A new interactive performance podcast has launched where listeners will be able to hear stories while walking routes around Cardiff or reimagine them from their home or other locations.
Pathways/Llwybrau is a bilingual storytelling project that is accessible through its website as well as podcasts from Apple and Spotify.
The performance podcast will include 3 stories each in both English and Welsh and will take listeners on a virtual story walk with suggested routes around Cardiff.
Each performance podcast will suggest a route for listeners to follow as a way of stepping into the stories and reimagining the landscape into something different to what they may have seen previously around Cardiff.
Creator of Pathways/Llwybrau and Storyteller, Tamar Eluned Williams said, “Like many people during lockdown I started to do the same walks over and over again, and I started discover new routes too. I thought about reimagining these spaces with different stories to follow and transporting audiences through a performance of the landscape.
“Pathways/Llwybrau is not a guided tour, but an aural journey where listeners no matter where they are – Cardiff, West Wales, London or further afield – can move through a story walk around myth, legend, history, autobiography and also help with meditation. We want to encourage listeners to reflect on the past, present and our future.”
The first Pathways/Llwybrau is available now and has been designed around the urban landscape of Cardiff. The first story walk will be narrated by Tamar Eluned Williams, with folk music by her sister, Morwen Williams. The first stories include a Welsh version of a true to life Romeo and Juliet style love story and the story of The Assembly of the Head from the Second Branch of the Mabinogi. Performances will be part-myth, part-history, part-reflection and part-communion with nature, encouraging participants to physically walk through a story while engaging in their own personal and creative journey.
The next releases will include Story Walks across the capital city including the Penrhys Pilgrimage Trail and Ely Trail. Future performance podcasts will also be narrated by other storytellers. Each story walk lasts approximately one hour and can be walked through at any time, or even split up into shorter walks. Listeners do not have to follow the suggested route either, they can create their own story walk or listen at home for those with restricted mobility.
Tamar continued, “As well as us sharing stories, we are also interested to collect new stories, and look at options for moving Pathways/Llwybrau to other locations possibly in the future after our initial pilot.”
- Pathways/Llwybrau has been supported by the Arts Council Wales Sustainability Grant and National Lottery Funding.
- To access the Pathways/Llwybrau podcasts please visit www.pathways-llwybrau.com