Literature, comedy, and music galore. Nathan Roach follows in the footsteps of Dylan Thomas and takes a look at what to expect from this year’s Laugharne Festival.
The Carmarthenshire seaside town of Laugharne has attracted writers to its picturesque and magical shores for years. It’s undoubtedly best-known for being Dylan Thomas’ writer’s retreat during the last remaining years of his pen-wielding life. However, the past 10 years have offered the public so much more than just the ageless words of the Welsh poet in this secluded but intimate community.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the organisers of the Laugharne Weekend have yet again prepared a smorgasbord of comedians, writers, poets, and musicians to endure the unforgiving Welsh weather and entertain culture vultures. Among them is popular poet Roger McGough, celebrated for his works published in The Mersey Sound anthology, respected as the rejuvenator of modern verse, and as a presenter on the BBC’s Poetry Please radio programme.
Joining him is respected novelist and author of 2015’s The Past, Tessa Hadley. The winner of the Windham-Campbell prize and professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University has followed a different path from most novelists, who sometimes forget their own narrative while digging nails deep into the fictitious world. Bringing fresh eyes and great insight into relationships and family, it’s no real surprise that she’d be attracted to such a literary town.
A highlight for comic fans will be two of the political activists in attendance, who have spent a good portion of their lives leaving the nation in stitches: revolutionary jester Alexei Sayle and cunning plan creator Tony Robinson. Known for his television role in The Young One as various members of the disturbed Balowski family, Alexei Sayle was central to the 1980s comedy circuit, bringing about a left wing anti-racist and anti-sexist comic revolution for fellow comics. Sayle has also written many short stories and books including his latest 2016 release, Thatcher stole My Trousers as well as writing columns for The Daily Mirror and The Telegraph. Fellow left wing activist Tony Robinson is known for his passion for history, playing Baldrick in the favourite historical sitcom Blackadder and presenting Time Team. He has also written 16 children’s books, including a modern adaptation of Robin Hood for children, all in all making him more than likely to make a mark in the history of Laugharne.
Music and the written word have formed a timeless bond through the ages, and the legendary punk poet John Cooper Clarke, who will also be attending, is proof of just that. Creating a flurry of inspiration through his writing, music and authentic personality since his rise in the 70s punk scene, he’s a man who has proven time and time again that not only does he speak his mind, but what he says is often terrifyingly honest. Although slowly approaching the 70s, his work continues to take be a jumbled but bulging storage cabinet of dry wit, working-class literary heroism, and anarchistic investigation into the anything of everything.
BBC Radio 1 has always had a knack of selecting prime entertainers to host and present, but not many have gained the exciting reputation that Gemma Cairney has steadily built. Explorer, writer, hard-hitting documentary creator, and mass music enthusiast, this young women’s rights supporter has dipped into many artistic mediums and has proven popular in each of them, and will be at Laugharne to discuss her passions.
Starting out in the late 1970s, Scritti Politti originally began as a leftist post-punk outfit, but they eventually stepped back from political opinion and tweaked their sound to keep the youth amused and swaying to their gentle rhythms and catchy chorus lines. A Welsh connection also exists through singer/songwriter Green Gartside, who has been praised in the past for his poetry and lyrical honesty, and will be attending this year’s festival. Actor and author Keith Allen will also be returning to his role as the head host of Laugharne’s Got Talent; ready and raring to preside over an untarnished array of up-and-coming writers and performers from the surrounding area. This buffet of cultural delights is joined by a great deal more poets, musicians, and writers, and the full line-up is to available on their website.
Laugharne Festival, Fri 7 – Sun 9 Apr. Tickets: £25. Info: www.thelaugharneweekend.com
[wpdevart_youtube]tGCiI_LTU0s[/wpdevart_youtube]
