Bards of Gorsedh Kernow were delighted to take part in an imaginative celebration of Glasney College recently as part of the Penryn Arts Festival. Katie Etheridge and Simon Persighetti created a weekend of performance, art and learning – “Yn Polsethow y whylyr anethow”, which means “In Polesthow shall habitations or marvellous things be seen”- in the ‘University Without Walls’, otherwise known as the iconic Glasney Collegiate College which was founded exactly 750 years ago in Penryn.
Glasney Visions is a series of events designed to awaken the invisible building which lies tantalisingly beneath the green grass of Glasney College Field and several bards of Gorsedh Kernow took part in a special “relay reading” on the Sunday morning by reading aloud, in Cornish and English, from Origo Mundi, one of three miracle plays of The Ordinalia cycle which was written at Glasney and performed in many of Cornwall’s famous Plenys an Gwari, or Playing Places.
“We have had some great feedback from the very diverse audience – many people simply said how wonderful it was simply to hear Cornish spoken in that site,” said Katie. “Some were hearing the language for the first time and many people found it very powerful and moving. We are very grateful to the bards of Gorsedh Kernow for their contribution.”
Katie & Simon agree with many other people who believe that highlighting and celebrating the Glasney site may contribute in the longer term to the cultural identity of the locality as a most significant place in the story of the Cornish language and in the roots of British theatre.
Another wonderful example of people taking up the Gorsedh Kernow “Do Something for Cornwall” Challenge.
Do you have an event in which you are “Doing Something for Cornwall”? Please let us know by emailing dosomething@gorsedhkernow.org.uk
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