Painting the Darkness

I owe a debt of gratitude to the late June R Lewis-Jones, author of Fairford, Glos, who helped in my understanding of the strange requiem poem J. Arthur Gibbs, the author of "A Cotswold Village", had placed in a later chapter of his book. It was entitled "A Fine Type of Englishman". Lines in the memory of W.D. Llewelyn. June told me that I had read something in the passage of the book that no-one had ever realized before. Gibbs's account of events that fateful afternoon is probably the most trustworthy. The play is a fuller exploration of the circumstances surrounding the death of William Dillwyn Llewelyn, the eldest son of Sir John Dillwyn of Penllergare, who was found shot dead in the woods on the estate during the day he was to be engaged to Lord Dynevor's daughter on 25th August 1893. William was a noted cricketer of the day, playing for England and Glamorgan. The inquest was held the next day at Penllergare mansion and William was buried the following Tuesday at St. David's Church on the estate. I have used the inquest records of that day and fashioned the play accordingly. The meeting Gibbs had with Rudyard Kipling is fictional in the play, but Gibbs did meet him on a voyage to South Africa in 1898 and this information was provided to me by June. The other underlying developments in the play are, again, supposition because there are no written accounts, and I have used dramatic licence to fashion my play from different viewpoints.

Dettagli