Port Talbot actor Sheen has launched a new national theatre for Wales, following the collapse of National Theatre Wales.
Sheen, 55, who will be artistic director of the new Welsh National Theatre, said it would present one large scale production a year. So far, he said, there is no public funding for the venture, whose first show will be produced this year in the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay with Sheen in the cast.
“Wales has such a rich storytelling history but our stories are under-explored in the English language, both at home and internationally” said Sheen whose performances in Tim Pryce’s Nye presented jointly by the Wales Millennium. Centre and the National Theatre in London, brought box-office success.
“This is a new dawn for theatre in Wales. [It will] be a home for our greatest talent, bringing them together to create ambitious theatre that makes our national story come alive. That’s what national theatres should do.
“Audiences have a huge appetite for our stories if we give them the chance to experience them.”
National Theatre Wales was established in 2009 to present English language theatre for Wales, as opposed to Theatr Cymru founded in 2003 which offers performances in the Welsh language. It closed in December after the Welsh Arts Council withdrew all of its funding.
Sheen, says he will be mining a rich vein of Welsh stories and history.
“Could you tell me the name of the great play about Aberfan or the Merthyr Rising or the Rebecca riots?
“Where is our Welsh canon of great plays? We can’t do Under Milk Wood for the rest of eternity.
“I’m bursting with ideas, people are bursting with work that they want to do with us, and that’s what’s really exciting about it.”
