Award-winning actor Michael Sheen is establishing a new theatre company in Wales.
Michael Sheen will be the first Artistic Director of Welsh National Theatre, an organisation which aims to take over from National Theatre Wales, which collapsed last month following £1.6m in cuts to its funding from Arts Council of Wales.
Welsh National Theatre, which Michael Sheen is initially funding whilst the organisation seeks private and public funding, plans to tell “big stories on big stages for big audiences”, with its first production – a “foundation” story about Wales, to be staged at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff in autumn 2026, starring Michael Sheen.
Sheen said that the new venture will consist of “Welsh theatre makers, Welsh stories and Welsh actors”.
“I want it to be something that represents the rich culture that we are and always have been in this country. We want to please ourselves but thrill the world. I want to be able to tell big stories on big stages for big audiences”, he said.
Welsh National Theatre has already reached out to other theatre organisations in Wales, including Theatr Cymru, about collaborating.
Michael Sheen said he has been inspired to dream big after the success of the National Theatre and Wales Millennium Centre’s production of Nye, starring Sheen as founder of the NHS, Aneurin Bevan.
Written by Welsh playwright Tim Price, Nye is returning to the National Theatre in July 2025, and also to Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre.
Sheen said: “Welsh writers and Welsh theatre makers have to be at the forefront of this. And our Welsh stories have to be the heart of it. I think if you put that on with ambition and audacity, with creativity and innovation, then people will respond to it.”
National Theatre Wales announced its closure in December after 15 years, and a year after Arts Council of Wales funding was withdrawn. The organisation will now transition into TEAM (Theatre, Engagement, Arts, Music), focusing on work within the community and engagement.
In December 2024, the Welsh government increased the culture sector’s funding in its 2025 to 2026 draft budget.
Dafydd Rhys, chief executive of Arts Council of Wales, told the BBC that National Theatre Wales has been provided with both transition and resilience funding to support it to reimagine and restructure its operations. “It is exciting that the organisation is now able to move into this new phase at the beginning of a new year, and we look forward to seeing how both Team Collective Cymru and Welsh National Theatre develop their new creative programmes”, he said.
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