Crone Cast

Bydd Crone Cast, o'r hen air Nordig kasta, ar ffurf ac arolwg yn siâp, heb ffurf wedi'i wrthdroi, yn ddeunydd wedi'i ffurfio tu fewn i blisgyn y corff, y wyneb allanol y gragen neu sgerbwd, lapied o bridd…

Crone Cast, from Old Norse kasta, will be in form and appearance an unfixed twist or distortion of shape, material formed in a body cavity, the external surface of shell or skeleton, a coil of earth…

Crone Cast is a collective of artists identifying as old/older women, based in North Wales, arising from Wanda Zyborska's twelve years of research into reinventing becoming the withered.

Together, Zyborska, Lisa Hudson, Lindsey Colbourne, Rhona Bowey, Steph Shipley, Emily Meilleur, Kar Rowson and others, explore ageing, power, identity, eccentricity and merging with the more-than-human as a process of becoming, in symbiosis with the precariousness of our times.

Established in response to and experimenting with the conditions of the pandemic, in the context of climate change, societal and eco-system collapse, we are re- imagining crone as noticed, seen and heard, whilst noticing, looking and listening.

We are delighted to have been featured by Culture Colony (Hag Haf Ha Ha ) and by Marc Rees/Wales Arts International (Hagira)

2026 - 7: Dod yn Wrych - Becoming Hedge

Mae Crone Cast yn parhau â'i ymgais anweddus am drawsnewid trwy chwilio am y bylchau rhwng llefydd - yr ardaloedd lliniarol, y ffiniau rhwng y dynol ac arallrwydd, uwchben ac o dan y croen.

Crone cast continues its indecent quest for transmutation by seeking out the spaces between places - the liminal, borderline areas between the human and otherness, above and below the skin…

Dod yn Wrych 2026 Becoming Hedge

Crone Cast is currently developing a series of episodes, created, performed and filmed in different places and situations, with various human and more-than-human collaborators and participants.

1 Crwydro Crone Cast Base Becoming

In lockdown 2020, the first episode, Crwydro Crone Cast - Base Becoming, saw us casting off unwanted baggage and making kin with the forest and its creatures.

Collectively hunting in a pack, seeking smells, forecast and conjecture, our cast is crwydro, wandering, dropping and egesting, casting to the ground, casting a spell, casting our eyes, casting a shadow.

Walking Score:

Hunt in a pack-cast in a wide sweep in search of a scent
Cast your burdens and gather your non- human crone kin
Twirl and cackle and grind indecently

2 Hag Haf ha ha

In early summer 2021, Hag Haf Ha Ha re-entered and explored the town centre, seeking small utopic places of sustainable regeneration, tending and befriending weeds growing in cracks, and connecting with people through gifts of seedlings and cakes.

3 Hagira

In winter 2021 Hagira at Dinas Dinlle was an expedition to the edge of the land, on the margin of where we live, travelling somewhere and nowhere, becoming sand, bird, wind and storm. We are battling our own and the planet's extinction. This third outing is a long journey. We don't know where we are going but we are going bravely and with distinction…

This performance was only observable through binoculars.

Funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Hagira was featured in Marc Rees’ curated 2022 series #PethauBychain Wales Arts International’s response to climate change and future generations. It was also shown on Conwy Suspension Bridge as part of the project Climate Change: Creative Conversations by National Trust Cymru, in partnership with Arts Council of Wales.

4 Crone Borg: ll i’ll loll p i’ll i’ll l

August 2022

Mae Crone Cast yn ymweld â cheg ac anws y fetabolaeth, safn sy’n ymddangos fel archfarchnad. Yr is-destun yw diwedd y cyfnod clo, y normal newydd annormal, parhad y pandemig a dinistr parhaus y maes eco. Y safle yw archfarchnad newydd Aldi, ar Ffordd Caernarfon ym Mangor, rhwng MacDonalds a Dunelm. Mae'r hen wrachod braidd yn ddi-lun, a'u gwisgoedd braidd yn garpiog. Wedi eu haddurno â sbwriel, plastig du o ffensys weiren bigog sydd hanner ffordd i gael ei fetaboleiddio’n ficro-blastig, ac sy’n edrych yn dda. Bydd mathau eraill o wastraff plastig wedi eu meddalu a'u harddu gan amser a natur yn addurno ein cyrff a'n penwisgoedd blêr.

Crone Cast visit the mouth and anus of the metabolism, a maw, manifested as supermarket. The subtext is the end of lockdown, the non-new-normal, the continuation of the pandemic and the continued destruction of the eco sphere. The site is the new supermarket, Aldi, on Caernarfon Rd Bangor between MacDonalds and Dunelm. The crones are a bit shop soiled, their costumes a bit ragged. Embellished with tattered rubbish, black plastic from barbed wire fences that is halfway through metabolising into micro plastic, looking good with it. Other kinds of plastic waste softened and aesthetically improved by time and nature will adorn our carapaces and bedraggled headdresses.

Wanda Zyborska, Lisa Hudson, Steph Shipley, Rhona Bowey, Emily Meilleur, Kar Rowson, Lindsey Colbourne

This performance was part of Gwyl Metaboliaeth Festival

5 Crone Cast a’r Hynafiad - Crone Cast and the Ancients. Forest Comes to Pontio

May 2023

For Utopias Bach’s 3 month residency Ysgol Arbrofol Dod At Ein Coed Utopias Bach Experimental Tree Sense School at Pontio Arts and Innovation Centre in Bangor, the Crones were becoming ancient tree.

We hosted two weeks of the Experimental Treesense School - Cylch 4: Crone Cast a’r Hynafiad - Crone Cast and the Ancients, exploring ways of reinventing becoming old woman (Crone) whilst asking the question:

“How can we become together with crones and ancient trees?”
“Sut allwn ni dyfu gyda’n gilydd gyda hen wrach a choed hynafol?”

We hoped archetypal memories and connections will help us to join and become with ancient trees, exploring the complexity of our cultural history as well as the joy and richness of our becoming.

Resulted in Forest Comes to Pontio performance