Student performs political monologues to win prize at national festival

A School of Law and Politics student has won a medal at Wales’s largest celebration of culture, where he performed two politically charged monologues from the past and the present day.

Owain Siôn, who is a first year Politics student, won the prestigious Richard Burton Medal at this year’s National Eisteddfod which took place in Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taff. The National Eisteddfod takes place in a different Welsh town each year and is a celebration of all things Welsh. It brings people together from across the country to showcase the nation’s art, poetry, music and culture.

Owain has been competing in Eisteddfods most of his life but this year he was able to compete in the solo acting category, for over 19-year-olds, where competitors are expected to present two contrasting monologues in Welsh to fit an eight-minute programme. Owain chose Haman the Agagite's monologue from Saunders Lewis' Esther published in 1960 and a piece spoken by Davey from Gary Owen’s Killology from 2017.

Linking his achievement to his studies at university, Owain said, “Any good drama tells you something about the political nature of its wider context, or indeed the playwright themselves. Haman's monologue is quite literally about politics! He lectures a servant about the nature of power and how politics is driven by men wanting to act like God. Davey in Killology is a young teen living in poverty, playing a computer game that rewards players for killing people. Both plays are saying something crucial about the society they were written in and that is what drew me to them.”

Owain, who is from Llanfairpwll, Anglesey won the first prize of £500 in the competition.

Congratulations to Owain and good luck for your studies and future Eisteddfod competitions!