Guest Blog: Arwel Gruffydd On Unique Welsh-Breton Co-production MERCH YR EOG

Welsh-Breton theatrical collaboration 'Merch yr Eog' (The Salmon's Daughter), a unique co-production by Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru and Teatr Piba, begins a UK and Brittany tour next week. The play, which explores one immigrant's sense of belonging and stars Welsh-born, Brittany-inhabiting singer-songwriter Lleuwen Steffan, is accompanied by an app that translates the show for audiences not familiar with the languages. Arwel Gruffydd explains its genesis.

One of the treasures I inherited when I arrived at Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru as Artistic Director was the seed of a connection with a theatre company from Brittany. After talking to their Artistic Director, Thomas Cloarec, I learnt that they produced theatre in the Breton language - and that the contact between both companies had been initiated quite some time earlier by Lleuwen Steffan, a Welsh actress and folk singer. Lleuwen was, by then, living in Brittany and had worked on more than one occasion with Thomas and his company. That theatre company was Teatr Piba.

I personally have always had a special interest in things Breton - an interest that was, perhaps, sparked during a school trip to Brittany when I was 11 or 12 years old; my first ever trip abroad. I remember seeing in San Malo, for example, the name Rue San Michel on a street corner and going into raptures somewhat, thinking, naturally, about the well-known song by popular Welsh folk singer Meic Stephens!

I was equally delighted to learn that the Bretons were our Celtic cousins, speaking a similar language, at a time when I had only just started learning a few words of French. Or did I find that out maybe when, as a very small child, I first encountered the Breton door-to-door onion salesmen on bicycles that used to visit our North Wales village annually?

And - in the same way the Welsh, perhaps, dote on the Welsh colony in Patagonia - I doted too on the fact that the Bretons have so much in common with us: the Celtic roots, bilingualism, the linguistic threat from a majority language, and so on. Plus the fact that there was a people on mainland Europe with which we had so much in common, who, on top of everything else, generally don't speak English - that weird language we speak, which, for us, represents oppression as much as allows us to communicate beyond our tiny number.

And then there were the delightful common words between our two Celtic languages, which, when spoken, somehow sound more French than Welsh. It was all so exotic! But I also felt a certain brotherhood (due, granted, to my tendency towards the romantic) - a fraternity that somehow was not given its rightful place, or not given the opportunity, for whatever reason, to reach its fullest potential. And so, when I got to know Thomas and his company, the idea of jointly creating a theatrical production was pushing at an open door.

The two of us came to an understanding early on in the discussions that any co-production should explore and celebrate the linguistic heritage and the common Celtic roots. But we were also eager to do that within a contemporary theatre context, and to avoid a production that was too traditional in nature. We wanted to give the Welsh and Breton languages a platform that was relevant to the 21st century; after all, many of us use our so called 'lesser used' language on a daily basis, and the issues important to us here in Wales and to them in Brittany are things which we contend with daily in Welsh and Breton respectfully. We started examining myths and folktales that were common to both cultures, and came to the general conclusion that the sea was an important component in the relationship between the two.

Two authors were then invited to join the project - Aziliz Bourgès from Brittany, and Owen Martell from Wales - and between them, over a two-year period, they came up with a contemporary, theatrical folktale that includes not only several of those essential elements that Thomas and I had discussed, but also examines current and age-old themes relating to exile and rural depopulation.

Then, Lleuwen Steffan accepted the invitation to play the main character in the play - that of the young woman from Wales who migrated to Brittany - and in so doing, somehow rounded the circle. Lleuwen, of course, is not the Mair of our story - Mair is a fictitious character, as are the other characters in the play - but it seems that the original seed of this project has insisted on growing to its fullest. Funny old world!

For me personally, rediscovering that early interest in things Breton has been a great delight, and it has been a tremendous privilege to play my part in creating a joint theatrical production with our Celtic brothers. The opportunity to present it now to audiences across Wales and Brittany is, indeed, truly special. Trugarez!

Merch yr Eog begins a tour of UK and Brittany at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on 5 October. Full tour dates and venues here

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