Hut 9 - A New Play

Hut 9 - A New Play

HUT 9 is a new play, from Company of Sirens and Tanio. The history of Island Farm, explored today.

(In English).

Company of Sirens and Tanio present HUT 9

A new play by Tim Rhys Directed by Chris Durnall

Original live score by Stacey Blythe

Lighting by Ceri James

Design by Lydia Durnall

 

HUT 9: When Freedom Becomes Memory When the past comes back to haunt us, how far would you go to escape a world where freedom is no longer guaranteed?

What if the freedoms you take for granted could disappear overnight? What if the right to speak, to protest, to question, to dissent - to simply live without fear - was taken away? And what if the place where it happened was right here, in Bridgend?

This autumn, Company of Sirens and Tanio bring HUT 9, a hard-hitting new play by acclaimed Welsh playwright Tim Rhys, to stages across South Wales.

Part historical drama, part chilling vision of the future, HUT 9 begins with a remarkable true story from Bridgend’s past - and takes it somewhere deeply unsettling.

On the night of 10 March 1945, 70 German prisoners of war escaped from Island Farm, tunnelling beneath the camp and disappearing into the darkness of the surrounding countryside.

Their escape began at Hut 9. More than 80 years later, Hut 9 has become something else. In an imagined near-future, Island Farm has been rebuilt as a grim detention centre. Civil liberties have been stripped away. Dissent is dangerous. Freedom is no longer a right, it’s a memory. And people are being held there because they dared to disagree. As the stories of the 1945 escape and this terrifying future unfold alongside each other, the distance between past and present begins to collapse. What starts as a story of prisoners escaping captivity becomes a much darker examination of power, extremism, political repression and what happens when ordinary people allow their freedoms to be taken from them. HUT 9 asks uncomfortable questions. How quickly can freedom disappear? What happens when resistance becomes a crime? How far would you go to survive? And when the consequences are catastrophic, is it already too late to act?

Drawing on verbatim testimonies from local people and the extraordinary history of Island Farm, HUT 9 takes a story deeply embedded in Bridgend’s heritage and turns it into a warning about the future.

This is not comfortable nostalgia. It is a warning. Because the darkest part of HUT 9 is not that its future is unimaginable. It is how easily it could begin. “Chillingly apposite” — The Stage

 

A stellar Welsh cast The production brings together an exciting mix of established Welsh talent and emerging performers. Acclaimed actor Siwan Morris (Skins, RSC, The Light in the Hall) returns to Company of Sirens following her mesmerising performance in the hugely successful Water Wars, which toured Wales last year. Welsh favourite Russell Gomer (Stella, Being Human, Tree on a Hill) joins the cast, bringing his distinctive energy and mercurial style to the production. They are joined by talented young Welsh performers Samuel Morgan-Davies (Doctor Who, Hidden) and newcomer Gwern Phillips, whilst the production team itself provides opportunities for the next generation of Welsh creative talent. New graduate Lydia Durnall takes on the design, with lighting by Ceri James who brings a wealth of experience to the production.

An original live score by Welsh musician Stacey Blythe will create an atmospheric and immersive soundscape, adding another layer to the unsettling journey between past and future.

 

The hut may have been built in 1945. But its story is far from over.

£15 (£12 concessions) + £1 booking fee
21/11/26 11am

All events.

Get in Touch...

01685 722176 | swyddfasoar@merthyrtudful.org

Theatr Soar, Canolfan Soar, Pontmorlais, Merthyr Tudful, CF47 8UB

Lisbeth McLean, Prif Swyddog, lis@merthyrtudful.org
Eleri Walters, Swyddog Datblygu, eleri@merthyrtudful.cymru


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