A show first shown at the Congress Theatre is heading for a run at the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Last Thursday, I watched a 50-minute version of ‘Daughter of Bala’- the full play staged in Cwmbran during March 2025.
It was a captivating production at Newport’s Riverfront Theatre. A two-woman cast with a hat stand, two dining chairs, a table, and a rocking chair took us on a journey into the horrors of war with love and compassion, humour, and a big dose of paperwork and penny-pinching that cost the lives of British soldiers.
I left feeling that Blackadder missed a trick going from series three (the Regency era) to series four (World War I). Miriam Margolyes (several series) and Miranda Richardson (Queenie in Blackadder II) would have relished showing government failings in the Crimean War (1853-1856) of unused supplies, bureaucracy (new bed sheets needing two signatures to be taken out of the stores), and nurses acting like “tourists” hundreds of miles from the frontline.
Playwright Adele Cordner took on the multi-character role, changing from Lord Raglan to Jane Williams (who wrote ‘The Autobiography of Elizabeth Davis, a Balaclava Nurse’- the basis of this play) to Florence Nightingale – and others- with a swift change of hat, accent, shawl and a comedy moustache.
Clare Drewett was our hero nurse, Betsi Cadwaladr – who signed up after reading a story in The Times about soldiers dying on the Crimean Peninsula due to the lack of care. But she became Elizabeth Davies to make it easier for her English colleagues to pronounce.
Sixty-five
Oh, and she was 65 when she volunteered! I’ll put that in words so you know it’s not a typo- sixty-five. Why aren’t these hero women’s stories more widely known?
Betsi transformed the war hospital facilities for injured soldiers as best she could in tough conditions, saving countless lives – introducing novel things to war like iron beds, good hygiene and decent food. She died in 1860 and was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave in London. Read that line again.
Drewett and Cordner performed a non-stop scene flawlessly to put Betsi in the spotlight.
The pair took me on a history lesson I wish I’d had at Fairwater Comprehensive School in the early 1990s. They’re part of the not‑for‑profit company Her Story Theatre, and specialise in finding little-known stories about women in Welsh history and bringing them to life in a memorable and easy-to-follow stage production.
Who else will own up knowing there is a Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in North Wales but has never done a quick Google search to find out who she is? I had no idea until 2.55pm when I walked out of the Riverfront Theatre.
The more widely known Florence clashed with our Welsh hero several times. Betsi only wanted to be allowed to do the best for injured soldiers, so wasn’t afraid of speaking truth to power. Do not mess with a 65-year-old Welsh nurse.
Welsh Florence Nightingale
And also do not call Betsi, as some do, the Welsh Florence Nightingale. She’s Betsi and has a story to tell alongside Florence’s. And thanks to Her Story Theatre, it’s a story that will be taken out of Wales and to new audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe.
You can watch Betsi – ‘The Welsh Nurse History Forgot’ at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall (Venue 53) in Edinburgh from Monday 24 to Saturday 29 August at 1.45pm.