Time passes, snow falls
Wind blows, the sun shines
What’s happened here?
A war? An eviction? An extinction?
What is left in this ancient landscape of rock and stone?
Of sheep wool and lichen hanging on rusting wire?
What clues are there?
What is there to discover?
Is this the Last Place?
Ed Thomas, June 2019
To further reveal and explore the world of On Bear Ridge, National Theatre Wales with writer and co-director Ed Thomas, created a series of outdoor, site-specific installations.
These installations, near Penwyllt, close to Thomas’ childhood home in Powys, temporarily existed in the landscape as fragmented remains of what was once there. A collection of lost things, half-forgotten sounds and memories, slowly sinking back into earth and rock.
The installation offered visitors glimpses of a vanished world, allowing them to digitally listen at a door and hear whispered voices, half-truths and unfinished stories from a way of life grown silent. A story that was never told. An act of remembering the forgotten.
This experience was free to explore.
Audiences at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff and the Royal Court, London were also able to experience the installation through a VR film that was available to watch at both theatres making the landscape of On Bear Ridge accessible in the centre of these busy cities. The VR experience was available at Sherman Theatre 3 – 5 October and at the Royal Court 24 October – 23 November.
With thanks to the Hobbs Properties Ltd, Natural Resources Wales, and South Wales Caving Club.