Michael Sheen announces new Welsh National Theatre company

Michael Sheen has announced plans to launch a Welsh National Theatre.

The Good Omens and Staged star, who is already set to return to theatres this year in hit play Nye, will start by self-financing the company while looking for public and private investment.

Sheen has committed to appear in the company’s first show, which he has stated will take place on the Millennium Centre stage in Cardiff (where Nye is due to be performed in a few months’ time). This is slated for the autumn of 2026, with the intention for the company to then present one show every year.

Sheen said: “This is a new dawn for theatre in Wales. We’ll be a home for our greatest talent, bringing them together to create ambitious theatre which makes our national story come alive. That’s what national theatres should do.

“Wales has such a rich storytelling history but our stories are underexplored in the English language, both at home and internationally. I’ve spent much of the past year on stage playing Aneurin Bevan in Tim Price’s Nye to packed houses, both in and out of Wales. Audiences have a huge appetite for our stories if we give them the chance to experience them.”

The plan comes after National Theatre Wales (which Sheen worked with in 2011) shut down late last year, following a £1.6 million cut to funding from Arts Council Wales.

Expect more news in due course.