C. He's also nominated for a third for his work on the award winning SC4 documentary Gerallt. Huw is also a renowned photographer holding a Kodak Gallery award for his work on landscape photography in Nepal. Above all he loves to travel and his career has seen him shoot all forms of film across every corner of the globe.