If Dylan Met Thomas Hardy - A short play competition
What would have happened if Dylan Thomas had met Thomas Hardy?
Two of the greatest writers of the 20th century, Dylan Thomas and Thomas Hardy, never met in person. But what if they had? What would they have talked about? Where would they have met? And who would have been impressed by whom?
That's the question we're asking you to answer in our new Short Play Competition. Write a play about the imaginary meeting of Dylan Thomas and Thomas Hardy. What would they have said to each other? How would their different styles of writing have clashed or complemented each other? And what would have been the lasting impact of their meeting?
Here are some ideas to get you started:
The competition:
Closing date: Noon (12pm GMT) on 7th October 2023.
Two of the greatest writers of the 20th century, Dylan Thomas and Thomas Hardy, never met in person. But what if they had? What would they have talked about? Where would they have met? And who would have been impressed by whom?
That's the question we're asking you to answer in our new Short Play Competition. Write a play about the imaginary meeting of Dylan Thomas and Thomas Hardy. What would they have said to each other? How would their different styles of writing have clashed or complemented each other? And what would have been the lasting impact of their meeting?
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- The meeting could take place in a pub, a library, or even a cemetery.
- The two poets could discuss their work, their lives, families, childhoods, or their views on the world.
- They could argue about their different styles of writing, or they could find common ground.
- One writer could be impressed by the other, or they could both be left feeling challenged and inspired.
- Who else might have been there when they met?
- The possibilities are endless. So let your imagination run wild and create a play that captures the magic of this historic meeting.
- We are looking for fresh ideas so if you have never written before here's your opportunity
The competition:
- The competition is open to all writers over 11 years old.
- Length of play - 15 min maximum.
- Maximum number of cast members - 4.
- Entry fee of £5.
- A panel will choose a shortlist of three plays to be performed at the Dylan Thomas Theatre during 'The Beginning' Conference.
- Members of the audience will vote for their favourite play.
Closing date: Noon (12pm GMT) on 7th October 2023.
The Beginning - A Sense of Place
A Joint Conference Between the Dylan Thomas Society and the Thomas Hardy Society
Friday 27th October 2023 to Sunday 29th October 2023
The Dylan Thomas Theatre, Gloucester Place, Maritime Quarter, Swansea SA1 1TY & other Swansea venues
The Dylan Thomas Theatre, Gloucester Place, Maritime Quarter, Swansea SA1 1TY & other Swansea venues
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 in Uplands Swansea 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. At The Dylan Thomas Theatre.
17.30 | Thomas, DJ and Dylan The influence of Hardy on Dylan and his father. At The Dylan Thomas Theatre.
19.00 | Official Conference Opening – Keynote opening speech - buffet and drinks reception at The 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 from The Dylan Thomas Birthplace.
Saturday
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. At The 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 At The 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, followed by a buffet reception.
20.00 | From Mad Town to Llareggub At The 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. At The 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
TICKETS: £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.
Accommodation:
Hotel accommodation is not included in the conference price. Please see below a list of recommended accommodation sites.
Morgans Hotel 4 star 01792 484848 www.morganshotel.co.uk closest to DT Theatre. From £150 per night. Own car park
Clyne Farm Centre Nine 4-star self-catering cottages 01792 403333 From £80 per night (sleep 2 - 4). Own free car park
Marriott Hotel 4 star 01792 642020 From £120 per night Own car park
Premier Inn Swansea Waterfront 3 star 0333 3219208 From £80 per night. 3/4 mile away (Premier Inn Swansea Central not advised - in busy bar area)
Travel Lodge Swansea Central 3 star 08719 846326 From £80 per night 1/4 mile away
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 in Uplands Swansea 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. At The Dylan Thomas Theatre.
17.30 | Thomas, DJ and Dylan The influence of Hardy on Dylan and his father. At The Dylan Thomas Theatre.
19.00 | Official Conference Opening – Keynote opening speech - buffet and drinks reception at The 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 from The Dylan Thomas Birthplace.
Saturday
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. At The 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 At The 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, followed by a buffet reception.
20.00 | From Mad Town to Llareggub At The 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. At The 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
TICKETS: £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.
Accommodation:
Hotel accommodation is not included in the conference price. Please see below a list of recommended accommodation sites.
Morgans Hotel 4 star 01792 484848 www.morganshotel.co.uk closest to DT Theatre. From £150 per night. Own car park
Clyne Farm Centre Nine 4-star self-catering cottages 01792 403333 From £80 per night (sleep 2 - 4). Own free car park
Marriott Hotel 4 star 01792 642020 From £120 per night Own car park
Premier Inn Swansea Waterfront 3 star 0333 3219208 From £80 per night. 3/4 mile away (Premier Inn Swansea Central not advised - in busy bar area)
Travel Lodge Swansea Central 3 star 08719 846326 From £80 per night 1/4 mile away
Annual Wreath Laying
Saturday 18th November 2023 11.45am for 12 noon
Westminster Abbey and after at the Wheatsheaf pub, Fitzrovia
Please let us know if you are coming - open to members and non-members
Call us on 01792 472555 or info@dylanthomassociety.com
Westminster Abbey and after at the Wheatsheaf pub, Fitzrovia
Please let us know if you are coming - open to members and non-members
Call us on 01792 472555 or info@dylanthomassociety.com
Past Events
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Saturday 10th June at 7pm
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In what is a joint event with Dylan Thomas' Birthplace, we invite you to join us for an illustrated talk at Dylan's birthplace with Hilly Janes, editor of ‘
Ugly, Lovely: Dylan Thomas’s Swansea & Carmarthenshire of the 1950s in pictures’
- a book which contains over 40 lovely unpublished photographs of the places Dylan wove into his work, taken in 1957 soon after he died.
Ethel Ross's niece, the journalist and biographer Hilly Janes, author of The Three Lives of Dylan Thomas, continues her exploration of the poet and his life in her new book, Ugly, Lovely: Dylan Thomas's Swansea and Carmarthenshire of the 1950s in pictures. Hilly celebrates Dylan's 'ugly, lovely town' and the corner of Carmarthenshire that inspired him. Vivid and personal, the photographs, taken soon after Thomas died, come from Ethel Ross's own archive and depict the places that Dylan knew so well, accompanied by lines from his work.
In her collection, Ethel Ross, a local resident throughout her life and a personal friend to Dylan Thomas through family and the Swansea Little Theatre, created an important historical record of the area. Hilly spent her childhood on the Gower peninsula, where Ethel shared the family home and this unique posthumous collaboration reflects the love of the landscape of south west Wales and of Thomas's writing that her late aunt nurtured in her.
This engaging book also includes a satirical sketch previously unpublished in the UK, written by Dylan Thomas as a commentary on fascism. 'Lunch at Mussolini's.'
Ugly, Lovely: Dylan Thomas’s Swansea & Carmarthenshire of the 1950s in pictures’
- a book which contains over 40 lovely unpublished photographs of the places Dylan wove into his work, taken in 1957 soon after he died.
Ethel Ross's niece, the journalist and biographer Hilly Janes, author of The Three Lives of Dylan Thomas, continues her exploration of the poet and his life in her new book, Ugly, Lovely: Dylan Thomas's Swansea and Carmarthenshire of the 1950s in pictures. Hilly celebrates Dylan's 'ugly, lovely town' and the corner of Carmarthenshire that inspired him. Vivid and personal, the photographs, taken soon after Thomas died, come from Ethel Ross's own archive and depict the places that Dylan knew so well, accompanied by lines from his work.
In her collection, Ethel Ross, a local resident throughout her life and a personal friend to Dylan Thomas through family and the Swansea Little Theatre, created an important historical record of the area. Hilly spent her childhood on the Gower peninsula, where Ethel shared the family home and this unique posthumous collaboration reflects the love of the landscape of south west Wales and of Thomas's writing that her late aunt nurtured in her.
This engaging book also includes a satirical sketch previously unpublished in the UK, written by Dylan Thomas as a commentary on fascism. 'Lunch at Mussolini's.'
Friday 20th April 6.30 for 7.00pm
Carwyn James - the book lover who became the world's greatest rugby coach
Carwyn was a complex character who loved books more than he loved the oval ball says his official biographer Alun Gibbard. His talk in the front parlour of the Dylan Thomas Birthplace will explore many facets of the man who coached Llanelli and the British Lions to victory and about his tussles with the Welsh Rugby Union.
For the rugby fan on the eve of the Scarlets European Cup semi final for the lover of literature this promises to be a fascinating evening
Tickets £5 from 01792 472555 or info@dylanthomasbirthplace.com includes house tour. Refreshments available
Carwyn was a complex character who loved books more than he loved the oval ball says his official biographer Alun Gibbard. His talk in the front parlour of the Dylan Thomas Birthplace will explore many facets of the man who coached Llanelli and the British Lions to victory and about his tussles with the Welsh Rugby Union.
For the rugby fan on the eve of the Scarlets European Cup semi final for the lover of literature this promises to be a fascinating evening
Tickets £5 from 01792 472555 or info@dylanthomasbirthplace.com includes house tour. Refreshments available