Chris in the garden by a copper beech tree

Chris Tally Evans is a Welsh disabled artist, actor, director, and writer. He was born in 1962 in Swansea, trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama as a performer and graduated from

Trinity College, London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom, which offers graded and diploma qualifications (up to postgraduate level) across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and ...

, with a teaching diploma.

Career

Evans' interest in theatre and music started as a teenager when he joined West Glamorgan Youth Theatre and West Glamorgan Youth Arts Company as an actor, dancer and musician. He was lead guitarist for the West Glamorgan Youth Arts Company production of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" at

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

's Brangwyn Hall and London's Wembley Arena and was a dancer in Vaughan Williams' "Job" at a performance attended by the Prince and

Princess of Wales Princess of Wales (Welsh: ''Tywysoges Cymru'') is a courtesy title used since the 14th century by the wife of the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. The current title-holder is Catherine (née Middleton). The title was firs ...

in 1981. In both these productions he shared the stage with Russell T Davies, writer and producer of ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. By the age of 14 he was playing the guitar semi-professionally in pubs and clubs in the Swansea area, as well as for a number of theatre shows. For two years at this time he was lead guitarist in the backing band of a very young Catherine Zeta-Jones. Later Evans played in a number of bands including the electric folk band Straight From the Wood who chalked up memorable appearances at Club Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Gwyl Pontardawe Festival and the Village Pump Folk Festival in Trowbridge. Evans has had both poetry and prose published, directed many theatre productions and has performed himself in the United States, Canada, Poland and New Zealand. His film work was exhibited at the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

, Washington, DC, in 2011. Shift Exhibition pic

The

Arts Council of Wales The Arts Council of Wales (ACW; cy, Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru) is a Welsh Government-sponsored body, responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales. Established within the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1946, as the Welsh Arts ...

granted Evans a Major Creative Wales Award in 2009 and he performed work created at this time at the

InterACT Disability Arts Festival The InterACT Disability Arts Festival is an annual three-day event which showcases the talents of disabled performers, authors, artists, and artisans in Auckland, New Zealand. The event has been described by the Minister for Disability Issues, T ...

in Auckland, New Zealand. His unlimited commission, ''Turning Points'', was shown in the

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...

, London during the

2012 Paralympic Games The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

and then went on to be exhibited in Doha, Qatar, in 2013 as part of the Middle East's first ever disability arts festival. He has featured in HTV's award-winning documentary, ''One in Six'' and on

BBC 2W BBC 2W was a digital television channel run by the BBC in Wales until January 2009. It replaced the standard BBC Two broadcast on digital services in Wales — running on weekdays from 8.30pm to 10pm. Launched on 5 November 2001, it had an in ...

's ''The Arts Show''. Evans presented ''In Search of Captain Cat'' which was broadcast on BBC Radio Wales in May 2022 and again in February 2023 and wrote and performed a five-part series for BBC Radio 4 called ''My Mile of the River''. His March 2014 production, ''21st Century Dinosaurs'', with a visually impaired cast, was reviewed enthusiastically by Sarah Finch of National Theatre Wales. He wrote, performed and made video content for National Theatre Wales/Celf o Gwmpas' Big Democracy Project which responded to the question "Are disabled people an easy target for the cuts?" in June 2015. Chris and artists on Gower made a community film ''Almost an Island'' that screened in Reynoldston village hall at a cultural evening that included music from both Delyth Jenkins and Tommy Jenkins as well as a visit from the Mari Lwyd, as well as at La Charrette, Wales' smallest cinema in 2018–19. He also made ''The Voyage of the Sea Serpent'', an epic reimagining of a boat trip off the Gower coast. In 2019 Chris worked with groups in the Mid Rhondda to make work investigating attitudes to disabled people. One of the outcomes was a mash-up of a market stall with Wales' smallest arts centre which was kindly and ceremoniously opened by Jon Luxton (whilst he was serving Mayor of Penarth). In 2022 he was one of 31 artists who staged interventions at art galleries across the UK to disrupt and to celebrate the first exhibition by the Dada school of art as part of ''We are Invisible, We are Visible''. Chris has served as a National Adviser to the

and Arts Adviser to Disability Arts Cymru. This year Chris released a collection of songs, ''Cooking Blind'', dealing with themes of loss, love and disability.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Chris Tally 21st-century male artists 21st-century Welsh artists 21st-century Welsh male actors British actors with disabilities British artists with disabilities Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Welsh poets Welsh writers Welsh people with disabilities British writers with disabilities Year of birth missing (living people)