For his distinctive contribution in exploring over 65 years the relationship between art and life, the creative and the spiritual.
James Roose-Evans has made a special contribution to the theatre and the arts, considered as a vehicle for the Spirit. His own autobiographical or semi-autobiographical works (Inner Journey, Outer Journey, Opening Doors and Windows, and Blue Remembered Hills) show something of his spiritual journey – the background to his ordination in mid-life and his work to establish the very remarkable Bleddfa Centre for Spirituality and the Arts in Radnorshire in 1974, making use both of a redundant church and its neighbouring outbuildings and of his experience in spiritual practice. His interest in theatre and ritual has also led to important publications. His writing is vivid and fresh, and he combines an unfussed candour about his own experience (including his sexuality as a gay man who spent many years in a committed relationship) with a hospitable and literate curiosity about the classical sources of Christian spirituality and a clear, practical approach to how they are to be inhabited today. The Bleddfa venture grew out of many years of living part of the year in that remote area of Mid-Wales and ministering there in rural parishes when needed. There is an impressively ‘rooted’ quality to what he writes, and some of his books could stand alongside Kilvert’s diaries as a witness to local life in the area. The combination of his formidable reputation in the professional theatre (where he is a very highly regarded director indeed) with his record as a teacher and communicator of spiritual tradition is unusual if not unique
Did you know, you can watch videos of James all in one place? Visit the videos page.
