Mercury Theatre Wales’ latest offering couldn’t come at a more apt time. As 2025 sees rising sea levels and temperatures increasing to make this summer one of the warmest on record, The Woman on the Hill blends the urgency of the message with humour and toe tapping tunes to make this piece really memorable.

Written by Bethan Morgan, who also stars as Gwennan, and with direction from Lyn Hunter, the piece manages to deliver the important key points, whilst not becoming preachy and even including moments of humour and poignancy. The script is well crafted with plenty of space for a believable love story between Carys and Owen, whilst offering the audience a look at what could potentially become our reality in the next 25 years. The mirroring of the story of Cantre’r Gwaelod is particularly clever, interweaving the Welsh legend with a tale very much of today. Although this play’s message is relevant throughout the world, I really enjoyed the inherent Welshness of it all.

The Woman on the Hill is the professional debut of Mabil Morgan-Powell who plays Carys, the titular woman. I found Carys’ performance to be completely believable and captivating. Her relationship with Michael Lindoewood’s Owen was beautifully executed and I really felt her pang of grief when she lost him to the sea. Her singing voice is lovely too; the songs of the piece really soar with her vocals behind them. Michael Lindoewood is eager and endearing as Michael. His dialogue contained a lot of what could be considered the ‘preachiness’ of climate change, but he delivered with a naturalism that never came across as the piece giving us the facts and figures.

As well as penning the piece, Bethan Morgan delivers a humorous yet heartfelt performance of Auntie Gwennan. Her comic timing was excellent and the relationship between aunt and niece was touchingly presented. I was also incredibly impressed by the sheer amount of instruments she could play! Dick Bradnum was the jet-skiing villain of the piece, touting tourism and water sports to the sleepy Welsh village. This was a well balanced performance, working well alongside Auntie Gwennan. Though his character had ill intentions for the village, Dick managed to endear himself to the audience still, showing the complicated nature of the beast that is climate change.

The songs, created by Dan Lawrence, alongside Bethan Morgan, are memorable and catchy and pull the action along at a great pace. I really enjoyed the mixing of languages to really emphasise that nod to Welsh legends and folklore. This paired with great choreography from Sarah Rogers, made the songs soar. Played live on stage by the performers, they are a great mix of lilting melodies and toe tapping, comedic lyrics.

Striking that delicate balance of delivering an important message without ever becoming preachy, The Woman on the Hill was a really enjoyable evening while also clearly leaving the sold-out audience with something to think and talk about as they left the performance space. Mercury Theatre Wales are well known for their timely and important messages and The Woman joins that plethora of productions. All in all, a smart, interesting piece which I really hope as many people as possible get to enjoy.

You can find out more about the production and book tickets for the tour here