Capel Celyn brings the story of Tryweryn to the stage 61 years after the flooding
A powerful new play explores love, identity and resilience through the story of a Welsh couple fighting to save their home
A new Welsh play inspired by one of the most significant events in modern Welsh history is coming to Cardiff and London this October, marking 61 years since the flooding of the Tryweryn valley and the destruction of the village of Capel Celyn.
Capel Celyn is a new piece of writing centred on the community whose homes were destroyed to create a reservoir for Liverpool. But while the history provides the backdrop, at its heart the play is an intimate story about a husband and wife facing impossible odds as they fight to save their home, their community and their future.
Set at Christmas 1955, the play begins as a Welsh community discovers that they are to be evicted, their homes destroyed and their village flooded.
Set entirely within a living room, Capel Celyn follows husband and wife Osian and Arianwen as they attempt to navigate everyday life while the threat of their home being erased becomes increasingly real.
As the likelihood of losing everything grows, the couple must confront what it means to preserve their heritage while trying to protect the future they have built together.
Inspired by the real community of Capel Celyn and the events surrounding the Tryweryn flooding, the play explores the strength and determination of the villagers who resisted the plans to destroy their homes.
Rather than presenting the history solely as a political story, Capel Celyn brings the consequences of those decisions into the home, showing how an enormous political and social conflict can affect the most personal parts of people's lives.
At its heart, the production is a story of love, identity and resilience in the face of erasure.
The production has previously been performed to audiences who responded strongly to its portrayal of the story, with tickets for the upcoming London performances already selling well and the Cardiff performance nearing a sell-out.
This October marks 61 years since the flooding took place, providing a timely opportunity to revisit the story of Capel Celyn and the people whose lives were changed forever.
For Welsh audiences, the story remains an important part of the country's cultural memory. For those unfamiliar with the events, the production offers an intimate introduction to a defining moment in Welsh history through the experiences of the people at its centre.
Capel Celyn
📍 London
📅 4 & 5 October 2026
📍 Porter's Theatre, Cardiff, CF10 2GS
📅 Saturday 10 October 2026
🎭 A new play inspired by the Tryweryn flooding
❤️ A story of love, identity and resilience
With its intimate setting and deeply human story, Capel Celyn invites audiences to look beyond the historical event itself and consider the people, homes and communities behind it.
More than six decades after the valley was flooded, the story of Capel Celyn continues to raise questions about identity, belonging, power and what happens when a community is told that its home must make way for something deemed more important.
