{150}: Interview with Marc Rees

Marc Rees, photographed by Warren Orchard

This feature was first published on May 27th, 2015 by Arts Scene in Wales

In July 1865, a converted tea-clipper called the Mimosa sailed into harbour on the Chubut coastline of Argentina with around 150 Welsh men, women and children aboard. They'd left Liverpool docks full of hope and trepidation, wondering what their new lives as Welsh settlers in the Argentinean region of Patagonia would be like.

It was the idea of a preacher from Bala to have a "little Wales beyond Wales", which could not be corrupted or assimilated by Western English-speaking culture as had happened in North America.

And it is this historic journey, the trials and tribulations of setting up the colony, and how the descendants of those colonists live today, that has inspired Marc Rees's {150} project, a unique collaboration between the two national theatres of Wales.

On June 27th the 150 project will debut at the Royal Opera House stores in Aberdare, an unusual venue for a trilingual performance mixing dance, drama, music and film… but we'll come back to that later. When I interviewed Marc about the {150} project, his enthusiasm and depth of knowledge on the subject was impressive, and utterly infectious.

"The idea for 150 was actually journalist Jon Gower's," said Marc. "He mentioned this to me about three years ago, that the 150th anniversary of the Welsh settling in Patagonia was approaching, and he also suggested I could bring together both the National Theatre of Wales and Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru to work on some kind of project to mark the occasion."

This was a landmark decision as, despite the two being national theatre companies, they had never worked together before, perhaps by the nature of them working in different languages. But Marc decided it would be a great idea to explore the potential.

"Initially we had quite ambitious plans," admits Marc, who went on an initial recce to Argentina with producer Sian Thomas in November 2012. "We thought we could simultaneously broadcast in North and South Wales, and East and West Patagonia. Our ideas were epic – we even wanted holograms at one point!"

Patagonian landscape, photographed by Andrew Morris

But Marc soon realised it wasn't so much scale as depth which mattered most: "I'm glad we went through our 'over-the-top' stage to filter down to the essence of what we were trying to do. It wasn't about money, it was about the story of Patagonia, then and now.

"We explored different ideas and decided it was important to tell the history and defining moments of Patagonia, incorporating the people who are there now."

Three years later, {150} is coming together for its opening at the Royal Opera House stores in Aberdare. Ah yes, that venue. Why there, of all places?

"I travelled to different parts of Wales looking for the ideal site for the project. We were looking for a chapel to stage it in, but everywhere we found was either too small or too poorly lit. And then we hit upon the idea of the Opera House stores. I was never aware of its existence before, but it's the perfect location. It's where all the opera and ballet props and costumes are stored, so it houses fantasy on an epic scale. I wanted to place the story of the colony in a constructed setting which had some resonance, and this enables us to take the space and allow the audience to move through it as they explore Patagonia's 150 years.”

Marc has teamed up with playwright Roger Williams, who specialises in writing about minority languages, to put together the narrative structure of the show through drama, while a collaboration with dancer Eddie Ladd brings the choreographed aspects of the production into the fold.

"Over the years I've learnt a lot about what to do and what not to do, and who to work with and who not to work with!" jokes Marc. "Eddie and I have worked together before and we have a shorthand in producing work together."

Eddie will embody – Marc is keen not to say 'play' – the Welsh writer Eluned Morgan, who was born on the voyage to Argentina aboard the Myfanwy. Morgan wrote extensively about the origins of Y Wladfa (the Colony), and her writings inform Eddie's performance.

A third medium used in {150} will be film. Marc teamed up with actor/ director Lee Haven Jones to film the way of life for modern day Patagonians, as well as the awesome, vast landscape they populate. There will be a 25 minute travelogue broadcast on S4C, and chunks of that will be used within the {150} performance, which will be in English, Welsh and Spanish.

"One film follows a young actress called Elizabeth Fernandez from Gaiman in Patagonia who did not learn Welsh until she was 15, but has embraced Welsh traditions and culture. It struck me that this is an interesting new occurrence: assimilation is inevitable when two cultures combine as they did in Patagonia – the Welsh settlers with the indigenous Tehuelche people.

"Growing up, it was always Elizabeth's ambition to become an actress and get a part in Pobol y Cwm, and now she's in it! Our film takes her back to her homeland for the first time and shows her experiencing a kind of identity crisis. It's her journey, a travelogue. We also filmed discussions about what the modern day concerns are in the region. We used 'structured reality' [think The Only Way is Essex or Made in Chelsea] where we take real people who know one another, but the director sort of storylines them."

Patagonian landscape, photographed by Andrew Morris

A multilingual performance housed in a unique location, incorporating dance, theatre, music and cinema, put together by two collaborating powerhouses of the arts in Wales, led by one of Wales's foremost artistic innovators – {150} is set to be an experience like no other.

But after all those years of research and trips to South America, interviews with the people and the commissioning of new music and even a new fabric, will the people of Patagonia themselves be able to experience this spectacle?

"My original plan was to broadcast the performance live simultaneously on S4C and in Patagonia, but the reception in South America is simply too poor," says Marc. "What we are doing is allowing the Patagonians to download it from the website. We will also have a singer over from Patagonia to take part in the actual performance itself."

What has been the most rewarding part of this epic project for Marc?

"The opportunity to envision an extraordinary story, and to bring the two national theatre companies together for the first time. That's exciting. I've had the time to explore the subject, let it sit and develop, and I hope when people see it, it acts as an introduction for them to go off and find out more. {150} is in no way an exhaustive history of what happened, but it is my version of it, and it's been an amazing journey along the way."

• {150} can be seen at Royal Opera House Stores, Abercwmboi, Aberdare, June 27th to July 11th. See www.s4c.cymru/150 for details of how to book. See www.nationaltheatrewales.org/150 or www.theatr.cymru/150/ for more. See #150Patagonia on Twitter.