Theatre Soar, History & Mystery Project, Merthyr South Wales

 

F  R  A  G  M  E  N  T  S

A Creative Response to Merthyr's Early Medieval Heritage




Along a narrow alleyway just down the road from the Olympia Hotel, lies the entrance to Theatre Soar.  Three entrance doorways confuse the visitor.  One leads to rooms for workshops, a second upstairs to the theatre itself, and a third to the cafe and shop.  On my visit, the shop seemed to sell mainly books and postcards in Welsh, but I did manage to find a book on Walking in the South Wales Valleys by Mike Dunn, A Cicerone Guide. (More of that again.)

The cafe is warm and welcoming with a range of snacks and cooked meals, and toilet facilities on the groundfloor. 

The theatre has been sympathetically converted from the Soar Chapel constructed in the 1700s.  It uses what used to be the balcony area of the chapel.  Downstairs today houses a craft workshop.

We are here for an exhibition showing the results of the

History and Mystery Project

and a talk by Dr Mark Redknap on the excavations of the crannog (the manmade island) at Llangorse Lake.  The homestead on the island was destroyed by fire in the fifteenth century, but the remains of a silk dress was found amongst the archaic ashes.  A group has tried to replicate this garment, and designs woven into it. 

Fragments of jewellery and a hair comb were found on the island.  The Tempo Choir from 3Gs, Gurnos sang several pieces including a song written especially for the exhibition.  The youth group of Merthyr Tydfil Housing Assoc provided animation of the Llangorse myths and Merthyr Tydfil College Film and video students created work based on poetry by Merthyr writers squads.

An small exhibition of photomontages was created from images taken on field trips to Llangorse, St Fagans and Gelligaer Common.