Sun 11 Nov is the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day Sunday. Jake Andrews and Ellie Wainwright look at events around South Wales marking this momentous occasion.
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month the guns fell silent. World War I had ended. Sun 11 Nov this year will mark a century since the agreement between the Allied Forces and Germany was signed, ending the hostilities between the two sides. Coinciding with this year’s Remembrance Sunday, there are a number of events in the buildup to this centenary.
POPPIES OF REMEMBRANCE
National Museum Wales has been hosting an exhibition explaining the cultural significance of the poppy as symbol of peace and remembrance. The museum also looks at the biodiversity of the poppy and its links with opium and its medical properties.
National Museum Cardiff, until Sun 3 Mar. Admission: free. Info: 029 2057 3500 / museum.wales
THE ARMISTICE SUITE
Swansea’s Grand Theatre plays host to a multimedia performance commemorating the end of the Great War. The Armistice Suite will feature visuals and narration explaining the history of the conflict and features a musical score composed by BAFTA-winning, Emmy-nominated Welsh musician Mark Thomas.
Grand Theatre, Swansea, Mon 12 Nov. Tickets: £12. Info: 01792 475715 / www.swansea.gov.uk
BATTALION CONCERT 2018
In Newport, the Riverfront will feature an evening of performances ranging from the musical to the dramatic, as three schools from the local area come together for a night that celebrates and reflects on the passing of the Armistice.
The Riverfront, Newport, Tue 13 + Thurs 15 Nov. Tickets: £5/£3. Info: 01633 656757 / tickets.newportlive.co.uk
BRITTEN: WAR REQUIEM
An evening of classical music composed by Benjamin Britten and featuring the National Orchestra Of Wales awaits at Cardiff’s St. David’s Hall, performing the piece which was originally written to celebrate the dedication of Coventry Cathedral. The Cathedral was bombed to destruction in World War Two and completely rebuilt from the ground up.
St. David’s Hall, Cardiff, Sun 11 Nov. Tickets: £15-£41. Info: 029 2087 8444 / www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk
DANNY BOYLE’S PAGES OF THE SEA
Director Danny Boyle is collaborating with 14-18 Now to create a commemoration entitled Pages Of The Sea. Inspired by Carol Ann Duffy’s poem The Wound In Time, written specifically to mark this historic event, Pages Of The Sea will involve thousands of people gathering on beaches across the UK and the Republic Of Ireland for a unique nationwide gesture of remembrance. The community-led events of the day will include a reading of the poem by Duffy, as well as a WWI portrait being drawn on the beaches by sand artists Sand In Your Eye. The drawings will be washed away by the incoming tide, marking millions of lives lost or changed forever, relating to the last line of Duffy’s poem, “Your faces drowning in the pages of the sea”. The Welsh beaches taking part include Swansea, Colwyn Bay, Broad Haven (Pembrokeshire) and Ynyslas (Ceredigion).
Various beaches across Wales, Sun 11 Nov. Admission: free. Info: www.pagesofthesea.org.uk
THE WIZARD, THE GOAT AND THE MAN WHO WON THE WAR
BAFTA-winning Richard Elfyn returns with a show which has been selling out in theatres throughout Wales. Written and directed by DJ Britton, Elfyn plays one of Britain’s Welsh wartime leaders and politicians David Lloyd George in The Wizard, The Goat And The Man Who Won The War. Elfyn’s former TV successes include the recent Keeping Faith, The Crown and Welsh series Byw Celwydd. The fictional drama is set in Antibes, France at the time of George’s 50th wedding anniversary.
Royal Welsh College Of Music & Drama, Cardiff, Sat 10 + Sun 11 Nov. Tickets: £15/£7.50 under-25s. Info: 029 2039 1391 / www.rwcmd.ac.uk
THE WOUND IN TIME
It is the wound in Time. The century’s tides,
chanting their bitter psalms, cannot heal it.
Not the war to end all wars; death’s birthing place;
the earth nursing its ticking metal eggs, hatching
new carnage. But how could you know, brave
as belief as you boarded the boats, singing?
The end of God in the poisonous, shrapneled air.
Poetry gargling its own blood. We sense it was love
you gave your world for; the town squares silent,
awaiting their cenotaphs. What happened next?
War. And after that? War. And now? War. War.
History might as well be water, chastising this shore;
for we learn nothing from your endless sacrifice.
Your faces drowning in the pages of the sea.
Carol Ann Duffy, 2018