In 2011, we created a piece to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the Three Nights' Blitz of Swansea. With the help of Arts Council Wales, this went on to tour Wales and was Lighthouse's first original touring production.

Goat Street Runners

Goat Street Runners a new play by Adrian Metcalfe

In February of 2011, we presented a completely new show with period music based on the Three Nights Blitz of Swansea, to coincide with its 75th anniversary. Written by Adrian Metcalfe, and directed by Maxine Evans, and after extensive research and interviews with survivors, it told the story of Betty, a young Air Raid Personnel Warden facing the dangers of the bombs, the perils of love and the destruction of her home town and of the street that never returned, Goat Street.

Seen through the eyes of her granddaughter, a member of a Beverley Sisters tribute band called the Blitzkrieg Babies, we trace Betty’s story as it moves through the through the trial and tribulations of the three days,  the joy of her survival and her love for the music of the period. During the research for the piece we were struck by the way so many of those who remembered pre-war Swansea were lyrical with nostalgia for one of the streets that was vanished from the map forever – Goat Street. It was this memory that gave the piece its name.

‘Described as ‘a real tear-jerker’ and ‘phenomenally inventive’, Goat Street Runners toured Wales to universally high praise.’

City punches above weight….

Review of Goat Street Runners – Daily Post

SWANSEA has a reputation as a city where good things are happening … and I don’t merely mean the football.

I have had two occasions recently to feel proud of my home town as its reach extends to North Wales. In my (now) local Pwllheli theatre, I saw an excellent performance of Goat Street Runners, set in the 1941 Swansea blitz, by Lighthouse Theatre, which was well conceived and convincingly acted.

I know that subsidies for such endeavours are not easy and can never be taken for granted but it is wonderful when it results in the city punching well above its weight and earning for itself a glowing artistic reputation.

Keep up the good work!

Elfyn Lewis, Friday, March 16, 2012

The Dylan Thomas Centre

Originally, we presented the piece as a live radio play reading at The Dylan Thomas Centre as a double bill with Dylan Thomas’ Return Journey in. February of 2011. The original cast were Charlotte Rogers, Jessica Sandry, Sonia Beck, Edward Llewelyn, Kevin Johns, Adrian Metcalfe and Robert Surman. The piece was directed by Maxine Evans.

The audience reaction was great and we were then encouraged to apply for a development grant from Arts Council Wales to enlarge and adapt the piece for a touring audience.

Swansea Grand Theatre

With the assistance of the Grand as partner producers we went on to create a show that was fast-moving and toured all over Wales. It tells the story of a singer from a 40s tribute band called the Blitzkrieg Babies and how she finds out about the exploits of her amazing grandmother during the Second World War. Signed up into the Air Raid Personnel Force as a sixteen year old and how her life, as well as that from Swansea, is changed for ever by the bombs….

The cast for this new piece included Sarah Jayne Hopkins, Bethan Thomas, Sonia Beck, Jack Llewelyn, David Lyndon and Adrian Metcalfe. It was directed and designed by Maxine Evans, with original music by Neil Docking, with lighting designed by Tommy Doyle.

The Radio Play

Following the tour, we felt that we needed to have record of the piece, so with a little adaptation, we created an audio version of the play which you can listen to here:

https://soundcloud.com/user-465494937/goat-street-runners-by-adrian-metcalfe

The piece was again directed by Maxine Evans and features Nia Trussler Jones, Alice White, Sonia Beck, Louisa Lorey, Michelle McTernan, David Lyndon, Oli Jones, Dylan Patterson, Kevin Johns, Dudley Owen and Adrian Metcalfe. It was recorded and produced by Tony Davies at South Wales Audio.

This show is dedicated to the memory of Dudley Owen.