Author’s Note:

A farmhouse, the grounds and forest surrounding it, and Rose’s imagination.

Four characters:

Rose

Gwynne

Lewis

Graham

Rose, Lewis, and Graham are around the same age. Gwynne is a generation older and carries all the gravitas that entails.

Rose lip-reads. She speaks English fluently and signs when private and alone. These ‘internal’ poetic soliloquys are predominantly in theatricalised British Sign Language/Sign Supported English (BSL/SSE), although there are moments when it is a fusion of visual and spoken languages. I have indicated passages in the script that could be in visual language. There is much to be gained in beauty, variety, and tempo-rhythm from using visual language and signed performance, particularly in the context of this story – and an extra performative layer through portraying both Deaf and hearing cultures but this is not mandatory, as I prefer to leave it open to individual interpretation.

The text is projected throughout.

I have tried to mix myth, lyricism and the prosaic everyday in a ‘time out of time’ dynamic, which I hope will confirm this is both a contemporary and ancient story.

I have anticipated a live music/sound score, performed predominantly by the actor playing Graham.

Blodeuwedd: flower face, woman made of the flowers of the forest, the bride created for a cursed man, transformed into an owl as punishment for falling in love with someone else and plotting to kill her husband … I have been fascinated with the story of Blodeuwedd from the fourth branch of the Welsh medieval text The Mabinogion for years, and have explored elements of the story theatrically before (Perfect for Contact Theatre, directed by John McGrath and winner of M.E.N. best play of 2004). This ancient story invites constant reinterpretation with resonance for each new age, but this text departs widely from the original and only takes aspects as inspiration.

Kaite O’Reilly,
Autumn 2014