 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2019) |
 | |
| Formation | May 2009 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Cardiff, Wales |
Official language | English |
| Website | nationaltheatrewales |
National Theatre Wales (NTW) is a charity and theatre company based in Wales.
The National Theatre of Wales, known as National Theatre Wales (NTW), was founded in 2007 following an agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru, aimed at establishing an English-language national theatre for Wales. [1]
Over many decades, there were several attempts to establish such a theatre. Finally, a consensus emerged, bringing together the political will and muscle of both Labour and Plaid Cymru, the consistent advocacy of key individuals within Arts Council Wales (ACW), and a shared understanding among the informed public that the formation of the company was imperative and time-sensitive. This collaborative effort culminated in the inception of National Theatre Wales in 2007, made possible through the "One Wales Agreement", which allocated additional funding under Arts Council Wales’ jurisdiction to facilitate its establishment and continued operation. [2]
In 2018, 41 Welsh dramatists signed an open letter criticising the company, calling for it to reform, particularly limiting itself to only produce theatre. The letter expressed concern with the company's "lack of scrutiny, transparency and openess", leading to a "worrying internal culture" claimed to diminish its "theatrical identity" and even its Welshness. [3]
On 27 September 2023, the Arts Council of Wales announced that revenue funding for the company would cease from April 2024. [4]
It has a counterpart in Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, the Welsh-language national theatre company of Wales founded in 2003. [5]
| | This section needs additional citations for verification .(May 2024) |
National Theatre Wales plays a central role within the Welsh theatre sector ecosystem. It has three core areas of work aiming to place the Welsh people at the heart of the theatre they make:[ citation needed ]
NTW is also the co-originator and co-custodian of the Theatre Green Book in collaboration with the National Theatre and National Theatre of Scotland. The Theatre Green Book is a globally recognised sector-leading framework and innovator for delivering carbon-neutral theatre, and the initiative won The Stage Award for Innovation in 2022. [6]
Among the company’s productions are:
Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) is Wales' national arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of 4.7 acres (1.9 ha). Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of 26–28 November 2004 and phase 2 opened on 22 January 2009 with an inaugural concert.
Terence David Hands, was a multi-award English theatre director. He founded the Liverpool Everyman Theatre and ran the Royal Shakespeare Company for thirteen years during one of the company's most successful periods; he spent 25 years in all with the RSC. He also saved Clwyd Theatr Cymru from closure and turned it into the most successful theatre in Wales in his seventeen years as Artistic Director. He received several Olivier, Tony and Molière awards and nominations for directing and lighting.
Ieuan Rhys is a Welsh actor. His television work has included thirteen years in the BBC Cymru soap opera Pobol y Cwm, Seargent Tom Swann in the last series of A Mind to Kill and six series of the Welsh-language version of Mr & Mrs – Sion a Sian for HTV. For the last four series he portrayed Eurig Bell, the "not to be messed with" Deputy Headmaster in S4C's Gwaith/Cartref.
Richard Harrington is a Welsh actor.
The Sherman Theatre is a venue in the Cathays district of Cardiff. It was built as a twin-auditorium venue in 1973 with financial support from University College Cardiff. Sherman Cymru was the name of the Sherman Theatre between 2007 and 2016 when the name changed back to Sherman Theatre.
Rhodri Meilir is a Welsh actor. In 2018, he began portraying the role of Dilwyn in the BBC Three series In My Skin.
Daniel Owain Lloyd is a bilingual Welsh actor and singer-songwriter. He is the frontman for the Welsh language band Daniel Lloyd a Mr Pinc, who reformed in 2017 after a 6-year break, as well as a solo artist and established actor.
Alan Harris is a Welsh playwright and television writer.
Phil Clark is a theatre director and writer, specialising in work for young people.
Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru is the Welsh language national theatre of Wales, founded in 2003.
Theatre in Wales includes dramatic works in both the Welsh language and English language. Actors from Wales have also achieved international recognition.
Morfydd Clark is a Swedish-born Welsh actress. She is best known for playing Galadriel in the Amazon Prime series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022–). She received a number of accolades for her performance in the film Saint Maud (2019), including a BAFTA Cymru as well as BIFA and BAFTA Rising Star Award nominations.
Kaite O'Reilly FRSL is UK-based playwright, author and dramaturge of Irish descent. She has won multiple awards for her work, including the Ted Hughes Award (2011) for her version of Aeschylus's tragedy The Persians. O'Reilly's plays have been performed at venues across the UK and at the Edinburgh Festival. Her work has also been shown internationally including in Europe Australia, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. O'Reilly openly identifies as a disabled artist and has spoken of the importance of "identifying socially and politically as disabled" to her work. In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
David Lyn Jenkins, known professionally as David Lyn, was a Welsh television, film and stage actor and director who in his 40 year career was at the forefront in the development of professional Welsh language theatre in Wales in the 1960s and 70s and won a BAFTA Cymru
The Welsh Theatre Company was a professional theatrical company that performed in English in Wales. The Welsh language section of the company was Cwmni Theatr Cymru and the two shared workshops and technical facilities until 1973.
John Gwilym Jones was a Welsh dramatist, novelist, short-story writer, drama director, academic and critic, considered a pre-eminent figure in those fields. In particular, he is widely acknowledged to be one of the two greatest 20th-century Welsh playwrights, along with Saunders Lewis; of his many plays, Hanes Rhyw Gymro (1964), Ac Eto Nid Myfi (1976) and Yr Adduned (1979) are considered masterpieces. Almost all of his work was written in the Welsh language. A writer in the modernist tradition, he is credited with introducing Brechtian techniques, stream-of-consciousness narrative and Freudianism to Welsh literature. Creative writers such as Kate Roberts and John Rowlands owed him a profound debt, and a whole generation of critics were influenced by his work as a teacher of Welsh literature.
Christine Pritchard was a Welsh actress. She was best known in Wales for her role as the witch in Rala Rwdins, a children's show on S4C in the 1990s. She featured in numerous Welsh language films and television series, such as Glas y Dorlan, Dinas, Pobol y Cwm, Cara Fi, and Anita. Her other roles included appearances on The Indian Doctor, Doctors and Stella. On stage she performed regularly with Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru. the Welsh-language national theatre of Wales.
Kully Thiarai FRSA is a British artistic and creative director whose career began in theatre. With her appointment at National Theatre Wales in 2016, she became the first Asian person, and only second woman, to lead a national theatre company in Britain. She has held multiple artistic directorships, including, from 2020 to 2024, the role of creative director for LEEDS 2023 – the city's independent year of culture.
Eleanor Bishop is a New Zealand stage director, producer and playwright. Her play Yes Yes Yes co-written with Karin McCracken for young people about relationships and consent has been seen throughout New Zealand, in Montreal, Wales and Catalonia.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
