A love letter to the NHS comes to the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, on Wednesday and Thursday, May 1-2.

Part of the NHS70 Festival, National Theatre Wales’ The Stick Maker Tales is Peter Cox’s new one-man show, performed by Llion Williams (Belonging).

It is a heart-warming and heart-breaking tribute to hill-farming communities across Wales and their strength, endurance and determination to survive, even when the odds against them seem impossible.

Shepherd Geth Roberts might be getting on in years, but he still lives alone, high in the Elan Valley above the market town of Rhayader.

He is a born story-teller who has spent his whole life working his wild and windswept farm, hidden away in the timeless Cambrian Mountains beneath the awesome beauty of the Elan night skies, unpolluted by city lights.

But now Geth faces his greatest ever challenge: his sight is failing and if he can’t see then his life has no purpose – he can’t work the farm or carve the exquisite shepherd’s crooks for which he’s famous.

In 2017, actor Llion Williams won Best Actor in the Wales Theatre Awards for Llion Williams and Best Director for Belonging/Perthyn – a co-production between Re-live Theatre and the Torch Theatre, directed by the Torch’s artistic director Peter Doran.

Previous National Theatre Wales productions include The Passion, staged in Newport, The Gathering/Yr Helfa; Roald Dahl’s City of the Unexpected; Wales’ biggest ever arts event, staged to commemorate the writer’s centenary on the streets of his hometown, and the award-winning The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning: about a teenager in Pembrokeshire who grew to be one of the world’s most influential and divisive political figures, while chatting with other audience members in over 50 countries across the globe.

For tickets go to torchtheatre.co.uk