Cultural highlights 2025: The ‘beauty, madness and diversity’ of Wales’ music, literature and theatre

Alun Lwyd, PYST Cyf

2025’s musical highlights for me has to start with an incredible Cameron Winter piano gig at Manchester Albert Hall last month but Welsh music has also enjoyed another brilliantly productive year.

My highlight would be the brilliant Gwyl Nawr festival in Swansea in October. Creatively curated to the point where you want to see and discover everything there, it was a wonderful celebration of the beauty, madness, diversity and brilliance of music in Wales.

Where else could you sit down for a few hours and experience incredible sets by Bedwyr Williams, Tai Haf Heb Drigolyn, Bragod, Chwaer Fawr, Mia Zabelka and Black Top to name but six.

The NAWR collective are putting on brilliant gigs in Swansea and beyond all year round and have now also started a record label to release the forthcoming Peiriant album. More on NAWR here:
https://rwan.cymru/

Literature

Rather that one book or piece of work i am going use this opportunity to appreciate and say diolch for the work of Cyhoeddiadau’r Stamp – arguably Wales’ most exciting and progressive publishing house.

Not only did they publish the winning Poetry Prize collection at this year’s Book of The Year awards for Meleri Davies’ wonderful ‘Rhuo ei Distawrwydd Hi’ but they once again broke boundaries by publishing – in individal pamphlet form – the winning entries in the Urdd Eisteddfod’s literature competitions.

Despite receiving no grant money in nine years but still exisiting on a shoestring budget (often crowdfunded) their ambition and vision for publishing new voices in Wales is truly inspiring.

Learn more here: https://www.ystamp.cymru/

Theatre

Two standouts. Leila Navabi’s hilarious yet moving Relay which she performed at The Sherman in Cardiff before moving on to the Edinburgh Festival was a wonderful evening of joyous comedy. Ambitious but punk, fragile but defiant. It was everything.

In often a very similar way, Mared Jarman’s ‘Byth Bythoedd Amen’ which she wrote and starred in for Theatr Cymru was a staggering achievement. It was dark, it was dirty, it was bleak but it was also hilarious and empowering.

Two writers / performers that gave hope and confidence in the future of inclusive, embracing and progressive theatre in Wales.

We need arts and culture to be properly funded so that voices and performers such as Leila and Mared can continue to write and inspire this and future generations of theatre makers and audiences.