ACW is developing an English Language National Theatre company that
will present the cream of talent from the theatre in Wales and beyond,
brought together to create productions of real value. Its approach
will be dynamic and its style eclectic. The challenge will be to utilise
and distil the broadest possible range of the very best of theatre
practice world wide to create a contemporary, distinctive style that
reflects the flair and ambition of the nation.
We are aiming high. We want theatre in Wales to win the ownership
and loyalty of the people of Wales in the same way as music and rugby
do currently. We want the theatre of Wales to play its part in reflecting
and shaping the emerging Wales and to gain recognition on the international
stage.
The new company will not be building based giving it the freedom
to create productions both for theatres and for unconventional settings.
It will be artistically led with its director having skills in both
artistic direction and creative production. It is not envisaged that
funding for the company will be used to create a large bureaucracy;
the company will be light on overheads enabling it to work through
collaboration to use its resources on the creation of work.
The new National Theatre will be part of a revitalised theatre infrastructure
where increased investment aims to foster high quality drama and sustainability.
It will work in parallel with the recently created Theatr Genedlaethol
Cymru, the Welsh Language National Theatre company. Important to the
success of the new company will be its skill in collaborating with
the existing infrastructure of theatre companies and venues in Wales
and also in its ability to identify and then empathise and collaborate
with the best of existing and emerging talent in all the many fields
that come together to create the very best in theatre.
Within this spirit of collaboration, the new company and the already
established infrastructure will be charged with creating a new theatre
ecology for Wales that:
- Makes theatre an important, meaningful and life enriching experience
for a wider range of people in Wales
- Builds a sense of cumulative theatre history by exploring and
presenting the best of the plays already created in Wales and by
creating new plays so that, over time, a canon is fostered
- Articulates and strengthens cultural identity
Within this shared agenda, the National Theatre will have particular
responsibility for
- Facilitating a spirit of collaboration and coordination
- Drawing upon different styles and practices all reflecting approaches
that can be seen as facets of Welsh Theatre
- Introducing more and varied directorial voices
- Offering radical and imaginative theatre choices both in selection
of plays and in production styles
- Raising the international profile of the best work being created
in Wales
- Driving up quality and excellence
- Focussing on the identification and nurturing of talent
- Creating or brokering relationships between playwrights, directors,
companies and theatres
- Reflecting and commenting upon the cultural diversity, past and
present, of society in Wales
