Styling syncretic bilingualism on Welsh-language TV

Abstract

Abstract Madamrygbi is a ‘comedy rugby interviewer’ persona created by actor Eirlys Bellin on Welsh-language television. In her regular television appearances Madamrygbi affects incompetence and naïvety in order to wrongfoot the rugby celebrities that she interviews. Her style, in different semiotic dimensions, transgresses norms of two main sorts and brings them to viewers’ attention. First, Madamrygbi’s syncretic, English-influenced Welsh transgresses norms for Welsh-language broadcasting, where there is a strong expectation of ‘Welsh-only’ and ‘correct’ speech. Second, her ‘rugby-mad,’ sexualized demeanor creates stances that clash with normative expectations about Welsh rugby, the supposedly revered ‘national game’ of Wales. Bellin’s creativity in maintaining and developing the Madamrygbi persona provides insights into stylized performance as a media resource. Madamrygbi’s performances leave a trail of remediated images and stock phrases, in which we see the potential for the critical reflexivity created by the character to become more durable.

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