A successful stage and screen career well under his belt, actor Jason Morell temporarily stepped behind the metaphorical curtain to devote himself to a different kind of endeavour: a celebration of Dylan Thomas, one hundred years after his birth. The result is Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia, a week-long festival taking over the neighbourhood where the poet “drank, lived and loved” and transforming it into London’s central spot for all things Thomas.

Whether your relationship with the poet never went beyond the compulsory reading of Under Milk Wood or whether you’re the kind of fan who has first editions stacked away safely, Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia will have something suited for your level of interest and curiosity. Morell took us through the programme step by step: along the way we also learned how the festival came into existence and why poetry is not an artefact to embalm.  

Run Riot: Our readers know you as an actor – what prompted you to temporarily change directions and focus on Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia?

Jason Morell: Griff Rhys Jones, who I had worked with in Oliver! (the musical) a couple of years ago, suggested the idea of a Dylan Thomas festival in Fitzrovia to me over lunch last year. With the centenary taking place this October and big celebrations planned for Wales, Griff thought it only right that Fitzrovia should also host festivities as a London celebration.

I had just had my 50th birthday and thought, “If I don’t grab an opportunity like this; to make a new London festival celebrating performance, poetry, music and art, and to make it accessible to as many people as possible, I will regret it for the rest of my life.” It’s led to a chance to initiate so much new work. So, for example, we’ve been able to commission a new play with new music in collaboration with the National Theatre (A Warring Absence, Olivier Platform 24th October, Welsh Chapel, 25th October) and there are three world premieres within our finale Gala celebration too.

Run Riot: How did you come to be a Thomas aficionado?

Jason Morell: It’s impossible not to be. His words send a tingle down your spine. His life was a courageous mess, which he owned up to, and out of which he created great work. He said:

“I hold a beast, an angel, and a madman in me, and my enquiry is as to their working, and my problem is their subjugation and victory, downthrow and upheaval, and my effort is their self-expression.”

He drank beer, loved boiled sweets, talk, sex and murder mysteries and he wrote some of the best poetry of the age. That is an irresistible combination.

Our festival events Dylan Live! and our Poetry Slam: England vs Wales, both at the RADA Studios on Sunday 26th October, will share a taste of that side of Dylan.

Run Riot: How challenging is it to gather support and attention for an event that centres on poetry? Where does poetry stand outside of professional circles?

Jason Morell: The Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia festival will also be focusing on theatre, music, film, art, photography, food, drink and dance. There’s a lot going on, as well as poetry shared on the streets and in pubs. The challenge is in letting as many people as possible know about it, so that they can come and take advantage of it.

Poetry is undergoing a huge revival as live performance. There is an increasing desire to restore its political dimension. It can be funny and socially critical. It goes well with drink and music and people.

Poetry is not something which lies embalmed in the quiet of a study or the covers of a book. We sing it, quote it and share it every day. No decent band can exist without poetry to sing. We sometimes give it another name,  “lyrics’, “the words”. But we are all poetry addicts.

Run Riot: Can you tell us about the poet’s relationship to Fitzrovia and the mark it left on his work?

Jason Morell: Dylan Thomas met his wife in Fitzrovia, he worked around Fitzrovia, he talked and drank and made love in Fitzrovia. But he was also frightened of the effect it had on him. Dylan said: “When I do come to town, bang go my plans in a horrid alcoholic explosion that scatters all my good intentions like bits of limbs and clothes over the doorsteps and into the saloon bars of the tawdriest pubs in London.”

He couldn’t exist without that world however, and I think it’s no coincidence that within a year of having visited The Fitzroy Tavern (after which Fitzrovia is named), he had published his first book of poems. For an insight into Dylan and his relationship with women come to Dylan and Women at Chancellors Hall on the 25th October with Hannah Ellis (Dylan Thomas’ granddaughter), and his acclaimed biographer Hilly Janes). Or hear Dylan gurus Andrew Lycett and Professor John Goodby provide unique insights into his world, life and work in Dylan; his life and work at Chancellors Hall on the 25th October. Fitzrovia excited and exhausted him. It was the grit which helped him to produce pearls.

Run Riot: We find Fitzrovia in a much different shape today than in Thomas’ times. What role does this ‘new’ version of a once bohemian neighbourhood play in the festival?

Jason Morell: Fitzrovia is an extraordinary place. It is what London should be, in its crammed mixture of small shops, pubs, galleries, restaurants, ad agencies, film production companies, architects, academic hothouses, communal housing and grand old mansions. Many of our big international businesses sprang out of Fitzrovia and remain there. There is a danger of corporate homogenisation but the local community have fought back to make themselves heard and big business, I think, might be listening because they know what a special place it is. It is no-one’s interest to flatten an identity as unique as that. Our immersive walks around Fitzrovia will help people discover the area for the first time and make a brilliant introduction to both Dylan Thomas and his relationship with the neighbourhood. Or help those familiar with its streets and pubs see them in a whole new light. The walks will run three times a day on the 25th and 26th October.

Run Riot: How have you brought Wales into the festival?

Jason Morell: You couldn’t keep it out! We have Welsh choirs, Welsh stars (John Owen-Jones, Jonathan Pryce, Sian Phillips, Griff Rhys Jones, Owen Teale), Welsh poets, Welsh poetic stars (Gillian Clarke, Martin Daws, Owen Sheers), Dylan Thomas’s Writing Shed arriving from Wales and Welsh beer. We even have sheep in Fitzroy Square! We are also very lucky to have Hannah Ellis, Dylan Thomas’ granddaughter, as one of our main supporters. Fitzrovia has its own Welsh Chapel in Eastcastle Street where we have a concert and our transfer from the National Theatre, and the old Welsh Dairy in Conway Street which is a brilliant cafe and eatery. For Wales and jazz come and hear our all-star Welsh jazz team play Stan Tracey’s Jazz Under Milk Wood at Beveridge hall on the 26th October.

And then take a free swing dancing lesson, to the strains of our festival band in the Art Deco splendour of Chancellors Hall.

Run Riot: Dylan Thomas ruffled some feathers during his lifetime and his poetry continues to divide opinions amongst scholars and readers alike. What do you see as his legacy and appeal today?

Jason Morell: He ruffled some feathers and stroked others. Some of his work is hard to read. Much of it burns itself into your mind forever. I do what he would do, I sample all of it, and take what I like. To see Dylan ruffling feathers, I recommend Rhodri Miles in A Clown in the Moon, performing on both days of the festival weekend.

His legacy is about defiance in the face of everyone who tells you how you should behave and what you should write. It is about excellence and passionate hard work. It is about having faith in relationships rather than money. It is about seizing the moment. It is about succumbing to your appetites and not beating yourself up about it.

Run Riot: You’re bringing poetry into every nook and cranny of Fitzrovia – what can our readers expects to see and hear? Which events would you recommend for die-hard Thomas fans? How about the complete poetry novices?

Jason Morell: There’s so much going on! Where to start? Well, If you want to see two of our greatest living poets in action come and see Gillian Clarke and Owen Sheers at Chancellors Hall on the 25th October. For die hard Dylan fans, there’s a rich programme of carefully curated talks at Chancellors Hall, plus a symposium at New College of the Humanities. This should satisfy those who want to delve a little deeper into Dylan’s work and hear the leading contemporary biographers and poets discuss his impact on their own work.

For complete poetry and Dylan Thomas novices, I recommend starting off with one of our pub walks running over Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th October at various times. You’ll get a walk, a drink and some drama and then hopefully it’ll whet your appetite for more Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia fun!

As well as tickets from £6, we’ve got some free fringe events and family fun throughout the week leading up to our festival weekend too that’ll serve as a good way-in for those not so familiar with Dylan Thomas or poetry - from the Nora Summers photography exhibition, and pop-up avant-garde dancing duo Thick & Tight, the Peter Blake exhibition at the Enitharmon Press gallery and the Writing Shed in Store Street.

Come to the Dylan Thomas Centenary Gala at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre for rich orchestral sounds and a starry line-up, to help us close the curtain on the week’s celebrations on the eve of the centenary. All this and more can be found at our website www.dylanthomasfitzrovia.com so head there and take your pick. I look forward to seeing you there.

photo: Jason Morell by Astrid Schulz (c)

Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia

Fitzrovia

20-26 October