SWANSEA BOY - A Playreading with Sean Mathias

Join us for a very special performance of SWANSEA BOY by legendary director and writer Sean Mathias at Books on the Rise.

About Swansea Boy:

In 1980s Swansea, a young man finds the love of his life, only to face heartbreak and loss when he discovers his partner has contracted AIDS.

I began writing Swansea Boy as a response to the AIDS pandemic and as a way to explore another play in the Swansea idiom following the success of A Prayer for Wings.

The story follows Colin, a budding artist who spends his days idling on a Gower beach, dreaming of a more bohemian life in London. However, his Welsh family pressures him to finish school and pursue a more conventional path. His friend Shelley amuses him, but she cannot fulfill his growing sense of longing. A sexual encounter with James, another boy his age, gives Colin the courage to leave behind the beauty of the Gower Coast and head to London.

In the city, Colin discovers a world more elusive and unsettling than he had imagined. As the AIDS crisis unfolds, he navigates life with fear and trepidation, yet remains true to himself by choosing a path of sexual safety and finding the courage to come out to his family.

Later, in a small Moroccan seaside town, Colin lives with James, who is slowly succumbing to HIV. Amidst the exotic beauty of his new home, filled with rare creatures and constant sunlight, Colin creates his own bohemian haven. Displaying a maturity beyond his years, he faces the harsh realities of mortality with compassion and resilience - Sean Mathias
(Writer and Director)

About Sean Mathias:

Sean Mathias is a British Theatre Director, Film Director and Writer. He has worked at the Royal National Theatre, the West End, the Kennedy Centre, The Mark Taper Forum, Off-Broadway and many times on Broadway, as well as Paris, Sydney, Cape Town, Johannesburg, San Francisco and extensively in the UK.

He has written a number of plays including the award-winning A Prayer for Wings, and the screenplay for the award-winning BBC film The Lost Language of Cranes.

In 2009/2010 Sean was the Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Haymarket and his legendary production of Waiting for Godot played two seasons at the theatre, as well as touring the UK and internationally. In 2013 he directed and co-produced Two Plays in Rep, comprising Beckett’s Godot and Pinter’s No Man’s Land on Broadway at the Cort Theatre. His production of No Man’s Land, starring Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, was the highest-grossing play in the history of the Wyndham’s Theatre. In 2019 he directed the UK premiere of Martin Sherman’s play Gently Down the Stream at the Park Theatre and later that year his production A Prayer For Wings transferred to the Kings Head Theatre from the Swansea Grand. Also in 2019 he directed Ian McKellen Onstage which toured the UK and played a season at the Pinter Theatre raising a staggering five million pounds for theatre charities. Sean first season as the Artist Director of Theatre Royal Windsor, produced Hamlet and The Cherry Orchard, with an ensemble of actors led by Ian McKellen and Francesca Annis.

He directed the award-winning film Bent.

He has won various awards including The Standard Award, WhatsOnStage Award, Cardiff International Film Festival award, the Critics’ Circle Award, a Fringe First at Edinburgh and the Prix de la Jeunesse at Cannes. He has been nominated for an Olivier Award and Tony Award.