Eddie Ladd

Eddie Ladd (born 18 April[1] 1964) is a Welsh television presenter and leading dance and performance artist.

Early life and education

Eddie Ladd's birth name is Gwenith Owen.[2] She grew up on a farm near Cardigan, West Wales. Subsequently she studied Drama and Music at Aberystwyth University.[2] She graduated in 1985.[3]

When Owen joined the acting union, Equity, she registered her name as Eddie Ladd because "it sounded quite snappy".[2]

Career

From 1989 she was the "controversial presenter"[3] of the Welsh language television music show Fideo 9 on S4C. She also fronted The Slate (in English) on BBC2.[2]

Ladd was a member of the anarchic performance company, Brith Gof, for ten years.[2] She toured with them internationally across Europe and South America.[3]

She has created her own works and projects since the early 1990s. Her solo show, Club Luz, won an award at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival.[4] In 2005 she was chosen by the British Council to represent the best of Welsh theatre at the Edinburgh Festival, together with No Fit State Circus and Volcano Theatre.[5]

In 2009 Ladd created Ras Goffa Bobby Sands/The Bobby Sands Memorial Race, a 50-minute theatrical piece about the Irish hunger striker, Bobby Sands. The play, staged on a giant running machine, toured Wales.[6] The performance left Wales, with The Independent reviewing her appearance at 'The Place', London. The audio content is in English and Welsh, reflecting Ladd's personal agenda which the reviewer says "at a London performance on an Irish subject, it felt like a different argument". Though the verbal content is difficult to hear, "the movement is strong. Ladd is a wiry, athletic performer, dogged and driven.".[7]

During COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, Ladd performed an hour-long live performance "Fy Ynys Las" which mapped her family farm, Maesglas, on the Ceredigion coast. It used photographs, drone footage, music and a "backstage" tour of the farm.[8]

In June 2022 she became the presenter of Noson Gelf / Art Night, a regular programme filmed by Culture Colony and broadcast on the online platform AM.[9]

Ladd was announced as one of the honorary presidents of the 2026 National Eisteddfod of Wales.[10] In June 2026 in the lead up to the Eisteddfod, Ladd led the tour of 'Lord Rhys' through Pembrokeshire, narrating at each location, before being suspended from the walls of Cardigan Castle on the final day to narrate a special ceremony.[11] Minister for the Welsh Language, Anna Brychan, declared in the Senedd that Ladd should become a "national treasure".[12]

Awards and recognition

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gwenith Owen [@GwenithOwen] (18 April 2020). "So mam wedi bod getre ers Mawrth 12fed. Mam: Wel, sda fi ddim byd i ti ar dy fyrthdei. Fi: Gwna Welsh cakes Mam: Reit 'te *ar ei thraed*" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Gareth Bicknell, "Avant-garde Eddie is one of the Ladds; Gareth Bicknell gets to grips with the real and imaginary world of Eddie Ladd", Daily Post (Liverpool), 27 September 2003.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Net dancing award for Eddie", BBC Wales News, 3 July 2001. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Triumph for Welsh dancer", WalesOnline, 23 August 2003. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  5. ↑ Hannah Jones, "Flying the arts flag for Wales", Western Mail, 14 July 2005. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  6. ↑ Karen Price, "Keep on running", WalesOnline, 2 October 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  7. ↑ Zoe Anderson, "The Bobby Sands Memorial Race, The Place, London", The Independent, 13 April 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Jon Gower (30 May 2020). "Review: Fy Ynys Las is an engaging and deeply personal mix of biography and cartography". Nation.Cymru. Retrieved 14 August 2026.
  9. ↑ "Award winning presenter Eddie Ladd takes the helm for new monthly arts programme". Nation.Cymru. 7 June 2022. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
  10. 1 2 "Cyhoeddi llywyddion anrhydeddus Eisteddfod y Garreg Las" [Announcing the honorary presidents of the Blue Stone Eisteddfod]. BBC Cymru Fyw (in Welsh). 17 June 2026. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  11. ↑ "Lord Rhys's homecoming celebrates Eisteddfod's 850th anniversary". Cambrian News. 29 June 2026. Retrieved 14 August 2026.
  12. ↑ "Galw am ddatgan Eddie Ladd yn 'drysor cenedlaethol'" [Call to declare Eddie Ladd a 'national treasure']. Golwg360 (in Welsh). 7 July 2026. Retrieved 14 August 2026.
  13. ↑ The Winners!, Wales Theatre Awards. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
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