Various locations, Swansea
Tue 25-Sat 29 Sept
It seems fitting that multiple locations across Swansea, including the National Waterfront Museum, Mission Gallery and the Print Workshop, are hosting immersive events to coincide with the performance of Now The Hero. Carrying on the themes of the play, which will guide its audience from Swansea beach to the intimacy of The Brangwyn Hall, Now For More is a mini-festival in the guise of an extended ‘art-weekender’, bursting with events as unique as their venues.
The play itself is a fascinating blend of three periods. The festival therefore draws inspiration from the story and important symbols used throughout; these include the epic medieval poem Y Gododdin, and The British Empire Panels, which are displayed in Swansea’s Brangwyn Hall having been dubbed ‘too colourful and lively’ to be hung in the House Of Lords.
Now For More aims to do just as its title suggests, by providing creative insight, perspective and involving all of the city’s cultural institutions and organisations, large and small, in the process. Each of these free events explores the layers of the play, and their wider impacts.
Oxfam’s Hope Among The Ruins takes a look at the impact of war and celebrates those working towards peace and providing sanctuary, whilst Swansea Museum’s exhibitions and workshops focus on the hundred-year anniversary of the partial victory of the suffrage movement. From UN World Peace Day on Fri 21 Sept, a walking tour of stories of peace in Swansea along the ‘Peace Trail’ celebrates all the stories of the city and beyond. There are many more commemorative events, from exhibitions of local World War I heroes to an era-themed tea dance, and an impressive selection of others.
Each of these accompanying arts events is a local and creatively-exhibited retelling of a part of Welsh history, with something for all tastes and areas of interest in a week bursting with evocative and inspirational opportunities. CHLOE EDWARDS
Admission: free. Info: www.nowthehero.wales/now-for-more