Getting to know Sita Thomas – Go Tell The Bees new Co-Creator

I’m born and bred in Pembrokeshire and went to Ysgol Greenhill School. I was always passionate about theatre, arts and creativity, and have a vivid memory of when I was a teenager going to a production in Carew Castle that was so atmospheric and magical, it completely caught my imagination. 

I’ve worked for many years now as a theatre and film maker, and television presenter, predominantly in London though I came back to Cardiff to be part of Sisters with National Theatre Wales which explored what it means to be a South Asian woman today. I loved this experience and it led to me applying successfully for an NTW Located Residency in 2018-2019. I created a project called Queer Tales, and worked with people who identify as LGBT+ in Pembrokeshire who shared their stories in a verbatim process. I worked with a composer from Tenby, Phoebe Osborne, and created a script and score for a piece that I hope we’ll tour when it’s safe to do so again. 

All of this lived-experience and my passion for creating work that is site-specific, co-created, and socially-engaged means that Go Tell The Bees is an absolute dream project to be working on. I’m fascinated to be re-visiting our history; I remember the Sea Empress disaster which occurred 25 years ago and people coming together on the beach to clear up this massive oil spill. It was what happened to the birds that sticks in my mind, their feathered wings glued together by this thick black gunge, and local people joining forces on a rescue mission. It’s this kind of spirit that we of course need to harness now in relation to the impending climate crisis. I’m looking forward to interweaving verbatim interview material to form a script, and working with the brilliant co-creators to direct a piece that incorporates music, movement, poetry, film, fire and epic design, on the beach, in the castle and across the village of Manorbier. I can’t wait to get creating!