Pigeon / Pijin, Alys Conran’s literary debut, made waves when it was released as the first novel to be published in Welsh and English simultaneously. Hari Berrow talks to playwright Bethan Marlow about adapting its cutting YA narrative ahead of Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru and Theatr Iolo’s co-production this month.

Pijin, a play based on Alys Conran’s 2016 novel and adapted by Bethan Marlow, centres on two working-class teenagers, the stories they tell one another and the things they do to cope with a life neither of them aspired to. It also explores how those stories can have catastrophic consequences. Marlow tells me how she navigated bringing the story – with its joy and its darkness – to life for a younger audience.

“Theatr Iolo is a theatre company for children and young people; [Pijin] is marketed as being for 13+, but like anything else, if it works then I hope it will be quite universal,” Marlow tells me. “I feel quite lucky – I was given the freedom to adapt in whatever way I saw. There are a few bits that were cut because I really wanted to focus on this intense friendship between Pijin and Iola, but I don’t think we’ve shied away from any themes or stories in the play because of a young audience. We’ve just made sure we’ve kept the young friends at the centre.”

Marlow and director Lee Lyford are, however, aware of the challenges of creating work for young people, and particularly their role in keeping art safe for young people. “It’s such an interesting time to be creative, because it feels like there’s so much more responsibility when you’re creating stuff,” says Marlow. “You’ve gotta really think, ‘Why am I putting this onstage and what am I saying with it? Is this necessary? Is this the right way?’

“That’s actually been really useful as a writer, in the sense that we’ve been asking how much of that do we need to see – and how can we show that without it too being violent?” While Marlow didn’t generally limit herself, she did set one perimeter: Pijin’s abusive stepfather never sets foot onstage.

“We hear of him, we know he’s there, and we know what he does, but we never actually get to see him. That was the only rule I gave myself. I was just like, ‘I’m not gonna let you come onstage, I’m not gonna let you be a person that exists and takes up space.’ That’s my tiny contribution to this massive movement taking place across the world: saying, ‘we don’t need to give you a presence as a violent man’.”

The original novel is written in both English and Welsh, with the characters using the two languages interchangeably, and Marlow has adopted a similar approach in her adaptation. “It’s been tricky, because anything to do with the presence or removal of the Welsh language is instantly political. There’s a journey about language in the play: losing language, or rejecting language.

“I’ve tried to keep it as authentic as possible, thinking: these characters are onstage, at this age and this time, therefore they would be speaking Welsh… now they’re {this} age and another character is on, they would probably switch to English. Hopefully it will feel authentic to Wales today – the language changes depending on who’s in the room.”

Marlow hopes that Pijin will change audiences’ perceptions, both of others and themselves.

“Personally, I wrote this play for the Pijins of Wales. That’s who I want to come and watch it; that’s who I want to sit there and feel seen and heard. It’s for young people who feel on the edges of our society. I’m quite convinced that all of us had a Pijin in our school. I just hope that audiences have time to look back at their own childhood, no matter how close or far away, and reconsider people’s behaviour and actions based on what they were going through at the time.”

Pijin opens at Pontio, Bangor, Fri 27 Feb-Fri 3 Mar (tickets: £10-£16) and continues to:

Sherman Theatre, Cardiff (Tue 7-Fri 10 Mar)

Y Ffwrnes, Llanelli (Tue 14 + Wed 15 Mar)

Theatr Mwldan, Cardigan (Fri 17 + Sat 18 Mar)

Aberystwyth Arts Centre (Tue 21 + Wed 22 Mar)

and Galeri, Caernarfon (Fri 24 + Sat 25 Mar)

Info: here

words HARI BERROW