Gareth Evans-Jones, from Traeth Bychan near Marian-glas, Anglesey, wins this year’s Drama Medal.
The Drama Medal is presented for a stage play of any length. The most promising play with the most potential for further development with a professional company is awarded the Medal, presented in memory of Urien Wiliam, by his wife, Eiryth and the children, Hywel, Sioned and Steffan, and £750, donated by the Huw Roberts Memorial Fund, Pwllheli. An excerpt of the winning work will be performed during the ceremony, with the support of the JO Roberts Memorial Fund.
This year’s adjudicators were Gethin Evans, Branwen Cennard and Bethan Marlow, and at the start of her adjudication from the Pavilion stage, Bethan Marlow had a word of advice for anyone considering competing in the future.
She said, “Plenty of people say "I have an idea for a good play" or "one day I want to write a big story" but very few of us actually go ahead and do it.
“We received 11 scripts this year and the fact that so many entered for the Drama Medal is very encouraging. But unfortunately, the standard was not great, with many competitors demonstrating a basic lack of understanding of story development and creating interesting and well-rounded characters.
"Before sending any script to enter a competition I would encourage you to read it and re-read it and ask," is it ready? "And if if isn’t, that's ok, writing a play takes time…
After discussing the other entries in the competition, she turned to the final entry and said, "One play has reached the top class this year, Adar Papur by Gwylan.
Without a doubt Gwylan has an awareness of the demands of drama and of the needs of the medium. The play opens very effectively and grabs attention from the very beginning by relying on the visual rather than the word. There is no doubt that Gwylan has an ear for dialogue, rhythm and language. There is humour and wit and the story structure is skilfull and attention-grabbing from start to finish.
The drama flows, and Sara's character is so believable and close to you that it's impossible not to sympathise with her or her situation. Careful thought has gone into the creation of Iwan’s character, and although he lives largely in his own small world, it is impossible not to identify and care about him.
There is no doubt that there is a solid foundation on which to build and so we all agree that Gwylan deserves the medal.
This is the first time Gareth Evans-Jones has won one of the main prizes at the National Eisteddfod, but he is rapidly making a name for himself in the drama and literature world across Wales. His successes include the Intercollegiate Eisteddfod Drama Medal 2012, the Drama Association of Wales' Best Drama in the Welsh Language Medal in 2010 and 2012, the 2016 Eisteddfod Môn Crown, and the Eisteddfod Môn Young Farmers’ Festival Prose Medal this year. Last year, he published his first novel, Eira Llwyd (Gwasg y Bwthyn, 2018), and is in the process of completing his second novel.
He graduated with a first class joint honours degree in Welsh and Religious Studies from Bangor University in 2012, and subsequently undertook an MA Creative Writing course at Bangor under the direction of Angharad Price. He then went on to complete a doctorate examining the religious responses of the American Welsh periodical press to the issue of slavery during the period 1838-1868. He is now a lecturer in Philosophy and Religion at the School of History, Philosophy and Social Sciences, Bangor University.
As a teenager, he was a member of Brain, Cwmni'r Frân Wen, and was one of the first to follow the Frân Wen 'From Script to Stage' scheme, and over the years has scripted plays and dialogues for Theatr Fach Llangefni. He was also one of the Writers At Work scheme at the Hay Festival during 2018-2019.
He would like to sincerely thank his former teachers and lecturers, his friends, and his family for all their support and encouragement over the years.
The Cyfansoddiadau a Beirniadaethau includes the full adjudication for this competition and the winners of all the other composition winners at this year’s Eisteddfod. The volume is published at the end of the Chairing Ceremony on Friday afternoon.
The Conwy County National Eisteddfod runs until 10 August. For more information go to www.eisteddfod.wales.