Ladder of Words

When the north Wales-born actor and playwright EmlynWilliams performed his one-man show about DylanThomas, the critic Richard Findlater described him as‘unravelling a ladder of words’ which he then climbs up,and pulls the spectators after him. Findlater called this‘the Cambrian rope trick’, highlighting the process by whichwriters, and Welsh writers in particular, use the power oflanguage to take an audience into an unfamiliar world.This volume brings together three Welsh plays from themiddle of the twentieth century: Rhondda Roundabout(1939) by Jack Jones, from his own novel, a panoramic viewof politics, religion, sport and music in the Valleys, describedby the Sunday Times critic James Agate as ‘too good forthe West End’, The Druid’s Rest (1944) by Emlyn Williams,a semi-autobiographical comedy about the fantasy life ofan over-imaginative boy who suspects that an Englishmanon a walking tour is actually a famous murderer, and AfterMy Fashion (1952) by Diana Morgan, in which the widowsof men who died on a Tibetan expedition discover untoldsecrets when approached by a film company, inspired by theCardiff-born author’s own experiences as a screenwriter atEaling Studios, which also formed the basis for the recentnovel and film Their Finest.Edited and with an introduction by David Cottis, andfollowing on from A Dirty Broth, which looked at thepioneers of the Welsh theatre in English, A Ladder of Wordsexplores the period either side of the Second World War,a time when Welsh playwrights enjoyed unprecedentedcommercial success, both at home and in the West End.David Cottis is Lecturer in Scriptwriting at Middlesex University,and a theatre writer/director. He lives in London and Cardiff.