0:00:03 > 0:00:05Provocative visual arts.
0:00:05 > 0:00:08Striking new dance.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10And music on a world stage.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16Welcome to the Welsh Arts Review 2013.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25In tonight's programme, the biggest world music expo comes to Wales.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29We have an incredibly rich and deep cultural heritage,
0:00:29 > 0:00:31especially in music.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Rhys Ifans talks politics.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36Political writing is at its best
0:00:36 > 0:00:39when it mocks its target.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43And Wales loses one of its much-loved writers.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47She's not just Elaine Morgan, she's "Our Elaine".
0:00:50 > 0:00:54This October, WOMEX came to Wales for the first time,
0:00:54 > 0:00:56a fabulous world music festival.
0:00:56 > 0:00:5860 acts from around the globe
0:00:58 > 0:01:01brought their distinctive sounds to the capital.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03HE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Like the Olympics for world music,
0:01:07 > 0:01:11over four days musicians from West Africa, South America
0:01:11 > 0:01:13and Europe showcased their talents.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15SHE SINGS LIVELY SONG
0:01:17 > 0:01:22And for our own musicians, there were exciting new collaborations,
0:01:22 > 0:01:26the entrancing fusion of sound from Catrin Finch on the Welsh harp
0:01:26 > 0:01:30with Senegalese musician Seckou Keita on the West African kora.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41And folk singer Gwyneth Glyn and Tauseef Akhtar,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43with their ensemble Ghazalaw,
0:01:43 > 0:01:47a blend of traditional Welsh folk and Indian song.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50THEIR VOICES BLEND TOGETHER
0:01:56 > 0:01:58This is such a great opportunity
0:01:58 > 0:02:00to establish the heritage
0:02:00 > 0:02:03of Welsh traditional music on stage
0:02:03 > 0:02:06on such a big platform for the first time.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08So as soon as we got the go-ahead
0:02:08 > 0:02:11for the opening concert in the world music expo,
0:02:11 > 0:02:16it was important to establish this old traditional Welsh sound.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21The opening ceremony was curated by Wales's very own Cerys Matthews.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Her aim was to put Wales on the world music map.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27But the show wasn't everybody's cup of tea.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30I think Cerys Matthews did a really interesting thing with
0:02:30 > 0:02:33the opening ceremony, and obviously it was a Marmite moment,
0:02:33 > 0:02:36people loved or hated it. I think it was fantastic.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38When she explained to me that it was
0:02:38 > 0:02:42the equivalent of the Welsh Riverdance, that we can sum up
0:02:42 > 0:02:43in one easy performance
0:02:43 > 0:02:46what we've achieved as a nation,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49and what we're about, and the music of our forefathers,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51I think it was perfect.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54SHE SINGS IN WELSH
0:02:56 > 0:02:58I've been playing Georgia Ruth's music for a long time
0:02:58 > 0:03:00and know her as this harpist.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05To suddenly see that voice as a kind of naked thing on stage
0:03:05 > 0:03:08was spectacularly brave and absolutely stunning,
0:03:08 > 0:03:12and trusting these really traditional old Welsh melodies
0:03:12 > 0:03:15to stand out in their own right.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20There's a long deep history of tradition and music
0:03:20 > 0:03:21and of keeping a language alive,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24and I think that's something that...
0:03:24 > 0:03:26In the other WOMEXes I went to, there wasn't
0:03:26 > 0:03:29this sense of preservation of tradition
0:03:29 > 0:03:31and especially of language.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35I think what is brilliant is that you could feel that the country
0:03:35 > 0:03:37is behind WOMEX itself.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41It's not just this precinct, or this part of the city.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44You could feel the culture, the culture of the Welsh.
0:03:44 > 0:03:45You know, I'm Zulu,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49so I know what it means to have your own cultural identity
0:03:49 > 0:03:55and to be recognised as a force in the bigger scheme of things,
0:03:55 > 0:03:58and I think Wales has really done something amazing.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00THEY SING IN WELSH
0:04:18 > 0:04:22We have an incredibly rich and deep cultural heritage,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25especially in music, over all in anything, I think, music.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29And we need to be really proud of that, really solid in our love
0:04:29 > 0:04:31of our cultural heritage,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34and use that and then do whatever you want with it,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37morph it, do whatever you want, but we need to be very proud of it,
0:04:37 > 0:04:38and share it with the world.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41THEY SING IN WELSH
0:05:00 > 0:05:05The outcasts of American society, criminals, prostitutes
0:05:05 > 0:05:08and gang members, photographed for police mugshots.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Welsh Artist of the Year Sarah Ball recreates their images
0:05:12 > 0:05:15in her beautifully crafted paintings.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20It's an absolute drive in my life, really. I think...
0:05:20 > 0:05:22I can't imagine not painting.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Must be a very hard thing to judge, Welsh Artist, on one piece.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32And if you didn't know that I'd been working
0:05:32 > 0:05:35for the last three years on this,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38then just seeing the one painting,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42I don't know, I think it must be really hard.
0:05:42 > 0:05:48For me, I think it just will help to cement my practice here, really,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52because I don't think a lot of people know my work here,
0:05:52 > 0:05:57so I think it will help to get the work seen and...
0:05:57 > 0:05:59but I guess...
0:06:01 > 0:06:06I mean, it's just amazing. It's fantastic.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10The work that won is a very early piece,
0:06:10 > 0:06:14one of the very first mugshots that I made.
0:06:14 > 0:06:20And all I know about her is that she was a gang member
0:06:20 > 0:06:23in New York in the 1920s.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27And, yeah, she was blind in one eye.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31It all begins to come together when the eyes are painted in,
0:06:31 > 0:06:35and you can really capture... an emotion.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38I think some of them look very defiant
0:06:38 > 0:06:43and others look bewildered or frightened or...
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Erm...so I think the eyes are the giveaway, actually.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54From a little studio back in 1983,
0:06:54 > 0:06:56they turned a small troupe of dancers
0:06:56 > 0:07:00into an internationally recognised company.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02This year, National Dance Company Wales
0:07:02 > 0:07:04celebrated 30 years of ambition.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14This year also saw the departure of the company's founders.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16Originally named Diversions,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19Roy Campbell-Moore and Ann Sholem's artistic vision
0:07:19 > 0:07:22brought the company international recognition,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25and in 1999 it was awarded national status.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27Also celebrating a birthday this year is Shani Rhys James.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29She marked her 60th birthday
0:08:29 > 0:08:31with an exhibition at Aberystwyth Arts Centre
0:08:31 > 0:08:33called The Rivalry Of Flowers.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52The exhibition deals with the idea that we use objects to fill
0:08:52 > 0:08:54the void in our lives.
0:08:54 > 0:08:55Ostentatious wallpaper,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58the beautiful chandelier or the ideal home
0:08:58 > 0:09:02symbolise for Shani the things that oppress women's free spirit.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13So after so many years, does she still feel the need to paint?
0:09:13 > 0:09:19For me, painting is a way of making sense of my life, really.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22It gives me a point in living.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26It makes me make... It's my contribution, you know. I'm a dot.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30If you're saying a bee makes half a teaspoon of honey
0:09:30 > 0:09:33in the whole of his life,
0:09:33 > 0:09:37then maybe this is my half a teaspoon of honey.
0:09:40 > 0:09:432013's been a fantastic year for Tim Price.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47His play, The Radicalisation Of Bradley Manning, won a major award,
0:09:47 > 0:09:52and now his teenage hero, Rhys Ifans, is about to star
0:09:52 > 0:09:56in his one-man show Protest Song at the National Theatre in London.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00The National Theatre and Tim approached me
0:10:00 > 0:10:03with an early version of this script,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06and I'd seen Tim's show Praxis
0:10:06 > 0:10:09in the East End in London last year
0:10:09 > 0:10:13and was absolutely blown away by the production.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17That kind of tipped me and I thought, right, I'm going to do this.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Written in collaboration with Neon Neon
0:10:20 > 0:10:23and National Theatre Wales, Praxis Makes Perfect
0:10:23 > 0:10:25is about the life of Giangiacomo Feltrinelli,
0:10:25 > 0:10:27an Italian millionaire, communist
0:10:27 > 0:10:31and publisher of some of the greatest literary works
0:10:31 > 0:10:32of the 20th century.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Tim's political voice is very direct, but it's also very funny.
0:10:36 > 0:10:42I think political writing is at its best when it mocks its targets.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45And Tim's very good at that.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48Tim's part of a really exciting generation of writers
0:10:48 > 0:10:51that's coming up in Wales at the moment.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54I do think that we're in a bit of a golden age
0:10:54 > 0:10:56for theatre writing in Wales.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59He created The Radicalisation Of Bradley Manning, which
0:10:59 > 0:11:03we first premiered in 2012 and this year went to the Edinburgh Festival
0:11:03 > 0:11:07and won the James Tait Black award as the best new play in the UK.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09The first time you pick a lock,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12you learn that the only barriers in the world are psychological.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16You hold the key to your life, not...corporations,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19not your parents, not university administrators.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21And the more people that start to think like that...
0:11:21 > 0:11:23The bigger things we can reverse-engineer.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27It was while he was writing this play that Tim met rough sleepers
0:11:27 > 0:11:30and activists protesting at St Paul's Cathedral,
0:11:30 > 0:11:34who'd provide inspiration for his new play, Protest Song.
0:11:34 > 0:11:40Danny's a homeless person from South Wales who's been sleeping rough
0:11:40 > 0:11:49in and around and on the steps of St Paul's for seven years,
0:11:49 > 0:11:54and he wakes up one morning and there are 500 tents
0:11:54 > 0:12:01and 3,000 protesters on what is ostensibly his front garden.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05I don't want to give too much away,
0:12:05 > 0:12:11but if you imagine...you know, a very, very, very lonely,
0:12:11 > 0:12:17broken man for six years suddenly acquires real friends, you know,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20who really value him as a human being,
0:12:20 > 0:12:22and value what he has to offer.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25And, erm...
0:12:27 > 0:12:31..there's a sense of permanence to that.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33And when that is taken away...
0:12:36 > 0:12:39..what state does it leave someone like Danny,
0:12:39 > 0:12:41are they better off or worse off?
0:12:41 > 0:12:46And Protest Song will be at London's National Theatre until 11 January.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53On 2 February 1963, members of the Welsh Language Society
0:12:53 > 0:12:58stopped traffic when they occupied Trefechan Bridge in Aberystwyth.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Their aim was to raise awareness about the lack of official status
0:13:02 > 0:13:04for the Welsh language.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06Well, 50 years on, Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09the Welsh-language national theatre company,
0:13:09 > 0:13:13marked the event with an outdoor multimedia performance,
0:13:13 > 0:13:14Y Bont, or The Bridge.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18We were very keen to actually give the audience
0:13:18 > 0:13:22an experience that in some way reflected the experience
0:13:22 > 0:13:26of those protesters 50 years earlier who had taken to the streets.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28So actually taking the audience to the post office,
0:13:28 > 0:13:33taking them to the bridge, taking them to a cafe where they had
0:13:33 > 0:13:37congregated that day in order to talk about their tactics for the day.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40And actually give a sense of excitement and thrill,
0:13:40 > 0:13:44and getting the audience to engage with the town of Aberystwyth
0:13:44 > 0:13:48and the streets and the particular locations
0:13:48 > 0:13:52hopefully allowed the audience to actually appreciate
0:13:52 > 0:13:56a piece of work, a piece of theatre,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59that commemorated this event
0:13:59 > 0:14:03in a very experiential and very, very empathetic way, a very direct way,
0:14:03 > 0:14:07as opposed to sitting in a theatre and watching a play.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09And actually, there was a really interesting moment
0:14:09 > 0:14:12at the end of that production, where...
0:14:12 > 0:14:16there was an impromptu singing of the national anthem,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19totally not sort of designed by us,
0:14:19 > 0:14:24but the audience were moved to sing the national anthem on the bridge at
0:14:24 > 0:14:27the end of the production, which was a really beautiful moment, actually.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31MAN MAKES ANNOUNCEMENT IN WELSH
0:14:42 > 0:14:45# It starts off with a silence
0:14:45 > 0:14:48# A growing need for sound... #
0:14:48 > 0:14:50And what a year it's been for Georgia Ruth.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Her stunning debut album, Week of Pines,
0:14:53 > 0:14:54won the Welsh Music Prize
0:14:54 > 0:14:57and since then, she's played to the world at Womex
0:14:57 > 0:15:02and to thousands of people at the Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park Festival.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09# The week of pines... #
0:15:09 > 0:15:12Yeah, it won the Welsh Music Prize,
0:15:12 > 0:15:14to my absolute amazement.
0:15:14 > 0:15:15I was not expecting that.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Really shocked and, in fact, I don't think it's still...
0:15:20 > 0:15:21It hasn't set in properly yet.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30Also on the shortlist this year was Sweet Baboo...
0:15:30 > 0:15:34# Let's go swimming wild, let's go...#
0:15:34 > 0:15:37..Gruff Rhys's Neon Neon...
0:15:37 > 0:15:42# There's a winner, a loser and a middle man... #
0:15:42 > 0:15:44..and Euros Childs.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47# This must be love cos... #
0:15:47 > 0:15:50Given the success of the first album,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53is Georgia nervous about the second?
0:15:53 > 0:15:56I have started to write and I'm quite cautious
0:15:56 > 0:16:00when I tell people this now, because you're waiting for them to say,
0:16:00 > 0:16:04"Oh, will it be the same and will you have this element the same?"
0:16:04 > 0:16:09I think I'm the kind of person who is quite over-analytical of my own work.
0:16:09 > 0:16:10Not necessarily in a good way.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13Actually, definitely not in a good way.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17I think I'm prone to over-thinking, so I'm just trying at the moment
0:16:17 > 0:16:20to give myself some space away from the first album,
0:16:20 > 0:16:21just to let it sink in
0:16:21 > 0:16:26and not to do anything rash and try turn myself into Kylie Minogue,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28cos that'd be terrible for everyone.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32So, yeah, it's just taking some time and kind of working out
0:16:32 > 0:16:35what I want to do with the next one, but it is coming.
0:16:35 > 0:16:36It will come.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46CROWD CHEERS Thank you very much.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50A colossal, oversized table, a mosaic-clad dentist
0:16:50 > 0:16:52and scent of expensive perfume.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54Bedwyr Williams' Starry Messenger
0:16:54 > 0:16:56wowed the crowds at the Venice Biennale.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03Venice - architectural marvel, city of culture
0:17:03 > 0:17:06and home to the world's biggest contemporary art show.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12An unmissable artist's rendezvous, the Venice Biennale is the place
0:17:12 > 0:17:16to make your name and the opportunity to exhibit to the world.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Bedwyr Williams' Starry Messenger provoked and teased,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27reducing man and the universe to mere particles.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Venice is the city where Galileo presented his telescope
0:17:31 > 0:17:34initially, his first telescope.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37It's also a place where they have this type of flooring
0:17:37 > 0:17:39called terrazzo.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41We have it all over the world, but it was invented there
0:17:41 > 0:17:47and that's a kind of flooring that's a composite of leftover materials.
0:17:47 > 0:17:48Bits, fragments.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56You can disappear into it, because terrazzo's like a little universe.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00It's like a cross-section of a galaxy or something.
0:18:03 > 0:18:10Bedwyr Williams has the most fantastic, elliptical view of life.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12The show in Venice, because of the layout of the building,
0:18:12 > 0:18:14you do go on this kind of incredible,
0:18:14 > 0:18:19bonkers journey through the canyons of Bedwyr's mind.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22A lot of terrazzo everywhere.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25Terrazzo is a big thing for Bedwyr cos it kind of encapsulates
0:18:25 > 0:18:29a universe in ground stone and glass.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31Laid out over a number of rooms,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34Bedwyr played around with our sense of scale...
0:18:34 > 0:18:40There's an amazing glass table with objects that look apparently random
0:18:40 > 0:18:45but I gather were very, very carefully placed.
0:18:47 > 0:18:48..our senses...
0:18:48 > 0:18:49You go through a courtyard.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52You might not even notice but there's the sound of crickets
0:18:52 > 0:18:55and one of them farts as you go through
0:18:55 > 0:18:58and then you come out to the smell of a very specific perfume.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00I can't remember what it's called, but it's very expensive.
0:19:01 > 0:19:06All you get is a kind of pure Bedwyr experience from start to finish.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16We're a nation of poets, and it's certainly been the poets' year.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20Rhian Edwards won the overall Wales Book of the Year title
0:19:20 > 0:19:23with her debut poetry collection, Clueless Dogs.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27We caught up with the Bridgend writer who says walking
0:19:27 > 0:19:28is the key to her success.
0:19:31 > 0:19:32There's no real formula to it.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34Usually a line comes to me
0:19:34 > 0:19:40and then I build on it, usually walking and trying the idea.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44Most of my poetry is quite musical, because I'm a musician as well,
0:19:44 > 0:19:48and I think also walking somehow dictates a certain tempo
0:19:48 > 0:19:50and musical rhythm to the poetry.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53That's where I really workshop the poem
0:19:53 > 0:19:57and then it's really just sitting down at the desk and reshaping it
0:19:57 > 0:20:01and butchering it and filleting it and moving it around the page.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04The fantastic thing about Rhian Edwards is that she's been
0:20:04 > 0:20:08known in the live poetry circuit, if you like, for a number of years.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10She won the John Tripp Award for spoken poetry
0:20:10 > 0:20:11a couple of years ago,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14but to actually win this achievement for a collection,
0:20:14 > 0:20:15a published collection,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18as well as winning accolades for her performance
0:20:18 > 0:20:21really sees the marrying of these two crafts, the written craft
0:20:21 > 0:20:23and the spoken craft of poetry.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26White light weighs heavy,
0:20:26 > 0:20:28bullying bright as squash courts
0:20:29 > 0:20:32I fix a dirty look on the electric clock.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34The walled minutes stagger their blinks.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Wheel-footed suitcases scurry about me like clueless dogs
0:20:39 > 0:20:44while flip flops tick-tock against the polished rink of the concourse...
0:20:44 > 0:20:46But she wasn't always going to be a writer.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48A chance encounter with a group of poets
0:20:48 > 0:20:51led to an invitation to a poetry night.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53I thought it was amazing that somewhere actually existed
0:20:53 > 0:20:56where not only people wanted to perform,
0:20:56 > 0:20:58but people wanted to listen to poetry.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00It was completely beyond my ken.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03So the following week I went along
0:21:03 > 0:21:06and I expected to be very intimidated.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08I'd always had sort of closeted literary ambitions,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11but never quite had the guts to fulfil them, you know?
0:21:11 > 0:21:13And I just came out that night and thought, "I can do this."
0:21:15 > 0:21:16So I wrote a poem.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18And she certainly can.
0:21:18 > 0:21:19At the Wales Book of the Year Awards,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22she won the poetry category, the People's Choice Award
0:21:22 > 0:21:26and the overall English-language Wales Book of the Year title.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30The winner of the Welsh-language Wales Book of the Year Award
0:21:30 > 0:21:34was Heini Gruffudd for his book Yr Erlid, The Persecution,
0:21:34 > 0:21:36a harrowing tale of his German mother's life
0:21:36 > 0:21:38during the Second World War.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44OPERA SINGING
0:21:48 > 0:21:52BBC Cardiff Singer of the World returned to our screens this year,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55and it was the incredible voice of the American mezzo-soprano
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Jamie Barton that dominated the competition.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07Her vocal range and captivating performance
0:22:07 > 0:22:09enchanted the audience as well as the judges.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28The first prize
0:22:28 > 0:22:31and the most amazing prize
0:22:31 > 0:22:32goes...
0:22:33 > 0:22:35..to Jamie Barton.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:22:37 > 0:22:39COMMENTATOR: She's done it.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41Only the second time in the competition's history,
0:22:41 > 0:22:42a singer has won
0:22:42 > 0:22:45both the song prize and the main prize.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51And there were exciting new productions this year from WNO.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57This was the first time Donizetti's Tudor Trilogy of operas
0:22:57 > 0:22:59had been performed together in Britain.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08I think that there was a lot of feeling that it was shocking
0:23:08 > 0:23:12to have a modern perspective on a historical opera,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15but I have to say I thought it was quite well done...
0:23:16 > 0:23:20..with the exception of the middle opera, Maria Stuarda.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23I must say I took exception to the way that they played around
0:23:23 > 0:23:26with history and the religious background.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28I didn't like that.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32But the whole idea of a concept of three operas together,
0:23:32 > 0:23:33I think it worked well.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37I think the idea of the design being carried through...
0:23:37 > 0:23:40Yes, perhaps crazy to have a totally contemporary look
0:23:40 > 0:23:43for an Elizabethan era,
0:23:43 > 0:23:48but I think it's important that sometimes opera is confronted
0:23:48 > 0:23:51with a new way of thinking
0:23:51 > 0:23:54and I would defend the director's right to do that.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00And WNO scored great success with an award-winning production
0:24:00 > 0:24:02of Wagner's Lohengrin.
0:24:07 > 0:24:13For the Wagner anniversary, WNO's production of Lohengrin
0:24:13 > 0:24:18not only sounded fantastic, with some really exceptional singing,
0:24:18 > 0:24:20but looked fantastic.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25Antony McDonald's production
0:24:25 > 0:24:27was in some senses relatively traditional,
0:24:27 > 0:24:29but it was beautifully blocked.
0:24:29 > 0:24:34Everything about it suggested that he knew the music inside out
0:24:34 > 0:24:40and the iconic image of the appearance of the swan at the end,
0:24:40 > 0:24:45where you have an androgynous boy with a single wing coming forward,
0:24:45 > 0:24:46the reappearance of the swan,
0:24:46 > 0:24:48that was absolutely fantastic.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52And moving away from traditional opera
0:24:52 > 0:24:55was Jonathan Harvey's Wagner Dream,
0:24:55 > 0:24:59an opera in three languages, which included the spoken word.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04The Wagner Dream was very, very well received.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08There was a sense of the audience being part of something
0:25:08 > 0:25:12which was really gripping, really involving.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16People come out almost surprised by their own reaction to it.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19I think that this really,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22I hope, points the way forward for the company because I think
0:25:22 > 0:25:29that it is in this kind of work that the company's reputation will rest.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Lampeter, small market town,
0:25:33 > 0:25:38and this year host to international textile superstar Kaffe Fassett.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42He teamed up with Jen Jones from the Welsh Quilt Museum to produce
0:25:42 > 0:25:45a visually captivating exhibition.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49I think the mixture in this exhibition is just phenomenal,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52because I am so much about colour
0:25:52 > 0:25:58that to have my quilts, with their multicoloured aspects,
0:25:58 > 0:26:02absolutely echoed by these wholecloth,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06old Welsh quilts is just beautiful,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10and I love it that the old world meets the new world in that way.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16I never intended to collect Welsh quilts,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19but I was catapulted into it
0:26:19 > 0:26:24and it became a random salvage operation, really.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28The quilts and blankets were actually being discarded
0:26:28 > 0:26:30and used in the most improbable ways.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34They put them on sick animals, on tractors
0:26:34 > 0:26:37and, worst of all, they were put on the bonfires.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Thanks to Jen and her salvage operation,
0:26:40 > 0:26:45the Welsh quilt museum has over 350 traditional Welsh quilts.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48I would say that Welsh quilts certainly influence me.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52I love the rough and readiness of them.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58Certainly, a lot of ideas that happen in those quilts
0:26:58 > 0:27:02have fed into my imagination and my making of quilts.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09The most wonderful part of this very rich experience
0:27:09 > 0:27:13of showing in Lampeter was coming up the stairs
0:27:13 > 0:27:19and being greeted by this amazing, blushing pink and orange quilt
0:27:19 > 0:27:23with pink and orange Welsh quilts below it
0:27:23 > 0:27:27and then seeing the whole room like a choir of angels,
0:27:27 > 0:27:31these great fabrics floating around the ceiling,
0:27:31 > 0:27:35was just unbelievable joy.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37I was just ecstatic to come
0:27:37 > 0:27:41and experience this kind of an exhibition.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53This year, the National Eisteddfod was held in Denbigh.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Y Lle Celf, or The Art Place in English,
0:27:56 > 0:27:58is its annual art exhibition.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00In just over a week,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03more than 40,000 people walked through its doors.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05It's a fabulous showcase of Welsh art,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08with over 400 submissions each year
0:28:08 > 0:28:11and each winner taking home a £5,000 prize.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16This year, the special exhibition
0:28:16 > 0:28:19focused on the town's former mental hospital.
0:28:19 > 0:28:20Artist Simon Proffitt
0:28:20 > 0:28:23and comedian and ex-psychiatric nurse Eilir Jones
0:28:23 > 0:28:25worked with the public to create
0:28:25 > 0:28:28a thought-provoking installation piece.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38Barmouth-born Theresa Nguyen's stunning silverwork
0:28:38 > 0:28:41took the gold medal in the craft and design category.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45The inspiration came from just the way that leaves
0:28:45 > 0:28:49respond to the sun and so it's got quite a flowing movement to it
0:28:49 > 0:28:54and then, just where the head almost looks up,
0:28:54 > 0:28:56here you have this kind of bloom of leaves
0:28:56 > 0:29:01and it kind of spirals in its formation at the top.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03But the show wasn't without controversy.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Josephine Sowden's video piece, The Lilies of the Field,
0:29:06 > 0:29:10won the fine art gold medal, but some felt her use of spoken English
0:29:10 > 0:29:12broke the Eisteddfod's Welsh-language rule.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15SPEAKING FAST: Of course, everything would be perfect if I'd got that job
0:29:15 > 0:29:19but she did. Everything good always happens to her. Course she got that job. Nothing good ever happens to me.
0:29:19 > 0:29:20She walks down the drive and hugs me, smelling of toffee apples.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22"You know that daughter I never had?", she'll say. "I wonder..."
0:29:22 > 0:29:24SHE CONTINUES VERY RAPIDLY
0:29:24 > 0:29:26On the third date it was the Museum of Modern Art.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28Saw a Matisse and started to cry. "It's my favourite", I say.
0:29:28 > 0:29:29He touches my cheek softly and hands me a special...
0:29:29 > 0:29:31SHE MAKES CLICKING SOUND
0:29:31 > 0:29:34'It's crazy. It still hasn't sunk in for me. It's... It..
0:29:34 > 0:29:39'I think it's amazing for me, because I'm not from Wales, and to come to
0:29:39 > 0:29:46'Wales, I've felt like it's such an amazing place for art, and it's...'
0:29:46 > 0:29:48I think it just offers so many opportunities,
0:29:48 > 0:29:52so for them to give me the award when I'm not Welsh, it means
0:29:52 > 0:29:56so much and it means I want to stay and keep my practice in Wales.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59I was in a dress, a black velvet dress with sequins at the hem. What?!
0:29:59 > 0:30:02She hugged me tightly and told me I'm the daughter she never had.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04The voices in the head that she picks up on that
0:30:04 > 0:30:07kind of stand of anxiety that a lot of young women have
0:30:07 > 0:30:08all the time,
0:30:08 > 0:30:10and the things that are coming at you from all
0:30:10 > 0:30:13sides about how you live your life, how you behave,
0:30:13 > 0:30:17and she's been picked up very early, almost at graduation,
0:30:17 > 0:30:22she was picked up Bloomberg for the New Contemporaries.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24We have so few new artists from Wales who actually manage to
0:30:24 > 0:30:26make it into that show, which is
0:30:26 > 0:30:29a massive launch pad, usually, for emerging artists.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32Ah...
0:30:35 > 0:30:38Professional dancers are youthful, athletic,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41and often their careers are over by 40.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44Not so for Cardiff-based company Striking Attitudes, where the
0:30:44 > 0:30:46average age is 60.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49Artistic director Caroline Lamb tells us,
0:30:49 > 0:30:52"The younger dancer has much to learn."
0:30:52 > 0:30:56ACOUSTIC GUITAR MELODY
0:30:56 > 0:31:00Striking Attitudes, in the last ten years, we've particularly
0:31:00 > 0:31:03concentrated on the concept of the older dancer,
0:31:03 > 0:31:10and promoting the older dancer as something that's very viable
0:31:10 > 0:31:16still, vital, interesting to watch, because of course, as an older dancer
0:31:16 > 0:31:20you can't do the kind of things that you could do when you were 20.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22By the time you're 40 plus,
0:31:22 > 0:31:25it becomes hard to do a lot of those things.
0:31:25 > 0:31:30So, although the company is not about athleticism or bravado,
0:31:30 > 0:31:34it's actually about something much deeper.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37The company's Once Upon A Time In The Dark, Dark Wood was
0:31:37 > 0:31:40a collaboration between Striking Attitudes
0:31:40 > 0:31:43and three younger choreographers.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45Responding to ideas about what the dark wood conjures
0:31:45 > 0:31:48up in our minds, the piece brought together work from two
0:31:48 > 0:31:51generations in an innovative performance.
0:31:54 > 0:31:55MOURNFUL BRASS MELODY
0:31:57 > 0:32:01And to mark the centenary of the Senghenydd mining disaster,
0:32:01 > 0:32:04the company performed Each For All And All For Each,
0:32:04 > 0:32:07a site-specific piece, in Senghenydd itself.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13There are a lot of classes around the country for older dancers,
0:32:13 > 0:32:18but often they're about aerobics or keeping fit. This is not what we do.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22We try to do that as well, but it is primarily about being creative,
0:32:22 > 0:32:24and I think that's what's very exciting,
0:32:24 > 0:32:27that as you get older, you know, probably those opportunities
0:32:27 > 0:32:33diminish, but here we try to promote that and we try to offer that.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35MUSIC CONTINUES
0:32:41 > 0:32:46Writer, feminist and aquatic ape theorist Elaine Morgan sadly
0:32:46 > 0:32:47passed away this year.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51We reflect on one of Wales's truly great writers.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01Elaine Morgan was born into a typical mining family in 1920.
0:33:01 > 0:33:06A girl with ambition, she'd become a BAFTA-winning television writer,
0:33:06 > 0:33:09feminist icon and scientific rebel.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14There was a time when the writer was king, and she was one of the stars.
0:33:14 > 0:33:20If you saw that name on a script then you really wanted to do it.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23Her television dramas took her work into every home,
0:33:23 > 0:33:27but it was a book she wrote that brought her to worldwide attention.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30The Descent Of Woman was an evolutionary bombshell,
0:33:30 > 0:33:34but it's also a seminal feminist work.
0:33:34 > 0:33:40It had a profound impact on millions of people around the world.
0:33:40 > 0:33:45This was a book that was translated into over 25 languages, and you read
0:33:45 > 0:33:51one page of this book and it's no surprise why it had such an impact.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55Written as an alternative to what she felt were male-centric
0:33:55 > 0:33:59accounts of evolution, the book took America by storm.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02She was championed by the feminist movement
0:34:02 > 0:34:05but rubbished by many from the scientific community.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07There she was, a writer, a playwright,
0:34:07 > 0:34:10a distinguished television playwright,
0:34:10 > 0:34:13and was suddenly moving into this area.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15And so, when someone comes along
0:34:15 > 0:34:18who hasn't got ostensible scientific qualifications,
0:34:18 > 0:34:20or hasn't been through the mill, hasn't done the hard work,
0:34:20 > 0:34:21there is resentment.
0:34:23 > 0:34:24But that didn't stop Elaine.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28She went on to publish several more books on evolutionary theory,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31including her most notorious, The Aquatic Ape.
0:34:32 > 0:34:37She punctures these myths with this blistering wit,
0:34:37 > 0:34:41which is just an absolute joy to read.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46In 2003, Helene began to write a weekly column for the Western Mail
0:34:46 > 0:34:49and, at the grand age of 91, was awarded Columnist Of The Year.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55She was appointed OBE in 2009 and, in the same year,
0:34:55 > 0:34:59was elected a fellow of the Royal Society Of Literature.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03She has that honour that the people have bestowed upon her.
0:35:03 > 0:35:08She's not just Elaine Morgan, she's "our Elaine".
0:35:08 > 0:35:11Regarded as one of Wales's great writers,
0:35:11 > 0:35:15she died on 12th July this year, aged 92.
0:35:18 > 0:35:23Described as so good they made it twice, Hinterland or Y Gwyll -
0:35:23 > 0:35:26its Welsh version shown S4C this year -
0:35:26 > 0:35:29is a detective drama starring Richard Harrington.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35We caught up with the director, Marc Evans,
0:35:35 > 0:35:37who describes the strange, dark world
0:35:37 > 0:35:41new-cop-on-the-scene Mathias is about to enter.
0:35:41 > 0:35:42BELL PINGS
0:35:45 > 0:35:48The world of Hinterland, really, is pretty much the Wales that exists
0:35:48 > 0:35:50but it's a selective Wales.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52It's a selective view of Wales.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55So Aberystwyth, especially Aberystwyth in the winter...
0:35:55 > 0:35:57Aberystwyth's a very vibrant town in reality,
0:35:57 > 0:35:58cos it's got a university,
0:35:58 > 0:36:00it's got a huge student population, for example.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02But, at the edges of Aberystwyth,
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Aberystwyth falls into the countryside and it falls into the sea
0:36:05 > 0:36:08and there's huge tracts of land which are very depopulated
0:36:08 > 0:36:11and very interesting cos they open a door
0:36:11 > 0:36:14into a Wales that sort of has disappeared a little bit.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17I identify a lot with that kind of place because, in some ways,
0:36:17 > 0:36:20perhaps it's a Welsh thing, you feel as if you're revisiting the past
0:36:20 > 0:36:22a little bit when you come to these places.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24And, even though Hinterland is a show,
0:36:24 > 0:36:26it isn't a show that's set in the past.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29It's not a show in which we visit the supermarket very often.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32It lives in these places which are on the edges of society.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35You know, to a certain extent, that's where criminality can thrive
0:36:35 > 0:36:38or at least go undetected.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41IN WELSH:
0:37:11 > 0:37:14Building on the success of foreign-language crime dramas,
0:37:14 > 0:37:17Hinterland was filmed in English and Welsh.
0:37:17 > 0:37:18Who's Johnny Cash?
0:37:18 > 0:37:20That's Daniel.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23Local preacher and friend of Helen Jenkins, the woman who lives here.
0:37:23 > 0:37:24Mrs?
0:37:24 > 0:37:25Miss.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28Mid-60s, devout chapel-goer.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30No children, no close family.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33Wasn't at chapel this morning. He came to check to see if she was OK.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36Found the door wide open and the carnage inside.
0:37:36 > 0:37:37I'll need to speak to him.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39He already knows that, sir.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42Shooting in two languages is, frankly, a pain in the bum
0:37:42 > 0:37:44in terms of the fact you shoot everything twice.
0:37:44 > 0:37:45There's no getting around that
0:37:45 > 0:37:48because there's times when you'd rather be lavishing time on...
0:37:48 > 0:37:50you know, other shots
0:37:50 > 0:37:52but what you're doing is replicating something
0:37:52 > 0:37:55you shot for the Welsh or English version, whichever you shot first.
0:37:55 > 0:37:56Why?
0:37:56 > 0:37:58The thing that's made the show possible
0:37:58 > 0:38:00is how agile the actors are in both languages.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03The actors we're using are obviously all Welsh-speaking
0:38:03 > 0:38:05cos there's a Welsh-speaking version of the show.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08But they live in a bilingual world as actors
0:38:08 > 0:38:10and so they jump from one language to the other
0:38:10 > 0:38:14and, you know, it's never a straight translation.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17So the actors have to do something very difficult, which is...
0:38:17 > 0:38:18replicate the scene...
0:38:19 > 0:38:21..but in a slightly different way.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24Already picked up by the Danish broadcaster
0:38:24 > 0:38:27behind the hit crime series, The Killing,
0:38:27 > 0:38:31Hinterland will be shown on BBC Wales on 4th January.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33Have you ever fancied running away with the circus?
0:38:33 > 0:38:35Well, now's your chance.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39After enormous success this year with an incredible show, Bianco,
0:38:39 > 0:38:41Cardiff-based NoFit State Circus
0:38:41 > 0:38:44is about to take over a new building
0:38:44 > 0:38:46and possibly the world.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53This is Four Elms, a converted church in the heart of Cardiff
0:38:53 > 0:38:55and the new home for NoFit State Circus.
0:38:57 > 0:38:59The building will provide the company with a permanent base
0:38:59 > 0:39:02to create spectacular shows,
0:39:02 > 0:39:05such as this year's critically-acclaimed Bianco.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07Bianco does not have a narrative
0:39:07 > 0:39:09in the way that you would have in a piece of theatre.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13What it has is an emotional arc and emotional drive.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15It's a choreographed performance.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18It's more akin to the dance in that sense,
0:39:18 > 0:39:20in the sense there isn't a narrative
0:39:20 > 0:39:22but there's a choreographic arc to it.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24And it takes the audience on a journey.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27It's a promenade production, which means that, as an audience member,
0:39:27 > 0:39:30you are right up close with the performers.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43Forget about all of your images of circus, forget about clowns,
0:39:43 > 0:39:48forget about horses and dogs and red noses. Forget about spangles.
0:39:48 > 0:39:49That's not the world.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52This is the world of real magic.
0:39:52 > 0:39:57# Bend to the will that takes you at night
0:40:09 > 0:40:17# Say it's all right... #
0:40:23 > 0:40:27A couple of years ago, NoFit State took a production to Montreal.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29Montreal really is the home of contemporary circus
0:40:29 > 0:40:32around the world and I described it to them
0:40:32 > 0:40:35as being like the local village priest
0:40:35 > 0:40:37being invited to take Mass at the Vatican.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41Perth's another one like that. The Australian...
0:40:41 > 0:40:46The world of contemporary circus in Australia is REALLY strong.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49There are enormous numbers of really wonderful Australian companies
0:40:49 > 0:40:54who come to Europe, come to Britain, come to Wales very, very often.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57And now we're going to them.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00We're taking a production that comes from Wales and we're taking it
0:41:00 > 0:41:05to one of the biggest international arts festivals in Australia.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07And, actually, we're on the front cover of the programme.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10Which is amazing!
0:41:10 > 0:41:15# Say it's all right
0:41:16 > 0:41:20# Say it's all right
0:41:21 > 0:41:28# Say it's all right
0:41:28 > 0:41:31# Say it's all right... #
0:41:31 > 0:41:34If you want to, and if you are inspired
0:41:34 > 0:41:36and if you are excited by the work,
0:41:36 > 0:41:38then we will go with you on a journey
0:41:38 > 0:41:40that takes you from being an eight-year-old
0:41:40 > 0:41:42on a Saturday morning youth circus,
0:41:42 > 0:41:44all the way to being a performer,
0:41:44 > 0:41:47a professional performer on one of our major international tours.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51And there are people in the company who have made that journey.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56# Say it's all right. #
0:41:56 > 0:41:58Well, that's just about it for 2013.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01But there's still much to look forward to next year.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04Artes Mundi returns here to Cardiff,
0:42:04 > 0:42:07Hinterland will hit the UK TV screens
0:42:07 > 0:42:09and there'll be plenty of artists
0:42:09 > 0:42:12celebrating Dylan Thomas's centenary.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15Until then, have a very happy new year.
0:42:15 > 0:42:21# And so begins
0:42:21 > 0:42:26# A week of pines. #