Hedd Wyn: Eisteddfod Atomig Stephen McNeff + Gruff Rhys

Event Info

Trawsfynydd, 2117.

200 years after the death of Welsh poet Hedd Wyn, a group of pilgrims return to Trawsfynydd – now an abandoned exclusion zone following a catastrophic failure at the nearby nuclear power station – to reconnect with their Welsh heritage.

Expecting a commemorative tour of Hedd Wyn’s ancestral home, they instead step into a fractured landscape where radiation has blurred time itself. Past, present and future collide and the ghosts of history and legend walk alongside the small utopian community that remains.

Guided by the strange survivors of the disaster, the group venture deeper into their ancestry and the very heart of Welsh mythology, as conflicting visions for the future of Wales begin to emerge. and Hedd Wyn’s legacy is reshaped and distorted in pursuit of a dangerous new beginning.

From the imagination of Gruff Rhys, with music by Stephen McNeff and directed by Steffan Donnelly, Hedd Wyn: Eisteddfod Atomig is a haunting new opera which explores how the poet’s story can be misrepresented, mythologised and reclaimed. It asks who gets to decide what his legacy means for Wales today?

A Welsh National Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru and Theatr Cymru production.