MUD from rugby clubs around Wales will be used to dress the set of the Torch's new production when it sets off on tour next week.
Grav, a one-man show about Welsh icon Ray Gravell starring actor Gareth Bale, has received standing ovations every night in Milford Haven this week.
It will then tour to 16 venues across Wales and to make each performance unique and to link up with the local community at each place, the Torch Theatre has been contacting nearby rugby clubs to ask them to collect and donate mud from their rugby pitches and from the boots of their players to ‘dress’ the play’s set, which is an old changing room.
Welsh rugby union centre Raymond ‘Ray’ William Robert Gravell played club rugby for Llanelli RFC. At international level, he earned 23 caps for Wales and was selected for the 1980 British Lions tour to South Africa. Later, he became a respected broadcaster and occasional actor. He died in 2007,aged 56, after complications relating to diabetes.
Lynn Preece, the Torch’s business development officer said: "Although Grav played for the British Lions and his beloved country Wales, his local club Llanelli was always at the heart of his rugby career.
"We wanted to find a way to engage the local rugby clubs in each of the towns and cities that Grav is being performed, to connect with the rugby communities of each area and to represent how crucial that local rugby scene was to Grav.
"The response we've had from the local clubs is fantastic and for most of the performances of Grav, mud from the local rugby pitch will actually be on the set, making each performance unique. We really hope Grav would approve - we think he might.”
Known to millions for his legendary exploits on the rugby field, ‘Grav’ was and is so much more than that. An actor, a cultural icon, a father, a husband, a man with a life packed full of stories that deserve to be heard once more.
For further information about the production including details of sponsors, videos and ‘My Grav Stories’, where people can upload and share their memories of the great man go to www.gravcymru.co.uk
Grav runs at the Torch until Saturday, with a few tickets available for some performances.
It then goes on a tour
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