In this episode you’ll get an opportunity to meet Gwagsaw [‘Frivolous One’], Syr Caswir [‘Sir Harsh Truth’], Ffowcyn Gnuchlyd [‘Fucking Foulke’] and other fools from the anterliwtiau. As we examine the role of the fool, we note that he has many functions in a traditional anterliwt. First of all, he begins the play with his funny capers and his satirical words in order to attract an audience.
We go on in a more philosophical vein and suggest that one could view the fool’s job at the start of an anterliwt in terms of turning the unruly crowd at a gwylmabsant, market or fair into an audience willing to stay put and watch a play for two or three hours. But if he compels order at times, the fool also destroys order, turning the miser’s world upside down. While considered ‘The History of Captain Ffactor’ by Huw Jones of Llangwm, we observe how the fool Gwagsaw destroys the boundaries of his own story and his own play, and we see this as an example of how the anterliwt-composers could work creatively within the boundaries of tradition.