The Welsh Dragon by Kyle Lima

Kyle Lima

Kyle Lima is a Writer, Actor and Performer, and in his own words “a frustrated yet proud dyslexic” born and raised in Cardiff, South Wales. Kyle trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama graduating in 2009 with a BA Honours in Acting.

Kyle is also one of Theatr Iolo’s Associate Artists.

Kyle was first part of Platfform in 2019, when he started to develop an idea for a new play for children called The Welsh Dragon. Over two days, Kyle worked with a team of actors and a director to explore their initial idea/script before sharing in a ‘script in hand’ performance to an invited audience.

Following this sharing, the team at Theatr Iolo were keen to develop this idea further and invited Kyle to become our very first Platfform Artist. During 2019/2020, Kyle worked on the story based on the myth of the Welsh Dragon. Over a 12 month period, Kyle has worked closely with Theatr Iolo’s Artistic Director, as well as actors and musicians, to develop the narrative and music of the piece. In 2021, we ran a week long R&D with a small team of creatives to further develop the show in preparation for it to become a full production.

In 2022 it was decided the show needed further development, so we applied to the Arts Council of Wales for a Create grant to further develop the piece, and in 2023 received the fantastic news that we had been successful. We are now looking forward to a further R&D in autumn 2023, after which we hope to tour the production in Autumn 2024.

The Welsh Dragon

STAGE 1:

Writer: Kyle Lima                             
Director: Luke Hereford

STAGE 2:

Writer: Kyle Lima
Director: Kevin McCurdy
Music: Eadyth Crawford
Designer: Kyle Legall

The Welsh Dragon is a mythical comedy, music-infused play with a modern contemporary twist, that deals with themes of national identity, heritage and a changing social environment all told through the legendary story of the famous Red dragon of Wales and how it came to be the symbol upon the Welsh Flag.

In a time not long before the tale of Arthur and Excalibur, King Vortigern, ruler of the medieval land of Camelot, (otherwise known at Caerleon, otherwise known as Newport) is in dismay as his castle keeps falling down from booming, earth shaking rumbles from beneath the castle grounds. He needs his castle to help fend off the encroaching Anglo-Saxons who want to claim the land. When it is discovered that the rumbles beneath the cast are caused by the continuous battles of two dragons (the Red Dragon of Wales and the White Dragon of the Anglo- Saxons) who dwell deep in a cavern beneath the Castle, Vortigern, by word of his advisors, is tasked in finding a boy of illegitimate birth to sacrificed to the battling beasts to appease their bellies and quell their rage. When a young merchant man thought to be worthy of sacrifice, he is thrown to the dragons to be feasted upon, but when the Cheddar Man discovers that the dragons aren’t actually fighting one another with claws and teeth but rather by spitting bars and dropping beats aka rap battling with lyrical verse, booming base and souped up sound systems, the Cheddar man finds he must aid the Welsh dragon in defending the Welsh land through contemporary poetry to vanquish the Saxon dragon.