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Dateline: 6th July, 2003 Does Wales Need a National Theatre? Asks Hands In an article in the Western Mail, Wales' national newspaper, Clwyd Theatr Cymru's artistic director Terry Hands puts forward his proposals for a Welsh "people's theatre". A National Theatre in the Welsh language is already in the process of being developed, he said, but, with the bid by Cardiff to become Capital of Culture in 2008, there was a need for a mainstream year-round producing house. "Perhaps that could be us," he said. The problem was that there was no suitable venue in Cardiff: "Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff promotes experiment and new writing, the Sherman Theatre is a dedicated young people's theatre and a link in the mid-scale receiving-house chain. The New Theatre is a number one touring house. All are necessary. It would be pointless to compromise one to provide for another." That, he explains, is how CTC's proposals for a two-base company, in Mold and Cardiff, came about. "It is, of course, not dissimilar to the Stratford/London axis operated by the old RSC," he added. "Our aim would be to create a national organisation linking north and south." "The new venue (the Ebeneser Chapel in Charles Street)," he said, "could provide a stage, seven metres wide by 15 metres deep, for an audience of approximately 450. It is an epic space but the proximity of the audience would also allow for intimacy. It would be a people's theatre in a people-space. A modest proposal, but it could develop an audience of 65,000 in the first year. "The costs of conversion would be low, certainly less than building from scratch or humanising the New. More importantly the running costs would be less than half those of a stand-alone operation." There are advantages to both in these proposals, he believes: "There are advantages to CTC, both financial and artistic, in extending the life of a play. There are advantages to Cardiff in the workshops and facilities of Mold, the extended touring and education, all well established and all potentially available 52 weeks of the year in the capital." Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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