£15k appeal launched to bring arson attack to the opera stage

A £15,000 crowdfunding appeal for a new opera about one of the most dramatic chapters in Welsh history has won backing from two high-profile figures.

Former Plaid Cymru president Dafydd Wigley and internationally acclaimed harpist Elinor Bennett are supporting the campaign to stage Fflamau Penyberth which marks the 90^th anniversary of the controversial 1936 arson attack at an RAF base near Pwllheli.

The extraordinary story began when three eminent, “God-fearing” Plaid Cymru members – Saunders Lewis, Lewis Valentine and DJ Williams – set fire to buildings at the “bombing school”, RAF Penrhos, at the site of the culturally and historically important Penyberth farmhouse.

The trio later drove to the police station in Pwllheli to give themselves up and were sentenced to nine months in prison at London’s famous Old Bailey court.

Now their actions, which became a defining moment in the history of Welsh nationalism, is being brought to the stage by OPRA Cymru in the new Welsh language production composed by Anglesey-based Gareth Glyn.

The libretto has been written by opera company founder Patrick Young, from Llan Ffestiniog, with help from collaborator Arwel Vittle, an author and historian from Caernarfon.

Organisers say they need public support to raise the final £15,000 to bring the ambitious production to the stage.

Fflamau Penyberth will receive its world premiere at Neuadd Dwyfor in Pwllheli on November 19 before touring venues across Wales.

It will also be performed in Rhosllannerchrugog, Bangor, Swansea, Barry, Brecon and Aberystwyth before returning to Pwllheli for the final performance of the tour.

Elinor Bennett, who has an international reputation as a soloist, master instructor, and founded the Harp College of Wales, fully supported the crowdfunding appeal.

“This is a worthwhile cause. It is an event I first heard about from my father who was at Caernarfon to welcome the three men after their release from prison.

“My father was very passionate about the incident recognising they had committed a criminal act but believed it to significant and far-reaching.

“Gareth Glyn is a wonderful composer and has written some fantastic works in the past.”

Her husband, who is also a key figure in the history of Welsh nationalism, said he also supports the crowdfunding appeal.

“The arson attack was largely symbolic, they set fire to a hut which caused minimal damage, but it was very significant nonetheless.

“It was disgraceful that no consideration was given to local protests about establishing the RAF base at Penyberth. Three other sites, all in England, had been put forward for the bombing school but they were discounted after objections were put forward.

“Saunders Lewis, Lewis Valentine and David John Williams were greeted by a huge crowd of 15,000 on their return to Caernarfon and underlined the anti-war attitude of Welsh people.

“There have been other instances of Welsh objection being over-ruled, Tryweryn for instance and Fflamau Penyberth serves to remind people of what has occurred in Wales,” he said.

OPRA Cymru was founded in 2008 by Patrick Young, a former opera director of the Royal Opera House in London.

He said: “We receive our core funding from the Arts Council of Wales and we are very grateful for that and other funding comes from charities, trusts and the sale of tickets at the box office.

“Fflamau Penyberth will cost around £170,000 to produce and we anticipate a shortfall of around £15,000 which is why we’ve set up this crowdfunding appeal.

“For less than the price of a morning coffee people can help this unique celebration of the three giants whose actions 90 years ago this year helped deliver the first Plaid Cymru government to Wales.”

Mr Young explained OPRA Cymru’s mission is to bring opera to everyone by performing works in the Welsh language.

Since its opening concert in Pontrhydfendigaid in June 2009, the company has presented several classics from the operatic repertoire in Welsh.

A production of Carmen was the company’s first tour performed by three singers and a piano in schools and village halls.

Then came Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd which was OPRA Cymru’s first premiere production of an opera in Welsh and was named Best Production in the Welsh Language at the Theatr Cymru Awards 2018.

They also commissioned Gareth Glyn to compose a version of Wales’ most famous novel, Un Nos Ola Leuad by Caradog Pritchard which was made into a film

Released to critical acclaim, Tanau’r Lloer was nominated for  an award at the 2026 BAFTA Cymru Awards and will be shown at an international film festival in France this autumn.

Penyberth was a farmhouse which had been the home to generations of patrons of poets, and also a way-station for pilgrims to Bardsey Island, but destroyed in 1936 in order to build the RAF base.

The proposals led to widespread protests in Wales but the government settled on Llŷn after locations in Northumberland and Dorset were met with protests.

Saunders Lewis claimed the government was intent on turning one of the “essential homes of Welsh culture, idiom, and literature” into a place for promoting what Lewis viewed as a barbaric method of warfare.

His comments led to Lewis, nationalist politician and renowned author who was raised in Wallasey, the poet and Baptist minister Lewis Valentine, who was born in Llanddulas near Colwyn Bay, and the novelist D J Williams from Carmarthenshire carrying out the arson attack.

Fflamau Penyberth tells the story in three acts and opens with one of the three men in a prison cell and the story told in a series of flashbacks.

It will be performed at Neuadd Dwyfor, Pwllheli, on November 19; Theatr y Stiwt, Rhosllannerchrugog, on November 20; Pontio, Bangor on November 24; Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea on November 26, Memo Arts Centre, Barry on November 27; Theatr Brycheiniog in Brecon on November 28; Theatr y Werin, Aberystwyth on December 3 and Neuadd Dwyfor, Pwllheli on December 5.

To make a contribution go online to www.zeffy.com/en-GB/donation-form/fflamau-penyberth-yr-opra and for more details about the tour go to www.opra.cymru while tickets can be obtained from the various theatre box offices

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