Being Human 2019

Join us for an interactive talk, quiz and readings as we investigate secrecy and the use of assassination from Medieval to modern times.  We’ll also consider the methods deployed by assassins past and present, including red hot pokers and poisoned toothpaste! 

Led by: Dr Luca Trenta, Dr Eoin Price and Dr Roberta Magnani
In partnership with: Cinema and Co.

Venue: Cinema and Co. 17 Castle St, Swansea SA1 1JF
Time: 7pm-8pm
Audience: 16+ 

Get your FREE tickets here!

Come along to our interactive writing workshop where you’ll have a chance to write poetry and prose on themes such as secrets, place and life in Swansea. Lines from individual works will be used to create a collage of what it means to both live and create in Swansea. 

Led by: Kathy Chamberlain and a team of PhD students and alumni in Creative Writing whose research focuses on ‘place’.
In partnership with: National Waterfront Museum and Disability Arts Cymru

Venue: National Waterfront Museum Oystermouth Rd, Swansea SA1 3RD
Time: 2pm-4pm
Audience: Adults who self-identify as having a disability or chronic health condition

Click here for FREE tickets!

The Mary Rose - (©Geoff Hunt, PPRSMA)

All aboard for a fun-filled day of fantastical adventure on the high seas, celebrating the Glynn Vivian’s new exhibition The Mary Rose: People and Purpose. Discover fascinating facts and sinister secrets about life on board this infamous boat in a series of workshops including animated theatre and creating your own Tudor play, digging for buried treasure, building a 3-Dimensional open world and designing and racing your own Tudor-themed self-propelled motor boats. You will need to keep your eyes peeled for clues on our Mary Rose themed gallery trail - find them all to discover the hidden secrets of the Mary Rose! With talks, performances, dress up and wandering minstrels this is going to be a day you will not want to miss.

This new exhibition provides an insight into the innovative design and global context of the famous ship. It explores the ship’s innovative design, Welsh connections and new scientific research through a variety of objects, including longbows, arrows, bowls, and shoes, which gives us a unique insight into Tudor history.

11:30am and 12:30pm (30 mins each) - no booking required
Family-friendly talk: "Pirates of the Mediterranean": How did people from Spain, Italy and North Africa end up on the Mary Rose and what might pirates have to do with it? 

1pm -2pm - booking is required  
(limited to 40 children, accompanying adults do not require a ticket)
‘Create your own Tudor play!’ One hour to create and perform with David Britton, Professor of Dramaturgy, and Lighthouse Theatre. 
Book your free tickets here!

11am-3pm - drop in sessions - no booking required
Creative stations:

• Old school Animated Theatre – Dress up and animate yourself as you fight off or befriend a giant sea-monster in a theatrical, 3-dimensional cardboard theatre set.
• Digging for buried treasure – We are creating a giant desert island. Use a compass to search for buried clues that will help you complete the gallery trail. But be careful, if you don’t navigate correctly you will be in for a gruesome surprise!
• Come and collaborate in building a gigantic 3-Dimensional open world and turn it into Swansea’s biggest board game!
• Design and race your own self-propelled model boats in our Tudor themed whacky races competition.

Wandering minstrels! | Gallery trail: gather clues from talk, performance, musicians and exhibit to complete! | New educational packs: to be tested for the first time; then rolled out to Glynn Vivian learning programmes / schools. Complete in our chill out zone!

Come dressed as a pirate - win a prize for the best costume!

Led by: Dr Nick Owen, Dr Catherine Fletcher and Professor David Britton
In partnership with: Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, the Mary Rose Trust, Oriel Science, the Cultural Institute and the College of Engineering, Swansea University.

Venue: Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Alexandra Rd, Swansea SA1 5DZ
Time: 11am-3pm
Audience: Families
*Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult at all times. 

Come and discover the hidden secrets of the planet, found in the depths of the ice fields, with Professor Siwan Davies, an international expert on Climate Change and the Head of Swansea University’s Geography Department. After you’ve had a chance to see the evidence for climate change first hand in the laboratory, poet Grug Muse will lead a poetry workshop which will respond to these discoveries about the past and future of the Earth.

Led by: Professor Siwan Davies and Grug Muse
In partnership with: Academi Hywel Teifi and College of Science at Swansea University

Venue: Margam Building, Singleton Campus, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP
Time: 10am-12pm
Audience: Schoolchildren from Welsh medium schools 

Click here for FREE tickets!

Photograph by Peter Dareth Evans

Becoming Human – Pinocchio Retold tells the story of the world's most famous puppet, set against the demands and prerogatives of modern Western society. Following his footsteps from birth to adulthood, we are invited to see through his eyes what it means to become socialised. Though Pinocchio is shaped in mind and body to fit into society, as an individual he still struggles to find meaning, love, and identity. This tragicomedy takes an unflinching look at social values and structures, while inviting the audience to laugh and be mesmerised by a caravan of characters (all played by Muzzioli and Soinila). The play poses questions about what makes up our core identity as humans and how we can deal with modern life - questions that Pinocchio grapples with throughout the play, and eventually comes to terms with.

The central theme of Becoming Human – Pinocchio Retold is a journey of self-discovery, where the secrets of Pinocchio’s true self are revealed.

Led by: Dr Ian Rutt (Director of Music), Alice Muzzioli and Inari Soinila  (writers/performers) and Atillio Zilli (sound design)  
In partnership with: Volcano Theatre

Venue: Volcano Theatre, 27-29 High St, Swansea SA1 1LG
Time: 7pm-8pm
Audience: 12+ (some strong language)

Click here for FREE tickets!

Illustration by Georgia Grace Weston

Life is lived through half-truths, entrapment, lies, decoding, escape and discovery of truths. The complex and unreliable code of Werwolf child terrorists and the work of Sherlock Holmes offer a unique insight into the human psyche. In a panel discussion, with simulated ‘panic room’, we will uncover the secret plans of Hitler’s Werwolf and the brilliance of Sherlock Holmes.

Led by: Dr Anne Lauppe-Dunbar and Dr Nicko Vaughan
In partnership with: Swansea Museum

Venue: Swansea Museum, Victoria Road, Swansea SA1 1SN
Time: 7pm-8pm
Audience: 16+ (some strong language)

Click here for FREE tickets!

Welsh composer Rhian Samuel will talk about her life as a composer of classical music in the USA and the UK, from a time when women composers were an extreme rarity to today when they are much more prevalent. In what ways may this change have enriched our culture? She will be aided by Siân Dicker (soprano) and Kristal Tunnicliffe (piano), who will perform Cerddi Hynafol (Ancient Songs), settings of three medieval Welsh texts apparently by women, and the song ‘Before Dawn’, set to a poem, ‘Mourning to Do’, by American May Sarton

In partnership with: The Richard Burton Centre

Venue: The Great Hall, Bay Campus, Swansea University, Swansea SA1 8EN
Time: 7pm-8:30pm
Audience: Open to All 

Do you dare to enter our chamber of secrets? Join us for a family fun day, including:

• ‘Opening the Chamber of Secrets’ – writing mystery and storytelling chains, with two master-narratives – ‘Secrets of the Sea’ and ‘The Buried Past’ (Suitable for children up to the age of 12)
  
  
• ‘The Secrets of Ancient Egypt’ – discover mummification, the secrets of hieroglyphs, the ancient game of Senet and real Egyptian artifacts
  
  
• ‘Discovering your digital story’ - create your own 2-min digital narrative! (Please bring along your Android smartphone/tablet)

Writing workshops and Secrets of Ancient Egypt – 2-3pm; 3-4pm
Digital stories – 2-3pm


Led by: Dr Geraldine Lublin, Dr Alan Bilton, Dr Anne Lauppe-Dunbar and Hannah Sweetapple
In partnership with: The Egypt Centre

Venue: Taliesin Create, Ground Floor (Taliesin Arts Centre), Swansea SA2 8PP
Time: 2pm-4pm
Audience: Families
Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Click here for FREE tickets!

15 November:  18:00 -19:00:  'Pembrokeshire, Passchendaele and Perth: my family in the Great War'

Join Professor Curtis for an illustrated talk on his family in the Great War.

Venue:  Volcano Theatre.                                 Event Partners:  Volcano Theatre; Jeff Phillips Art

16 November:  18:00-19:45:  'To Provide All People'

Join Owen Sheers, Swansea University's Professor in Creativity, for a conversation about his recent film-poem To Provide All People

Venue:  Venue: Cinema & Co.      Event Partners:  Cinema & Co.; Vox Productions; BBC Wales; Cover to Cover Bookshop

17 November:  12:00–16:00:  ‘The end crowns all’: Shakespeare’s stories and surprises

A family day of Being Human festival fun on Shakespeare! This event is kindly sponsored by the British Shakespeare Association.

Venue:  National Waterfront Museum.     Event Partner:  National Waterfront Museum; Fluellen Theatre Company

20 November:  19:00-20:00:  Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, and civil rights

Join Swansea University’s Dr Regina Poertner for an illustrated talk on this fascinating, complex couple.  (Audience: 16+)

Venue: Swansea Museum.        Event Partners:  Swansea Museum

21 November:  19:00-20:30:  'Edward Thomas and Wales'

Jeff Towns explores the profound influence Wales and Welsh culture had on Edward Thomas’s prose.

Event Partners: Cinema & Co.; Parthian Books; Dylans Mobile Bookstore

22 November:  19:30-21:00:  Kamila Shamsie - 'Home Fire'

Venue:  Great Hall, Swansea University.   Event Partners: Swansea Building Society; Cover to Cover Bookshop

23 November:  13:00-14:00:  Origins and evolution of a theory: Alfred Russel Wallace

Actor Ioan Hefin and scientist and broadcaster, Elin Rhys, discuss how the work and life of pioneering naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, a self-taught man, still inspire and astound the world.

Venue:  Glynn Vivian Art Gallery.  Event Partners:  Academi Hywel Teifi; Theatr na nÓg; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery

24 November:  13:30-14:30 and 16:30-17:30:  ‘Once Upon a Time, the End

A family-friendly Creative Writing workshop.

Venue: Taliesin Create, Taliesin Arts Centre

24 November:  15:00-16:00 and 18:00-19:00:  Arthur Ransome's 'Old Peter's Russian Tales'

Come along to an afternoon / evening of folktales and magic as Swansea University’s Professor D.J. Britton and Theatr Cadair bring Arthur Ransome’s ‘Old Peter’s Russian Tales’ to life on stage!

Venue: Taliesin Arts Centre.  Event Partners: Taliesin Arts Centre; Theatr Cadair; Arthur Ransome Estate.

The NHS is Born! - week long exhibition 15-24 November

Venue:  South Wales Miners' Library