Three Knights and Two Welshmen

In December 1983 the extra-ordinary eight-hour long film Wagner was released. Written by Charles Wood, and directed by Tony Palmer, the film follows the life and works, of the German composer Richard Wagner, starting before the 1848 German Revolution, through to his exile in Switzerland and to his final triumph at Bayreuth in Germany. The film took seven months to shoot and took place in many locations, including King Ludwig II’s castle in Munich. Other locations included Hungary, Switzerland, Siena, Tuscany, Venice, Vienna and Dublin.

The film had a stellar cast with the leading role of Wagner being portrayed by Richard Burton.
Born Richard Walter Jenkins, on 10 November 1925, in Pontrhydyfen, Glamorgan, he changed his name in 1948 to Burton, surname of his schoolmaster and tutor, Philip Burton. He is remembered for his powerful presence and mellifluous baritone voice. Burton is also remembered for his numerous marriages, being twice married to Elizabeth Taylor. Burton made 57 films from 1949, The Last Days of Dolwyn to 1984, Nineteen Eighty-Four, released in December, following Burton’s death in August that year, at his home in Geneva, Switzerland.
This February/March, the Dylan Thomas Theatre, presented the play Three Knights and Two Welshmen. This profiled an evening at the Austrian Hotel suite, during the shooting of the film Wagner. Burton was in a drunken stupor when he was ‘visited’ by his friend Dylan Thomas, along with Sir John Gielgud, Sir Ralph Rich-ardson and Lord Laurence Olivier. During the course of the even-ing, the friends were trying to out-do each other, and the evening came to an abrupt end when Burton added a final insult to Lord Olivier, and one by one they left Burton in his drunken state.
The principal actors were Lyndon Jeremiah – Richard Burton; James Morgan – Dylan Thomas; Stephen Smith – Sir John Gielgud; Dai Rees – Sir Ralph Richardson and Rob Stradling – Lord Laurence Olivier.
The evening that I attended, Tony Palmer the director of the film, was in the audience as well as Frazer Hines, of Emmerdale fame. The play had elements of pathos and comedy.
Local artist Jeff Phillips was commissioned to paint a piece (pic above), where he has captured the essence of the five legends.

Copyright - The Bay Magazine, April 2019


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