How non-Welsh speaking parents can learn alongside their children thanks to a Welsh storyteller and her puppets

Tamar Eluned Williams is bringing stories to life in Cardiff hubs and libraries through song, puppetry and acting

A WELSH storyteller is bridging the language gap for non-Welsh speaking parents through free bilingual interactive shows.

Cardiff-based performer, Tamar Eluned Williams, is touring South Wales with her new 40-minute show, Mali a’r Môr, and will take the stage at Radyr Hub with two performances on Saturday, May 17, 2025, during the Radyr and Morganstown Festival.

Created for children aged three and up, the theatrical performance gives non-Welsh speaking parents the chance to learn Welsh alongside their children, through song, puppetry and acting.

A Welsh speaker herself, Ms Williams wanted to give parents the tools to bring the Welsh language into their homes after the show.

“I wanted to create a show where Welsh felt accessible by being used with a lot of repetition, and a lot of fun and playfulness, so that adults who came along with their children felt like they could use it as well,” said Ms Williams.

“When children learn Welsh in school but come from English-speaking or other linguistic backgrounds, it can present a specific set of challenges for parents who perhaps don’t really understand the language.”

She also chose to perform for younger children because they are at a crucial stage of learning to speak.

“It’s really important that early on, children are exposed to lots of different languages. They have an incredible capacity to absorb language.

“After watching the way my daughter interweaves two languages together to communicate, it made me realise that the idea around the ‘right way’ of speaking a language is a very adult way of approaching language. There is no right or wrong way,” she said.

PhD student Ilid Haf, whose research includes the relationship between Welsh language and parenting, said there was a growing interest from audiences who, despite not being bilingual themselves, are eager to enjoy bilingual shows and books.

“Most often, people who are learning Welsh or have children in Welsh schools want support to understand and pronounce words,” said the Cardiff University researcher. “There is a definite need.”

The show is inspired by the Molly children’s picture book series written by Northern Irish author Malachy Doyle, who relocated to Wales and set many of his tales there.

It tells the story of a young girl on an island waiting for her father’s fishing boat to return after a storm and explores how family relationships change over time.

“The show has an emotional arc, and takes children and their families on that journey where there is some sadness. What the show does is say that it’s okay to feel those feelings and that we can deal with them,” said Ms Williams.

“I think it’s really important for children to experience that wave of emotion in the show, because then they can learn that those emotions are not bad.”

Ms Williams performs with Malachi Doyle’s daughter, Naomi, who helped create the narrative.

The friends are currently touring to libraries across South Wales until July 2025.

“Libraries are spaces where families feel comfortable and somewhere they are already familiar with. In every space, the show is different as library sizes are different.

“We also don’t have a script as we like to keep it improvisatory to adapt it to our audiences,” Ms Williams said.

The tour is supported by the Arts Council for Wales, with funding provided from Radyr and Morganstown Community Council for the Radyr Hub performances, so families can enjoy the show free of charge.

Senior Library Hub Officer for North Cardiff, Anna Hare, organised the event after meeting Ms Williams while hosting a Rhyme Time session at Rhiwbina Hub.

“The immediate goal is to put on events that our communities enjoy and that showcase what libraries can do in terms of storytelling and bringing books to life,” said Mrs Hare.

“Language is a big part of that and Tamar’s performance just shows how stories can be told away from the pages and celebrate language at the same time.”

Mrs Hare hopes to organise more bilingual shows in Cardiff’s library hubs in the near future.

• Information about Tamar Eluned Williams’ tour can be found here.
• Events taking place at Radyr Hub can be found here.