{"id":8436,"date":"2025-04-02T08:05:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T08:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436"},"modified":"2025-04-02T08:09:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T08:09:46","slug":"stars-of-stage-and-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436","title":{"rendered":"Stars of stage and screen"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

We love a red carpet.\u00a0 This week saw the gala premiere screening of the film, Mr Burton<\/em>, starring Toby Jones, opening in a hail of five-star reviews at the Reel cinema in Port Talbot.\u00a0<\/p>

Burton.\u00a0 Port Talbot.\u00a0 This has to be about Richard Burton, yes?\u00a0 To a point, but this is the story of the school-master who made him; who took a promising pupil – miner\u2019s son Richard Jenkins – and prepared him for a stellar career on stage and screen.\u00a0<\/p>

Philip Burton\u2019s influence was so great that the famous actor took his name.\u00a0 So of course we want to know more about him, especially as his namesake is so revered for his unrivalled command of words and language.\u00a0 We\u2019re a literary festival after all, and we want to know what inspired that spectacular talent.<\/p>

Mr Burton<\/em> will be something of a premiere for us at Monty Lit Fest too as it will be the first time we\u2019ll be screening a movie<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s an exciting way to close the festival – but the full, intriguing story is of the man on whom the film is based, and we invite you to come and hear from his biographer, historian Angela John<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>

In her book, Behind the Scenes: The Dramatic Lives of Philip Burton<\/em>, she reveals a man whose passion for the theatre had a transformative impact on many people in Britain and America, not just young Richard.\u00a0 His own prolific creative career took him from a poor mining village to becoming the first director of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York.<\/p>

Angela John will be talking about her research and first-hand knowledge of the Burtons\u2019 background in writing the book. She\u2019ll be joined by Ed Talfan, producer of the film, and Richard\u2019s niece, actress Sian Owen, giving us some real insight into the tension between preserving authenticity and creating drama.<\/p>

One of Richard Burton\u2019s seminal roles was, of course, Mark Antony in the infamously expensive and glorious 1963 film Cleopatra<\/em>.\u00a0 That title suggests that she was the only Cleopatra in Egyptian history – but she wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 There were six before her, all superstars of the Ptolemaic dynasty in their own right (there were many Ptolemies too – very confusing).\u00a0<\/p>

Following his tour de force with The Persians<\/em> two years ago, we\u2019re delighted to welcome back Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones<\/a> to guide us through the dynasty that\u2019s the subject of his latest book, The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt<\/em>. <\/em>\u00a0In it, he makes a strong case for the achievements of all the Cleopatras in securing their 300-year reign, not least through the brother-sister marriages to promote their god-like status.<\/p>

Mistresses of propaganda, survivors of court politics and mob rule, the Cleopatras used their religious and royal status as well as the ancestral family advantage of the name of Alexander the Great.\u00a0 These were no walk-on parts in Egypt\u2019s history:\u00a0 the Cleopatras had leading roles in a big budget epic – and the hieroglyphics and temple reliefs give them amazing reviews.<\/p>

So, if you fancy a bit of on- and off-stage drama, look no further than this year\u2019s Monty Lit Fest. Tickets are on sale now, available online<\/a> and in person at The Montgomery Bookshop and Ivy House Cafe in Montgomery.\u00a0<\/p>

Bring your own popcorn.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We love a red carpet.\u00a0 This week saw the gala premiere screening of the film, Mr Burton, starring Toby Jones, opening in a hail of five-star reviews at the Reel cinema in Port Talbot.\u00a0 Burton.\u00a0 Port Talbot.\u00a0 This has to be about Richard Burton, yes?\u00a0 To a point, but this is the story of the …<\/p>\n

Stars of stage and screen<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[140],"tags":[155,92,153,154,156,150,61,158,151,152,157],"class_list":["post-8436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-monty-lit-fest-2025","tag-angela-john","tag-books","tag-cleopatra","tag-cleopatras","tag-ed-talfan","tag-film","tag-lit-fest","tag-lloyf-llewellyn-jones","tag-mr-burton","tag-philip-burton","tag-sian-owen"],"yoast_head":"\nStars of stage and screen - Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you fancy some on-and off-stage drama, Monty Lit Fest 2025 is the place to be\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stars of stage and screen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you fancy some on-and off-stage drama, Monty Lit Fest 2025 is the place to be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/montylitfest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-02T08:05:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-02T08:09:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Stars-of-Stage-and-Screen-W8.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1264\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"505\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Clare Grist Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@montylitfest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@montylitfest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Clare Grist Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Clare Grist Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/729cdaf0ef43a4bd5fdd957262da5168\"},\"headline\":\"Stars of stage and screen\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-02T08:05:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-02T08:09:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436\"},\"wordCount\":562,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Stars-of-Stage-and-Screen-W8.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Angela John\",\"books\",\"Cleopatra\",\"Cleopatras\",\"Ed Talfan\",\"film\",\"lit fest\",\"Lloyf Llewellyn-Jones\",\"Mr Burton\",\"Philip Burton\",\"Sian Owen\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Monty Lit Fest 2025\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436\",\"name\":\"Stars of stage and screen - Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Stars-of-Stage-and-Screen-W8.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-02T08:05:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-02T08:09:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"If you fancy some on-and off-stage drama, Monty Lit Fest 2025 is the place to be\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Stars-of-Stage-and-Screen-W8.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Stars-of-Stage-and-Screen-W8.png\",\"width\":1264,\"height\":505},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stars of stage and screen\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/\",\"name\":\"Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Monty Lit Fest\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MLF-Logo-with-dates.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MLF-Logo-with-dates.jpg\",\"width\":1758,\"height\":770,\"caption\":\"Monty Lit Fest\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/montylitfest\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/montylitfest\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/montylitfest\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/729cdaf0ef43a4bd5fdd957262da5168\",\"name\":\"Clare Grist Taylor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60e83215293da2396619790810095507f68b8d548ff7f49b422fd1c0fb76cbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60e83215293da2396619790810095507f68b8d548ff7f49b422fd1c0fb76cbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Clare Grist Taylor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stars of stage and screen - Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival","description":"If you fancy some on-and off-stage drama, Monty Lit Fest 2025 is the place to be","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stars of stage and screen","og_description":"If you fancy some on-and off-stage drama, Monty Lit Fest 2025 is the place to be","og_url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436","og_site_name":"Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/montylitfest\/","article_published_time":"2025-04-02T08:05:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-04-02T08:09:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1264,"height":505,"url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Stars-of-Stage-and-Screen-W8.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Clare Grist Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@montylitfest","twitter_site":"@montylitfest","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Clare Grist Taylor","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436"},"author":{"name":"Clare Grist Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/729cdaf0ef43a4bd5fdd957262da5168"},"headline":"Stars of stage and screen","datePublished":"2025-04-02T08:05:31+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-02T08:09:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436"},"wordCount":562,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Stars-of-Stage-and-Screen-W8.png","keywords":["Angela John","books","Cleopatra","Cleopatras","Ed Talfan","film","lit fest","Lloyf Llewellyn-Jones","Mr Burton","Philip Burton","Sian Owen"],"articleSection":["Monty Lit Fest 2025"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436","url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436","name":"Stars of stage and screen - Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Stars-of-Stage-and-Screen-W8.png","datePublished":"2025-04-02T08:05:31+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-02T08:09:46+00:00","description":"If you fancy some on-and off-stage drama, Monty Lit Fest 2025 is the place to be","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Stars-of-Stage-and-Screen-W8.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Stars-of-Stage-and-Screen-W8.png","width":1264,"height":505},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=8436#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stars of stage and screen"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/","name":"Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#organization","name":"Monty Lit Fest","url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MLF-Logo-with-dates.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MLF-Logo-with-dates.jpg","width":1758,"height":770,"caption":"Monty Lit Fest"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/montylitfest\/","https:\/\/x.com\/montylitfest","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/montylitfest\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/729cdaf0ef43a4bd5fdd957262da5168","name":"Clare Grist Taylor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60e83215293da2396619790810095507f68b8d548ff7f49b422fd1c0fb76cbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60e83215293da2396619790810095507f68b8d548ff7f49b422fd1c0fb76cbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Clare Grist Taylor"},"url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?author=6"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Stars-of-Stage-and-Screen-W8.png","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8436"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8448,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8436\/revisions\/8448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}