With a couple of days to go before the end of OLION in Pontio, now is the perfect time to shine the spotlight on the group of empowered young adults that helped spark the idea for this ambitious trilogy…

Our partnership with GISDA, the charity offering support and opportunities to vulnerable young people in Gwynedd, started in 2022. Over the course of a few months the Nabod group was formed, made up of members from GISDA’s network of LGBTQ+ clubs dotted around Blaenau Ffestiniog, Caernarfon and Pwllheli.

Lyndsey Thomas from GISDA said: "We are extremely proud of our partnership with Frân Wen, which has enabled us to work with a very special group of young people. It has been a privilege to see their confidence and skills increase."

GROWN INTO SOMETHING GREATER

The project is an inclusive, safe space where young creatives learn from and work alongside multi-disciplined artists - one that has grown into something much more than expected.

Inspiring ideas came out of the early sessions and over time the group would come together to refine these, working out the themes and characters they wanted to focus on.

GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PART

Every member of the group brought something different to the table. Whether it was Zac jamming along on a bass guitar, Reece visualising what the set and design would look like, or Keira and Anya putting the social justice issues the world is faced with today into a story.

So these ideas grew and developed over two years, slowly and surely forming into what is now OLION.

Gethin Evans, Frân Wen’s Areative Director, brought the themes of the story to playwrights Angharad Elen and Sera Moore Williams.

They worked on developing the story further and fleshing out the characters. The young people were a constant throughout the development process to ensure the story stayed true to them.

Alongside this we were having conversations with artists about what they were longing for in terms of creative processes - scale, ambition, co-creation, and opportunities to work in new ways. And so we came to OLION, with the vision of offering artists and audiences something different.

AMAZING NYC OPPORTUNITY

Along the way, the team collaborated with artists of different creative backgrounds.

Aisha-May Hunte, who plays Seren in Act 2, and Anthony Matsena, lead choreographer of OLION, both accompanied the crew to New York City in March this year. The week long trip gave them the opportunity to work with the team at Theatre of the Oppressed and Ali Forney Centre whose partnership parallels Frân Wen and GISDA’s - bringing together theatre professionals and vulnerable young people.

Anya Sherlock, one of the Nabod team said: “We exchanged thoughts and opinions, and explored topics that are often not talked about but should be.”

This was an amazing chance for them to look at the story through a different lens, exploring the themes and characters with a group of creative young people with similar backgrounds from across the pond.

“Many of these conversations were eye-opening for our whole group, and we did a lot of thinking and self-evaluation, both as a group and individually,” added Anya.

“Every person I spoke to and listened to has given me a different perspective and has made me think deeper about the way we perceive this life and this world.”

FROM THE SHADOWS

Throughout OLION rehearsals, members of the group are shadowing different artists based on their interests. Anya, for example, has had the opportunity to shadow creative director Gethin in the rehearsal room, and Reece has been working with costume and set designer Elin Steele.

Elis added: “Nabod has grown into a space for the group to express themselves in a safe and creative way as part of a company, and this is something we are extremely proud of.

“Looking back over the past two years, it has been a pleasure to be a part of the young people’s lives and see them grow and develop.”