Theatres in Wales
The National Theatre in Wales whose first performance was given in March 2010 has become the dominant theatre in the region, staging 13 different performances across different locations in Wales. The Observer newspaper has called it 'a supreme, outdoor, sit-specific company'. Examples of locations used are the town of Port Talbot, the miners' institutes in the South Wales Valleys, a Prestatyn beach and a house in Penygroes.
The Theatre has had an Excellent Reception
88% of tickets to the shows have been sold with 12,000 in Port Talbot watching the finale of The Passion. The national newspapers have given the shows fantastic reviews, with five star reviews by The Telegraph for The Persians and for The Passion by The Guardian. What's more, a Young Critics Scheme has been set up in Bridgend, a filmmaker's club in Prestatyn and in Barmouth a radio station. They have an online community of over 2,500 members. The theatre has used new methods in digital operating systems and has helped create documentaries for the BBC, used Augmented Reality Gaming and new viral content.
The Theatre Stages Collaborations within the UK
The theatre has collaborated with a wealth of Welsh artists. These include directors like Mike Pearson, Bill Mitchell and Elen Bowman along with theatre companies like the Welsh National Opera, Wildworks and Rimini Protokoll. Other artists include the Manic Street Preachers, Paul Clay, Mark Rees and Michael Sheen.
The Theatre's Second Year of Productions Announced
The new productions include The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning, the Dark Philosophers Tour, The Village Social, Nofit State Tour, A Provincial Life, Little Dogs, I'm Water I'm Weightless, Coriolanus, Branches and Outdoors.
A Provincial Life for example is a tale from Chekhov adapted and directed by Peter Gill, in which high and mighty ideals descend into hatred and decay. Peter Gill's adaption is a skilled adaption from a director who has worked in world continents like the UK, North America and Europe in over 80 productions. The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning is a political story about a young teenage Welsh boy who grows up to release thousands of US embassy emails to Wikileaks by Tim Price. Price has amassed many television credits like Casualty and the Secret Diary of a Call Girl, plus he won Best Drama at Celtic Film and TV Festival 2009. Little Dogs is a little different in that it is put on by Frantic Assembly a theatre group known for its contemporary, vivid and thrillingly dynamic theatre. It portrays a dance in its physicality meeting text, music and design. The story is based on a dance that becomes ubiquitous in cities as a kind of mating ritual, inspired by the story of Dylan Thomas called Just like Little Dogs. The company itself has performed internationally across 28 different countries.
Surrounding the National Theatre of Wales
The team surrounding the National Theatre includes an online community, a WalesLab responsible for an initiative to find new artists and new theatre ideas, an NTW group of local volunteers who informs their communities about productions and an Assembly for a programme of debate, exploration and discussion of the theatre space.