Modern retelling of Greek Myth helps Friends of Builth Wells Library
On Monday the 29th April, The Strand in Builth Wells saw an exciting retelling of the Greek Classic myth ‘Helios’. The one-man production featured writer and actor Phil Grainger, who told the age-old story of Helios, the son of the god of the Sun. Both Phil Grainger and his co-writer Alexander Wright, have transplanted the classic tale into a modern-day setting – woven beautifully around the winding roads of rural Britain while traversing the complexity of living in a modern urban landscape.
Phil Grainger is a musician and sound designer from North Yorkshire. He is the one half of the ‘Wright & Grainger‘, who have toured their reimagined Greek Myths series around the world, most recently touring Australia and New Zealand. They have performed their entire series so far at Theatre Clwyd (Orpheus. Eurydice & The Gods, The Gods, The Gods) As well as partnering with Theatre Clwyd for the release of their audio experience, ‘Half Man, Half Bull’, during the Covid Pandemic.
The teen characters were beautifully brought alive by their creators, and engaged at times with the audience, who were gripped by this spellbinding tale. Who in the audience would not be intrigued by this new and vibrant story, a timeless recapturing of youth and their adventurous journey through life. The resonance of some of the scenes were beautifully laid out in these words.
‘A lad lives halfway up a hill.
A teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car.
A boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky.’
The production was promoted by the Friends of Builth Wells Library and organised with help and support from local Builth arts organisation Moca Cymru, through the Noson Allan/Night out scheme - run by Arts Council Wales.
Moca Cymru is a Social Enterprise that runs workshops with Young Promoters a group of 15, 11 to 14 year olds who help bring Night Out Events to their local area to tackle aspects of wellbeing in teenagers in Builth Wells. A Raffle and refreshments were included in the evening Community event and donations were given to the Friends of Builth Library to help raise funds for activities and resources at the local library.
“ It was a magical night of theatre storytelling at The Strand Hall Theatre in the heart of Builth, what was so special was the lovely mixed crowd it bought with it, people of all ages, young and old, all backgrounds and interests had come to see this innovative show, that’s what is really important for us in Builth, to keep mixing in new groups, for new kinds of events and being open and having opportunities to learn and see new work and live theatre and artists in our own home town!”
Blue MacAskill - Treasurer - MocaCymru Social Enterprise for Builth Wells Creative Projects.
“The Friends exist to promote the provision of a library service in Builth and the local area and by working in collaboration with others, such as Moca Cymru, we can show that the library is relevant to all ages and not just about books”.
Quote from David Sutherland – Treasurer of Friend of Library
