Skip to content

Photos reveal behind-the-scenes glimpse of new Michael Sheen play

Beth Alaw WilliamsBBC Wales
News imageJon Pountney a black and white photograph of actor Michael Sheen, who is sat facing away from the camera, wearing a striped shirt and waistcoat. A man with a tattooed arm is stood behind him, styling his hair.Jon Pountney
Sheen has appeared in Welsh-themed plays including Under Milk Wood and Nye at the National Theatre of Great Britain in London

New photos have been released of the first production by Michael Sheen's new Welsh National Theatre.

Our Town opened last month, a year after Sheen announced he would fund a new national theatre for Wales after the original closed due to funding cuts.

Speaking to the BBC as he rehearsed, Sheen, who is also the creative director, said he hoped that performing with the company "is what Welsh actors most strive for".

The play was performed for the first time in the company's home city of Swansea in January, and has begun its tour of north Wales before being staged at the Rose Theatre in London in February and March.

News imageJon Pountney The entire cast of Our Town are photographed in black and white at Swansea's Grand Theatre. They are stood on stage in a circle. The theatre is empty - it seems to be a rehearsal.Jon Pountney
News imageJon Pountney Michael Sheen, wearing a long coat, is seen to the right of the screen as a group of three people are seen talking to the left. There are arrows on the floor and an arrow sign on a door which suggest they are on a stage.Jon Pountney
The cast of Our Town at Swansea's Grand Theatre
Sheen, right, as the stage director

Our Town, written by US playwright Thornton Wilder, follows the daily lives of the residents of Grover's Corners in New Hampshire.

First performed in 1938 - the year it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama - it is considered an American classic and is widely thought to have inspired Welsh poet Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood.

Speaking to the BBC, Sheen said: "For a play about what seem like small events going on in a small town, there's this sense of a shadow growing over it, and in that shadow a warning that life can disappear like that, that this can all be gone in a second, and you have to make the most of it.

"It taps you into something essential about what it is to be alive, and how precious that is."

With Sheen as the company's creative director, Francesca Goodridge directs the Welsh twist of the American classic, with Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies contributing as creative associate.

News imageJon Pountney Michael Sheen waiting to go on stage Jon Pountney
News imageJon Pountney Alfie Llewellyn looks at himself in a mirror in the dressing roomJon Pountney
Sheen prepares to go on stage
Alfie Llewellyn plays two characters in the Thornton Wilder play

The company will stage its second production later this year, with Sheen set to star in and co-direct Owain & Henry, a dramatisation of the 15th century rebellion by Owain Glyndwr against the English reign of King Henry IV.

Sheen called it the "origin story of our nation" when the production was first announced in April.

"It's a real foundational story for Welsh culture and sense of Welsh identity, and yet there's been practically nothing done about it," he said.

Sheen, who has been named the most influential figure in theatre by The Stage magazine, hopes the Welsh National Theatre will "do bigger things that are more expensive, and have more ambition, and are bolder" than its predecessor.

More Top Stories