ONE MOONLIT NIGHT B y C A R A D O G P R I C H A R D

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ONE MOONLIT NIGHT

CARADOG PRICHARD

G C E A S / A L E V E L

ADAPTED BY JOHN OGWEN, MAUREEN RHYS, BETSAN LLWYD

ONE MOONLIT NIGHT B y C A R A D O G P R I C H A R D

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The novel was originally published in Welsh in 1961. It is regarded as the best Welsh novel of the 20th century. It has been adapted for the stage many times in both Welsh and English productions.

A poet and journalist, Caradog Prichard was born in Bethesda, Gwynedd. His father worked in the quarry and he was one of three bothers. His father died in an accident at the age of 34 when Prichard was 5 months old. His mother was left to raise the three boys.

He left school at 17 to work as a journalist in Caernarfon. He then went to work for the Western Mail in Cardiff and graduated in 1933. He moved to London after marrying and worked for the News Chronicle in Fleet Street. By the end of his career, he was deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph. He returned to Bethesda as often as he could.

He won the Crown at the National Eisteddfod in 1927, 1928 and 1929. He won the Eisteddfod Chair in 1962. His mother died in 1954 after spending thirty years in the Asylum in Denbigh. He published One Moonlit Night in 1961. In 1973 he published an autobiography Afal Drwg Adda (Adams’ Bad Apple). Although the novel is fiction, there are references to real people and events within the narrative.

BACKGROUND

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There are similarities between Prichard’s life and some of the details in the play. He shares the same birthday as the main character. The quote on Prichard’s father’s grave is ‘In the middle of our lives we are in death’, which is the quote on Gryff Ifas Baich‘s grave in the novel. His mother lived on the council. She received five shillings a week to keep her family. His mother lost her home to the bailiffs and she locked herself in the coal shed. The neighbours helped her to carry the furniture to an empty house further along the road. This happens to Catrin Jane Lisa in the play. His mother started to talk and act strangely, saying that she heard voices. When Prichard was 18, he was called to Bethesda to escort his mother to the asylum in Denbigh. She had had a complete breakdown. These incidents appear in both the novel and the play.

As the play is a Creative Adaptation of Prichard’s novel, it is important to consider the original text in exploring the context of the play. This may also provide ideas in interpreting the play for performance.

The story is told from the perspective of an older man who is never named. He returns to his home village and reflects on his childhood. The novel is structured as a stream of consciousness narrative, which moves forward and backwards in time. This narrative is sometimes from a subjective point of view, changing, at times, to a more objective one. This is also a psychological novel, with some of its chapters presented like Psalms and having a supernatural quality to them. These contrast completely with the rest of the novel.

This type of narrative makes the novel ideal to adapt for the stage. As theatre is a visual form, some of the more interesting images can be presented visually. It would be impossible to use some of the sections in the original novel. There is a lot of dialogue in the novel and there are set pieces such as the choir from South Wales and the boxing match.

Any adaptation of the novel has to take into account the multi layers of the narrative and the fact that we never get to know the main character’s name. The main narrator is Man, his

CREATIVE ADAPTATION

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younger self is only called Boy and his mother is called Mam. The other characters are named and we can follow their stories. Incidents can be dramatised such as the appearance of an angel or the spinning fiery wheel in the river.

Music plays an important part in the novel, whether simple folk songs or hymns from the church and chapel. Live music can be incorporated into the production.

Lighting can be used to create mood and create specific effects during key moments. The symbolism of the moon is very important.

The dual idea of sensuality and madness is explored in the novel. The links to Lorca and his ideas in his plays, Blood Wedding and Yerma, are clear. Both writers show a rural community coping with change and also fighting the elements within a confined society. Both writers look at how religion shapes and controls people’s lives in a positive and negative way. Images of the area at the time of the novel:

ONE MOONLIT NIGHT B y C A R A D O G P R I C H A R D

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The play is set after the First World War in the early years of the 1920s. The village relies on the quarry for work, but the wages were low and workers exploited. Many villagers died in accidents at work. The village is not named but is seems to be Bethesda.

Within the village, one of the important clashes is between the Church and Chapel. Both control the people in the village with their rules and stifling morality. Society was changing but parts of the country were very slow in changing. There is still a strong Victorian morality in people’s attitude. At the beginning of the 20th century, there had been a major religious revival which spread its influence across the whole of Chapel-going Wales.

Madness and sexuality are explored in the play. Many characters have breakdowns or end up in the asylum because of the pressure of eking out an existence in a harsh environment. Kate Roberts writes about the same people in her novels and short stories.

We hear about people having religious epiphanies after drinking or having attended services in the chapel or church. Beneath the surface of the village is a complex world of madness and denial.

Death is never far away in One Moonlit Night: many commit suicide or die of TB or the fever, all common killers in rural communities. The quarrymen had suffered years of underpayment and had struggled against the management for better conditions and wages, but the owners of the quarries always manged to win. After the First World War, the villages had lost many of their young men to the war and it was a period of reflection and rebuilding. Many of the men who came back alive were shell shocked or badly injured.

The country around the village is another character in the play. For example, the winding roads and the deep lakes are key features of the setting. The mystical character Queen of the Black Lake lives in one of the lakes above the village. All these are an important part of the narrative and have an influence over the characters’ actions.

ISSUES

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The main character is seen as two characters – Man and Boy. The other main character is the mother. These three are played by the same three actors throughout the play. All the other actors multi role. The Boy’s friends, Huw and Moi, are very important because they are constantly in the Boy’s life. However, even these two eventually leave him.

The adaptation uses the Man as a narrator and as a commentator on the action. He joins in some of the scenes and in others he is a bystander, watching and commentating. This means that any production has to have a clear narrative drive and the staging has to be clear.

We see an array of characters from the Man’s childhood. A lot of them are eccentric or have secrets, especially the older characters. The villagers are seen through the eyes of the young boys. They watch and comment on what they see. It is through them that we see the influence of the Church when they discuss Good Friday and Ascension Day. It is through their eyes that we see the Church reject Gres Elin Siop Sgidia because she was pregnant.

The relationship between the three boys is important, as they find out about the world together. It is through their discussions that they learn about sex, religion and growing up. They reflect on the people in the village.

The Boy loses both Moi and Huw. Moi dies of TB and Huw leaves with his father to go to look for work in the South. He promises to keep in touch but he never does. This leaves the Boy alone with his Mother, who gradually descends into madness.

The relationship between them is strange at times. She relies on him and gradually falls into a depression, symbolised by her constant singing of hymns. Her exit to the asylum is one of the most emotional scenes in the play. The scene when the Boy is given a brown parcel with his mother’s clothes in is very poignant. The Man at the end returns to the Lake and kills Jini in a sort of trance and then kills himself, calling for his mother. He goes back to the Queen of the Black Lake.

CHARACTERS

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Within the text there are crowd scenes full of life and humour. The scene when the choir comes from the South is one such example. The boxing match is also a lot of fun and provides a contrast to the intense scenes between the Mother and the Boy.

One of the main challenges of the text is how to stage it to allow the piece to flow and to also reflect the environment of the text and the themes. There was one production in 1991 which was very simply staged with a few actors. There was a production in English at Theatr Clwyd in 1993. This was staged with a larger cast and toured Wales. Although staged in English, the production ended up being bilingual. It dramatised some of the more dramatic scenes such as the appearance of the fiery wheel and the angel. The set contained a small lake into which actors were dipped to create interesting theatrical images.

Theatr Bara Caws created a new production using this adaptation in 2011. This was a touring production with a small cast and a multi purpose set. It was a widely welcomed and critically acclaimed production.

There was also a film version in 1991. It won acclaim across the world and won many awards at various film festivals. It was directed by Endaf Emlyn who used the medium to bring some of the symbolism to life and to create a visual style for the novel. Betsan Llwyd took the role of the Mother. She also directed the stage version in 2011 and adapted this version.

STAGING

ONE MOONLIT NIGHT B y C A R A D O G P R I C H A R D

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Stage design for 1993 Theatr Clwyd Production

Costume design 1993

Set design for the 2011 Theatr Bara Caws Production

Boxing scene form the 2011Theatr Bara Caws Production

Scene form the 2011Theatr Bara Caws Production

ONE MOONLIT NIGHT B y C A R A D O G P R I C H A R D

G C E A S \ A L E V E L \ \ © W J E C C B A C L t d 2 0 1 6

One Moonlit Night publication; New Directions www.ndbooks.com/

Un nos ola leuad. Unable to trace copyright, please contact us if you are the copyright holder

Caradog Pritchard; Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru http://bit.ly/2atJPEt

Slate quarry; Tom Bowett / Alamy Stock Photo

Pen-y-Bryn, Bethesda; Wikimedia Commons http://bit.ly/2b1Q9EV

Stage design; Sophie Jump Theatre & Performane Design http://sophiejump.co.uk/

Costume design; Sophie Jump Theatre & Performane Design http://sophiejump.co.uk/

Staging; Bara Caws, ffotograffydd / photographer Dewi Glyn Jones

Boxing Scene from 2011 production; Bara Caws, Photographer Dewi Glyn Jones

Scene from 2011 production; Bara Caws, ffotograffydd / photographer Dewi Glyn Jones

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of materials however if there are omissions or inaccuracies please inform us so that any necessary corrections can be made.