Jaydon Martin speaks with the Artistic and Creative Director of the Wales Millennium Centre Graeme Farrow about the City of the Unexpected and Roald Dahl’s legacy.
What we can expect from the City of the Unexpected?
Over the weekend of the City of the Unexpected, it’s really a case of expecting the unexpected, so we’re not telling anybody what exactly is going to take place. But suffice it to say, the city will be transformed, and it will be transformed through Dahl’s imagination. Some of the things happening will be riffs on actual Dahl characters, and one big story from one of his main books will play through the entire weekend. Then there are things that will just happen that you might miss, or see and think ‘what was that?’ and maybe go back and have another look.
So there are large and small things. The big centrepiece will make your jaw drop, and will end up in front of the castle where around 20,000 people can watch, and then there are really tiny things as well that you have to go and hunt for. I think we worked out that overall on the Saturday 75 ‘happenings’ will take place during the course of the afternoon going into the evening, and they’re everywhere. There are things happening in the museum, Westgate Street, in the arcades, on top of buildings, by the castle, in the subways, down The Hayes, everywhere.
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How important is it to celebrate Dahl’s legacy and his work on this weekend?
It’s his centenary, so he would have been 100 years old in September, just literally before we are doing the City of Unexpected. When you ask about, not a lot of people know that he was born in Wales, and that he’s a Cardiffian, and there is a bit of it which is about reclaiming him as one of our own, but mostly it’s about celebrating his work and genius. I would make the point that Dahl wouldn’t have written a word in the English language if it hadn’t been for Welsh coal. His father came to work in Wales because of the coal exports between Norway and Wales, and worked in a job which was related to that coal exchange.
But the main reason was just to explore what Cardiff might be like if Dahl was let loose on it for a weekend: what would he actually do? What would tickle is fancy? How might he have got a kick out of slightly scaring people? And how would he sprinkle the kind of ‘magic dust’ over Cardiff? It will work for everyone of all ages because it’s a spectacle – adults will love it as much as children – but the sense of wonder, awe and inspiration that children will get from it is what’s most important
How much work went into the concept?
The concept idea initially came from me thinking it would be wonderful to celebrate Dahl across the city. John McGrath, from the National Theatre Wales, and I met up and talked about doing something to celebrate Dahl, out in the city, together, and that was where the idea was born. We didn’t want it to be too literal and we wanted it to be unexpected, and John took that to the National Theatre Wales team, and they came up with the title and put some sort of notions around the spirit of how we would achieve it. Then we approached Nigel Jameson, the director, and he was the first choice and leapt at the idea. The creatives we’ve brought on board have all kind of just ‘got it’ and wanted to do it.
What kind of legacy and impact do you want this event to have?
There are lots of legacies to it. There’s strengthening Cardiff’s relationship with Dahl and the world knowing about it; those 6,000 participants and what they carry with them in their hearts and minds forever; there’s the professional development of everybody involved, importantly some of the Welsh artists who have been recruited to work on a larger canvas than they maybe would ever have done before; and for some people to work with some of the best people in the world at doing this stuff as well, that allows people to go onto bigger and better things.
The City of the Unexpected, Various venues across Cardiff, Sat 17 + Sun 18 Sept. Tickets: readings £10, all other events free. Info: www.cityoftheunexpected.wales.