Stone the Crows!

University academic premieres inaugural feature film

Tim Rhys, Welsh writer and Lecturer in Creative Writing at Cardiff University, will premiere his first feature film at Cardiff’s Cineworld cinema on Monday 30 November. 

Written and made in Wales, supernatural thriller Crow is based on Rhys’s original stage play Stone the Crows.

Young Welsh talent Tom Rhys Harries takes the title role appearing alongside Andrew Howard (Taken 3), Nick Moran (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) and Danny Webb (Alien 3). The Spinning Head production is directed by Wyndham Price.

Beginning life among a tribe of outcast travellers Crow is uprooted first by a police raid and then by gangsters. Crow has lived in the wood ever since the Crow tribe were brutally moved on from the farmstead nearby by ruthless developer, Tucker. Now Tucker wants the wood too and will stop at nothing to get it. 

Crow sees the protagonist defend the wood with his life.  Battle ensues between Tucker and Crow, but Tucker doesn’t realise that he is contending with a man who has the power of nature behind him. Tucker and his men learn the real meaning of terror in this original supernatural thriller.

On seeing his work translate from stage to screen, Tim says: ‘It’ll be very exciting to see my first feature film going into cinemas, especially with such a great cast. It felt strange standing in Merthyr Mawr woods, watching two of my invented characters brought to life by Nick Moran and Andrew Howard just months ago!”

Tim will have little time to reflect on the success of the special BAFTA screening on Monday evening as Tuesday will see the world premiere of his latest stage play, Touch Blue Touch Yellow, at the Chapter Arts Centre.

Touch Blue Touch Yellow is a specially commissioned play on autism. A Winterlight Theatre Company production, it follows young autistic adult Carl as he navigates the social jungle of the non-autistic world. Searching for friendship and meaning as his adult life begins, Carl's journey explores universal feelings of isolation, alienation and the clash between the need to belong, the pressures of conformity and the need to be true to yourself.

Tim has drawn on family experience of autism to write the new play and explains: “I see Carl as an everyman figure, but one that just happens to be autistic. The themes in Touch Blue Touch Yellow, of someone seeking friendship and meaning in life and of the devastating effects of loneliness and isolation are universal themes that are simply intensified among people on the spectrum due to their difficulty in understanding social cues and their inability to tell and read all the little white lies that are such a part of normal conversation."

Professional playwright and script writer Tim Rhys has penned scripts for theatre, radio and TV. He teaches Creative Writing at the University's School of English, Communication and Philosophy. Touch Blue Touch Yellow shows at Chapter Arts Centre between Tuesday 1 December and Saturday 5 December. Tickets are available on Chapter’s website. Crow is due for wider cinema release early in 2016