Myles and Hall came out onto the Hay stage to rapturous applause; with 9.5 million views on BBC iPlayer, the popularity of Keeping Faith and its Welsh-language counterpart Un Bore Mercher has been firmly established. The writer behind the show and its star spoke about the development of the show’s main character, Faith, the subtle differences between the Welsh and English-language versions and the overwhelmingly positive reaction the first series attracted.
On Faith, Myles said that the protagonist was “a fantastically flawed, brilliant human being”, expressing her desire to be immersed in a role that was challenging and fulfilling. Interspersed with clips in both languages, she described the process of conveying the multitude of emotions that Faith, who spends the series entangled in a desperate search for her missing husband, goes through on screen.
Welsh identity and the Welsh landscape permeate the plot of the programme, which is filmed along the coastline of West Wales, a “unique” and “elemental” part of the world according to Hall. It therefore seemed fitting to produce a Welsh-language version of the show, an effort backed by S4C. For Myles, however, the transition into Welsh was not seamless – she recounted how learning this “wonderful language” for the role from scratch was a difficult but ultimately rewarding experience. Myles urged any audience members considering learning Welsh to pursue it wholeheartedly: “I cannot encourage you enough”.
The next series of Keeping Faith is currently being written.
If you missed this, you might enjoy Event 375: Dylan Moore talks to Peter Florence, tomorrow at 2.30pm. Visit Hay Player for the world’s great writers on audio and film - https://www.hayfestival.com/hayplayer/default.aspx?