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Drama on 4: The State of Water

The State of Water

10/11/2011

BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, The State of Water

A Welsh family is fiercely divided over the future of their sheep farm.

Eldryd and his daughter Siwan are sheep farmers, but Siwan's radical ideas about eco-management are driving a wedge between them. A new play by Sarah Woods.

A Welsh family is fiercely divided over the future of their farm.

Eldryd and his daughter, Siwan, are sheep farmers in the uplands of Wales. Prices are better than they have been but it's a hard, physical life that increasing age doesn't make any easier. Still, Eldryd loves this landscape and the life - the raw beauty, the wide horizons, the solitude. Then Siwan hears about a scheme which helps sheep farmers to give up their animals and become eco-stewards of their landscape. The idea is that this will improve water retention on the uplands, which helps the water supply and hinders flooding. For Eldryd the answer is simple: no. For Siwan, things are more complex - this new way of life might offer her a future. Sarah Woods' new play looks at the debate between sheep farming and eco management through the experience of one family.

The writer
Sarah Woods is an award-winning writer and has written a number of drama-documentaries for BBC Radio 4 including . LOVESONG TO THE BUSES which explored the world of a young man with Asperger's Syndrome.

CAST:
Narrator . . . Iestyn Jones
Eldryd . . . . Phyl Harries
Siwan . . . . Mali Harries
Penny . . . . Claire Cage
Huw . . . . Rhys ap William
Sion . . . . Saul Woods

A BBC/Cymru Wales production, directed by Kate McAll.

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